William Phips Sir William Phips ( or Phipps , February 2 , 1650 / 1 – February 18 , 1694 / 5 ) was a shipwright , ship ' s captain , treasure hunter , military leader , and the first royally - appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay . He is perhaps best remembered for establishing , and later over - ruling and disbanding , the court associated with the infamous Salem Witch Trials . Of humble origin and poorly educated , he was a shipbuilder in Boston before embarking on several treasure hunting expeditions to the West Indies . He became famous in London when he recovered a large treasure from a sunken Spanish galleon , a feat that earned him instant wealth and a knighthood . In 1690 , during King William ' s War , he led a successful military expedition against Port Royal , Acadia , and then made a disastrous attempt to capture Quebec later the same year . Despite the military setback and his crude country manner , his connections in London and with the influential Mather family gained him the governorship of Massachusetts . He was not politically sophisticated , and became enmeshed in controversies ( including physical altercations with other officials ) that led to his recall to England to answer a variety of charges . He died in London before the charges against him were heard . Early life . Phips was born the son of James and Mary Phips , in a frontier settlement at Nequasset ( present - day Woolwich , Maine ) , near the mouth of the Kennebec River . His father died when he was six years old , and his mother married a neighbor and business partner , John White . Although Cotton Mather in his biography of Phips claimed that he was one of 26 children , this number is likely an exaggeration . His mother is known to have had six children by Phips , and eight by White , although there may have been more children that did not survive infancy . His father ' s ancestry was country gentry in Nottinghamshire , and Phips was a cousin of Sir Constantine Henry Phipps , Lord Chancellor of Ireland . According to Mather he was a shepherd until the age of 18 , after which he began a four - year apprenticeship as a ship ' s carpenter . He received no formal schooling , although he did learn to read and write . Thus his literacy skills were rudimentary , and once he achieved wealth and fame he often relied on his personal secretary for assistance . After his apprenticeship ended in 1673 , Phips traveled to Boston where he continued to employ his shipmaking and carpentry skills . About a year later he married Mary Spencer Hull , widow to John Hull ( unrelated to Massachusetts mintmaster John Hull ) . Mary ' s father , Daniel Spencer , was a merchant and landowner with interests in Maine , and Phips may have known her from an early age . By all accounts , the couple exhibited " genuine affection " for one another , and there is no evidence Phips was unfaithful during his long absences from home . Phips established a shipyard on the Sheepscot River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine in 1675 . The shipyard was successful , turning out a large number of small boats . Phips , however , had grander ideas , and constructed his first large merchant ship in 1676 . As he was preparing for its maiden voyage in August 1676 , planning to deliver a load of lumber to Boston , a band of Indians descended on the area . Rather than take on his cargo , he took on board as many of the local settlers as he could . Although he was financially ruined ( the Indians destroyed the shipyard and his intended cargo ) , he was seen as a hero in Boston . He then established a shipyard in Boston , supported by investors who knew his skills . His mother and stepfather returned to Maine , rebuilding their settlement , where they lived until his stepfather died . His mother then returned to Boston , where she stayed with Phips ' financial support . Treasure hunting . In 1682 Phips shifted to treasure hunting , making a voyage to the Bahamas as captain of the " Resolution " , seeking treasure from sunken Spanish ships . Although some accounts have characterized this early expedition as a failure , it was clearly profitable , returning shares worth £54 to its participants and crown agent Edward Randolph wrote in 1683 of Phips ' " late successfull returnes " . Second voyage . The success of his first foray was sufficient to motivate Phips to travel to England in search of financial backing for further expeditions . There he was introduced , possibly with the help of extended family connections , to Sir John Narborough , a rear admiral and commissioner of the Royal Navy . Narborough had the ear of King Charles II , and the connection bore fruit . In June 1683 the Admiralty agreed to fit out and lend him the " Rose of Algiers " , a 20 - gun frigate for the purpose of hunting for treasure . The king personally took a 25 % share ( in addition to the crown ' s 10 % ) , but also assigned two agents , Charles Salmon and John Knepp , to the ship to ensure it was used for the intended purpose . Phips sailed from London in September 1683 , and spent the next two years hunting for treasure . The voyage did not begin auspiciously . Phips quickly determined that he had only been supplied with provisions for one month , and put into Limerick for additional supplies . He and Knepp were also at odds with each other from early on , because Knepp