Richard Tookerman (1691–1723, last name also Tuckerman) was born on 16 May 1691 in Devon, Cornwall, England. He was the son of Josias Tookerman, a clergyman, and younger brother of Josias Tookerman II, a clergyman sent by the

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...

(SPG) to Jamaica. He married Katherine Grant, widow of John Grant of

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

by 1717. As a pirate, smuggler, and trader active in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and the

Carolinas The Carolinas, also known simply as Carolina, are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the southwes ...

, he became best known for involvement with pirates

Stede Bonnet Stede Bonnet (c. 1688 – 10 December 1718) was an English pirate who was known as the Gentleman Pirate because he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the is ...

and

Bartholomew Roberts Bartholomew Roberts (17 May 1682 – 10 February 1722), born John Roberts, was a Welsh pirate who was, measured by vessels captured, the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy. During his piratical career, he took over 400 prize shi ...

History

Tookerman was born in England and grew up in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

before moving to Charleston. He made his fortune making trading runs between the Carolinas and the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

, supplying goods to the pirate-friendly colonies there. When Charleston merchants wanted to outfit two sloops in 1718 to hunt down pirates plaguing their waterways, one of the ones they commandeered was Tookerman's 50-ton, 8-gun ''Sea Nymph''. They left it under the command of Tookerman’s acquaintance Fayrer Hall. The two sloops under Colonel

William Rhett Colonel William Rhett (4 September 1666 – 12 January 1723) was an English-born planter, politician and military officer who moved to the Carolinas, where he spent the majority of his life. Born in London, Rhett emigrated to North America in 1 ...

went looking for

Charles Vane Charles Vane (c. 1680 – 29 March 1721) was an English pirate who operated in the Bahamas during the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. Vane was likely born in the Kingdom of England around 1680. One of his first pirate ventures was under the l ...

but instead found

Blackbeard Edward Teach (or Thatch; – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known about his early life, but he ma ...

’s protégé Stede Bonnet. Hall was an experienced sailor but beached the ''Sea Nymph'' far from Bonnet’s ship, leaving him unable to help Rhett for most of the battle; speculation was that Tookerman advised or bribed Hall not to engage the pirates and risk damaging the ''Sea Nymph''. Hall also used the ''Sea Nymph'' when Charleston again marshaled forces to capture pirates, this time

Richard Worley Richard Worley may refer to: * Richard Worley (pirate) (died 1718/19), pirate active in the Caribbean and along the east coast of the American Colonies * Richard Worley (police officer) (born 1964 or 1965), American police officer and commissioner ...

in 1719. Bonnet was captured and imprisoned, but escaped in October 1718 with his ship’s master

David Herriot David Herriot (died 1718, occasionally Herriott) was a ship’s master and pirate best known for serving under Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet. History Herriot was master of the 80-ton 8-gun Jamaican logwood hauler ''Adventure'' when it was capture ...

. Tookerman provided them with arms, canoes, and slave guides and they rowed out of the harbor, where strong winds forced them ashore at

Sullivan’s Island Sullivan's Island, historically known as O'Sullivan's Island, is a town and island in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States, at the entrance to Charleston Harbor, with a population of 1,791 at the 2010 census, and 1,891 people in 2020 ...

. Rhett took a party to retrieve him; Herriot and the slaves were killed and Bonnet was returned to custody, after which he was tried and hung. Tookerman was suspected of helping Bonnet escape; the canoes and arms were his, and Bonnet reportedly had been promised that a sloop (Tookerman’s) would pick him up once he escaped. Governor Johnson imprisoned Tookerman but had to release him for lack of evidence. Tookerman was notoriously litigious, filing lawsuits and counter-suits against Rhett and many others. In March 1719 Tookerman was arrested again, this time for receiving stolen property (which he had actually robbed from Rhett’s home). He escaped, fleeing first to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and then back to Barbados. He soon sailed with fellow pirate Daniel Porter, who together with his brother Thomas Porter had been associates of

Benjamin Hornigold Benjamin Hornigold (c. 1680–1719) was an English pirate towards the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. Born in England in the late 17th century, Hornigold began his pirate career in 1713, attacking merchant ships in the Bahamas. He helped to e ...

. By June 1720 Tookerman and Porter were sailing aboard Porter’s sloop ''Mayflower''. They approached Bartholomew Roberts for advice on taking to piracy. Roberts, amused by their request, gave them supplies and his blessing. Roberts also traded sailors with them, trading eighteen black slaves to them for four of their crew. He and his crew remarked that Tookerman and Porter were not typical pirates but were “private pirates” – those who made money trading with pirates without doing any real piracy of their own. Governor

Woodes Rogers Woodes Rogers ( – 15 July 1732) was an English sea captain, privateer and colonial administrator who served as the List of governors of the Bahamas, governor of the Bahamas from 1718 to 1721 and again from 1728 to 1732. He is remembered ...

noted rumors in 1721 that Tookerman had turned to piracy with Porter. Tookerman was arrested again in June of that year in

Port Royal Port Royal () was a town located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest and most prosperous city in the Caribbean, functioning as the cen ...

for firing a salute on King James II’s birthday, betraying his Jacobite sympathies. By this time he was serving as ship’s master aboard the ''Adventure'' under Captain Henry Wills. Tookerman was sent to London for trial but was granted a

writ of Habeas Corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

allowing him to be tried in Charleston. Tookerman died en route home from the Caribbean in 1723.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tookerman, Richard 18th-century pirates English pirates Caribbean pirates 1691 births 1723 deaths

History

See also

References