page_title: Thomas Tew
section_title: First pirate cruise
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Tew / Life and career / First pirate cruise
caption_attribution_description: Print; Prints
context_page_description: Thomas Tew, 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. Many other infamous pirates followed in his path, including Henry Every and William Kidd.
context_section_description: 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. Tew set sail in December, ostensibly to serve as a privateer against French holdings in The Gambia. He set out alongside buccaneer, privateer, and pirate George Dew aboard the sloop Amy; shortly out of port, they were separated in a storm. Dew's dismasted ship limped alone to 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 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, stopping at Adam Baldridge's pirate settlement at St. Mary's on Madagascar to careen.
  Tew reached Newport in April 1694. Benjamin Fletcher, royal governor of Province of New York, became good friends with him and his family.
caption: Captain Tew, A Calm, Rich Christian, from the Pirates of the Spanish Main series (N19) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes MET DP835034
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