expected crew discipline to be more like that on a regular navy vessel , and Phips was lax in enforcing minor transgressions of regulations . Phips arrived in Boston in October , where he sought to arrange further equipment , provisions and for experienced divers . At the same time , a second ship , William Warren ' s " Good Intent " , was coincidentally preparing to go to the same area in the Caribbean Phips was planning to search . After failing to convince Massachusetts authorities that they should prevent Warren ' s voyage , he entered into an agreement with Warren : in exchange for his divers and supplies , Warren and his company would receive shares from his proceeds . Phips sailed from Boston in January 1683 . He first searched with limited success off Jamaica , finding up about £200 worth of treasure from picked - over wrecks . When some of his crew became mutinous , he had them put off in Jamaica , where he gathered additional leads for potential treasure sites . Pursuing these leads , he searched off Hispaniola , where he again had little success . When he finally returned to London in August 1685 , the accounting showed the voyage was a loss . The shares of the men were small , and the crown , which spent £700 to fit the ship , only received £471 . The return voyage was complicated by a stop in Bermuda , where Phips agreed to transport to England Henry Bish , an opponent of Governor Richard Coney whom Coney had had arrested . Bish had Phips arrested ( on charges that Phips transported him against his will ) when they arrived in England , and it took the intercession of the king to secure Phips ' release . Major find . Phips attempted to get funding from the Admiralty for another expedition , but King James II , who had just taken the throne after his brother ' s death , refused . Narborough connected Phips with the Duke of Albemarle , who acquired from James a patent authorizing him to search for wrecks . Albemarle assembled a group of investors to fund Phips ' third expedition . They acquired and outfitted two ships : the " James and Mary " , a 22 - gun 200 - ton frigate , and the 45 - ton " Henry of London " , a sloop commanded by Francis Rogers , Phips ' second mate on the previous voyage . Phips sailed from London in September 1686 , and arrived off Hispaniola in November . The weather was bad , and the search consequently did not get under way until January 1687 . Phips sent the smaller ship " Henry of London " out to search the banks and reefs northeast of Hispaniola , and she returned in early February with evidence of a major find . The ship they found , the " Nuestra Señora de la Concepción " , had wrecked in 1641 in an area known to the Spanish as the Ambrosia Banks , now called the Silver Bank . From then until April the divers and ships ' crews worked to recover all manner of treasure : gold and silver bullion , doubloons , jewelry , and other artifacts . Concerned about the possibility of mutiny , Phips guaranteed to the crew , who had been hired for seaman ' s wages , that they would receive shares in the find , even if he had to pay them from his own percentage . He carefully avoided putting in at any ports before anchoring at Gravesend , where he dispatched a courier to London with the news . Phips reported recovering £300 , 000 worth of treasure from the wreck , although modern assessments place the value closer to £210 , 000 . Of this amount much went to Albemarle , who owned at least 25 percent of the venture ' s shares . Phips , after paying out £8 , 000 in crew shares , received £11 , 000 . Phips was treated as a hero in London , and the find was the talk of the town . Some economic historians argue that Phips ' find significantly effected history because it led to a major increase in the formation of joint - stock companies , and even played a role in the eventual formation in the Bank of England . Phips and the crew were rewarded by the investors with medals , and Phips was knighted by James in June . James also rewarded Phips with the post of provost marshal general ( chief sheriff ) of the Dominion of New England , serving under Sir Edmund Andros . In September 1687 Phips returned to the wreck , though he did not command the venture . Admiral Narborough elected to personally lead the expedition , which was supported by King James , who purchased shares and provided a navy frigate for security . The expedition was not very successful . The wreck had been discovered by others , and the arrival of the English scattered more than 20 smaller ships . Treasure worth only £10 , 000 was recovered before Narborough ' s death in May 1688 brought the expedition to an end . Phips had by then already left the wreck site in early May , sailing for Boston to take up his post as provost marshal general . Military expeditions . Phips was ill - suited for the post . He had no administrative or legal experience , and he had no significant political connections either with the Andros administration or with local politicians . The Andros council had also already appointed a provost marshal by the time Phips arrived and sheriffs had been sworn in . Andros , distracted by Indian frontier issues and the impending annexation of New York and the Jerseys to the dominion , did not initially meet with Phips upon his arrival in early June . Although Andros actually swore Phips into the post in early July , his