Thomas Tew (died September 1695), also known as the Rhode Island Pirate, was a 17th-century English privateer-turned- pirate. He embarked on two major pirate voyages and met a bloody death on the second, and he pioneered the route which became known as the Pirate Round. Other infamous pirates in his path included Henry Avery and William Kidd.

Life and career

It is frequently written that Tew had family in

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

dating back to 1640, but it is not known where he was born. He may have been born in New England; another hypothesis suggests that he was born in Maidford, Northamptonshire before emigrating to the American colonies as a child with his family, although there is only a little circumstantial evidence for this. He lived at one time in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

. He is reported as being married with two daughters. According to one source, his wife and children all greatly enjoyed the New York City social scene after Tew became rich, but there is no supporting evidence for this. In 1691, Tew moved to

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

. There is evidence that he was already reputed as a pirate at that time, but no modern historian has determined whether or not this reputation was earned. He may simply have engaged in privateering against French and Spanish ships. He was in close relations with fellow pirate Captain Richard Want, who was his closest ally. Want became Tew's first mate on his first pirate cruise, and sailed his own ship ''Dolphin'' alongside Tew's ''Amity'' on the second.

First pirate cruise

In 1692, Thomas Tew obtained a letter of marque from the Governor of Bermuda. Various Bermudian backers provided him with the 70-ton sloop ''Amity,'' armed with eight guns and crewed by 46 officers and men. He and another captain obtained a privateer's commission from the lieutenant governor of Bermuda to destroy a French factory off the coast of

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. Tew set sail in December, ostensibly to serve as a privateer against French holdings in

the Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

. He set out alongside buccaneer, privateer, and pirate George Dew aboard the sloop ''Amity''; shortly out of port, they were separated in a storm. Dew's dismasted ship limped alone to

Saldanha Bay Saldanha Bay () is a natural harbour on the south-western coast of South Africa. The town that developed on the northern shore of the bay, also called Saldanha, Western Cape, Saldanha, was incorporated with five other towns into the Saldanha Bay ...

in South Africa, where he was arrested by the Dutch. Not long out of Bermuda, Tew announced his intention of turning to piracy, asking the crew for their support since he could not enforce the illegal scheme without their consent. Tew's crew reportedly answered with the shout, "A gold chain or a wooden leg, we'll stand with you!" The pirates proceeded to elect a quartermaster, a common pirate practice to balance the captain's power. Tew reached the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

and ran down a large Ghanjah dhow en route from India to the Ottoman Empire late in 1693. The dhow surrendered without serious resistance, inflicting no casualties on the assailants. Tew's pirates helped themselves to the ship's treasure, worth £100,000 () in gold and silver alone, not counting the value of the ivory, spices, gemstones, and silk taken. Tew's 45 men afterward shared out between £1,200 () and £3,000 () per man, and Tew himself claimed about £8,000 (). Tew urged his crew to hunt down and rob the other ships in the Indian convoy, but he yielded to the opposition of the quartermaster. He set course back to the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

, stopping at Adam Baldridge's pirate settlement at St. Mary's on

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

to careen. Tew reached Newport in April 1694. Benjamin Fletcher, royal governor of

Province of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...

, became good friends with him and his family.

Second pirate cruise

In November 1694, Tew bought a new letter of marque from Fletcher and set out for another pirate cruise. His crew numbered 30 to 40 men at departure this time. John Ireland served as navigator on Tew's ''Amity'' during their second cruise, although he claimed after his own capture that both he and Tew had been forced to serve by the sloop's mutinous crew. According to his deposition, the crew threatened the pair during what would have been a trip from New York to Boston to prepare for privateering against the French. However, by the time that he reached Madagascar, Tew apparently increased his force to 50 or 60 men. They arrived at the Mandab Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea in August 1695, where Tew found several other pirates hoping to duplicate his prior success, including Henry Avery in the powerfully armed warship ''Fancy'', fellow Rhode Island pirate captains Joseph Faro and Thomas Wake, William May, and Richard Want. Tew and the other pirate captains decided to sail in concert. In September 1695, a 25-ship Mughal convoy approached the Mandab Strait, slipping past the pirates during the night. Tew and his fellow pirates pursued. The ''Amity'' attacked one of the Mughal ships, believed to be the ''Fateh Muhammed''. Tew was killed in this battle, reportedly disemboweled by a cannon shot. Demoralized, his crew surrendered immediately, though they were freed later when Avery's ''Fancy'' captured the ''Fateh Muhammed''. The ''Amity'' returned to Baldridge's settlement under John Ireland's command to refit; they later swapped the ''Amity'' for Richard Glover's ''Charming Mary'' and plundered ships in the Indian Ocean under captain Richard Bobbington.

Legacy

Tew's burial site is unknown, but he is said to be the father of Ratsimilaho, a man who created a kingdom on the east coast of

. In addition, it has been claimed that Tew was one of the founders of the mysterious (and some believe fictional) pirate colony of Libertatia. King William III commissioned Captain William Kidd to hunt down several pirates, Thomas Tew and John Ireland among them, but Tew was already dead by the time Kidd set sail.Douglas Botting, ''The Pirates'', Time-Life Books, 1978, p. 106.

Jolly Roger Flag

Tew's personal standard is often depicted as a black flag with a white arm holding a white short

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

. Buccaneers Edmund Cooke and Edward Davis used a similar design, except Cooke used a red-and-yellow striped field while Davis used a white field with a black arm holding a sword on it. However, there is no evidence from period sources that Tew ever flew this flag, which is a 20th-century attribution.

Notes

References

* Botting, Douglas. ''The Pirates.'' Time-Life Books, 1978. * Johnson, Charles. ''The History of the Pirates: containing the lives of Captain Mission….'' London: Printed for, and sold by, T. Woodward, 1728. * Merchant, Gloria. ''Pirates of Colonial Newport.'' The History Press, 2014. * Zacks, Richard. ''The Pirate Hunter'', 2003. * Uncharted 4: A Thiefs End, 2016

External links

RedFlag

Of Captain Thomas Tew

* Taverns of New York:Chapter 2/ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/44240/44240-h/44240-h.htm#IV {{DEFAULTSORT:Tew, Thomas 1695 deaths American pirates English pirates 1649 births 17th-century pirates People from Newport, Rhode Island People from colonial Rhode Island Maritime folklore 17th-century American criminals English expatriates in Bermuda