council refused Phips ' demand that the previously named sheriffs be dismissed . Angry at his treatment and the uncertainty over his status , Phips sailed for London in mid - July . During this relatively brief stay in Boston , Phips attended Cotton Mather ' s services at the North Church , and established a close relationship with the influential pastor . Upon his arrival in London , he learned that his principal patrons , Narborough and Albemarle , were either dead or dying . ( Albemarle , then governor of Jamaica , was only rumored to be ill at the time , but he died in October . ) He established contact with Cotton ' s father Increase , who was in London working to end the Andros regime and restore the old Massachusetts charter . Motivated by a shared dislike of Andros , they worked together to bring about his downfall . After the Glorious Revolution in late 1688 replaced the Catholic James with the Protestants William and Mary , Phips and Mather petitioned the new monarchs for restoration of the Massachusetts charter , and successfully convinced the Lords of Trade to delay the transmission of formal instructions about the change of power to Andros . Phips returned to Boston in May 1689 , carrying proclamations from the king and queen , to find that Andros had been arrested in a revolt in Boston . Phips served for a time as an overseer guarding some of the high - profile prisoners taken in the revolt ; Edward Randolph accused him of opening their letters in his account of the captivity . Port Royal expedition . The turmoil in England and William ' s accession to the throne had prompted France to declare war on England . New France ' s Governor General Denonville took advantage of the political turmoil in New England and New York to launch a series of Indian raids across the northern frontier in 1689 and early 1690 . The provisional government of Massachusetts established after the arrest of Andros was called on to respond to these raids , and in March 1690 Phips was appointed by the General Court to lead an expedition against the French in Acadia . Leading a fleet of seven ships and over 700 men , he sailed from Boston in late April and arrived before the Acadian capital , Port Royal in early June . On May 9 he summoned its governor , Louis - Alexandre des Friches de Meneval , to surrender . Meneval , in command of about 70 men and a fort in disrepair , promptly negotiated terms of capitulation . When Phips came ashore the next day , it was discovered that Acadians had been removing valuables , including some that were government property ( and thus were supposed to come under the victor ' s control ) . Phips , whose motives continue to be debated by historians today , claimed this was a violation of the terms of capitulation , and consequently declared the agreement void . He allowed his troops to sack the town and destroy the church , acts that he had promised to prevent in the oral surrender agreement . He had the fortifications destroyed , removing all of their weaponry . Before he left , he convinced a number of Acadians to swear oaths of allegiance to the English crown , appointed a council of locals to administer the town , and then sailed back to Boston , carrying Meneval and his garrison as prisoners of war . Phips received a hero ' s welcome and was lavished with praise , although he was criticized in some circles ( and has been vilified in French and Acadian histories ) for allowing the sacking of Port Royal . Governor Meneval petitioned in vain for the return of minor valuables ( silverware and other small items ) that Phips had taken . Quebec expedition . In the wake of the success , the Massachusetts provisional government agreed to organize an expedition on a larger scale against Quebec , the capital of New France , and gave its command to Phips . Originally intending to coordinate with a simultaneous overland attack on Montreal launched from Albany , New York , the expedition ' s departure was delayed in the vain hope that needed munitions would arrive from England . The expedition , counting 34 ships and more than 2 , 000 soldiers , finally sailed on August 20 . It was short on ammunition , had no pilots familiar with the Saint Lawrence River , and carried what would turn out to be inadequate provisions . Because of contrary winds and the difficulty in navigating the Saint Lawrence , the expedition took eight weeks to reach Quebec . The late arrival ( wintry conditions were already setting in on the river ) and the long voyage meant that it would be impossible to conduct a lengthy siege . Phips sent a message into the citadel demanding its surrender . Governor General Louis de Buade de Frontenac declared that his only response would be from " the mouths of my cannons " . Phips then held a war council , which decided to make a combined land assault and naval bombardment . Both elements failed . The landing force , 1 , 200 men led by Major John Walley , were unable to cross the well - defended Saint - Charles River , and the naval bombardment failed because the New Englanders ' guns were unable to reach the high battlements of the city , and they furthermore soon ran out of ammunition . The fighting , according to Phips , cost the expedition 30 casualties and one field cannon . However , disease and disaster were to take a greater toll . Smallpox ravaged the troops , and two transports were lost to accidents ; another 200 men were lost to these causes . The expedition cost the colony £50 , 000 to mount , for which it issued paper currency , a first in the English colonies . Many of the expedition ' s participants and creditors were unhappy at being paid this way , and Phips generously purchased some of the depreciated paper with hard currency , incurring financial losses in the process . He returned to England in February 1691 to seek financial and political support for another expedition . Governor of Massachusetts Bay & the Salem Witch Trials . Phips found no further support for another expedition against New France , and instead joined with Increase Mather and other agents to gain a new charter for Massachusetts . A number of Mather ' s requests concerning the charter were rejected , but William and Mary placated Mather by allowing him to nominate the colony ' s next governor . The monarchs appointed Phips the first royal governor , at Mather ' s suggestion , under a newly issued colonial charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay . The charter greatly expanded the colony ' s bounds , including not just the territories of the Massachusetts Bay Colony , but also those of the Plymouth Colony , islands south of Cape Cod including Martha ' s Vineyard and Nantucket , and the present - day territories of Maine , New Brunswick , and Nova Scotia . On reaching Boston on May 14 , 1692 , Phips found the colony gripped by witchcraft hysteria . Beginning in February 1692 , more than 125 people were arrested on charges of witchcraft , and were held in prison pending the inauguration of the new government . Phips established a special Court of Oyer and Terminer to hear the accumulated cases on May 27 , appointing Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton as the chief judge . The court notoriously admitted spectral evidence ( alleged demonic visions ) and denied the accused access to legal counsel , and a number of people were convicted and executed based on such evidence . Although the court was terminated in September 1692 , accusations and arrests continued , including charges against some fairly high profile individuals including Phips wife . Phips finally put an end to the proceedings by first suspending the trials , and then in May 1693 releasing prisoners ( numbering about 150 ) charged with witchcraft . French and Indian raids had resumed in the years following Phips ' 1690 expeditions , so he sought to improve the province ' s defenses . Pursuant to his instructions from London , in 1692 he oversaw the construction of a stone fort , which was dubbed Fort William Henry , at Pemaquid ( present - day Bristol , Maine ) , where a wooden fort had been destroyed in 1689 . The expense involved in this effort made it unpopular in the province . Attempts by Phips to coordinate defenses with neighboring provinces were marred by difficulties often emanating from his rough personality and temper ( relations with the neighbors improved after his departure . ) He recruited Major Benjamin Church to lead a 450 - man expedition against the Indians in Maine . In August 1693 Phips reached a tenuous peace agreement with the Abenaki people ; it was eventually subverted by French intrigues to bring the Abenaki back on the warpath , and had no lasting impact . Phips ' governorship was marked by political factionalism , and his lack of connections to existing local powers hurt him . Furthermore , Joseph Dudley , a Massachusetts native ( and former dominion official ) was in London , scheming to replace him . He frequently quarreled with friends , foes , and other government officials . His biographers describe his behavior as " blustering aggressiveness " , and his contemporaries complained of his " lowness of education " . He quarreled with neighboring governors over military issues , and aggravated a border dispute with neighboring Rhode Island . He twice got into physical altercations with other government officials , situations that Dudley and his other opponents highlighted to the Lords of Trade . He was also accused of violating the Navigation Acts ( which he was , as governor , supposed to enforce ) in what his opponents described as " illegal and self - serving commercial activities " . Phips ' attempts to justify his actions included attacks on his enemies , many of whom were on good terms with the colonial secretary , William Blathwayt . Blathwayt continued to support him , as did Increase Mather , but this was not enough to overcome the many complaints lodged against him . On July 4 , 1694 Phips received an official summons to appear before the Lords of Trade in London . He spent much of the summer at Pemaquid , overseeing the frontier defenses , while Lieutenant Governor Stoughton oversaw the gathering of evidence for the hearing . He sailed for England on November 17 , and arrived in London on January 1 , 1694 / 5 . Upon his arrival , he was arrested on exaggerated charges , levied by Dudley , that he had conspired to withhold customs monies . Dudley had hoped that the £20 , 000 bail would prevent Phips ' return to Massachusetts , but Phips was bailed by Sir Henry Ashurst . However , Phips fell ill with a fever while preparing his defense , and died on February 18 , 1694 / 5 , before his charges were heard . He was buried in London in the yard of the Church of St . Mary Woolnoth . His grave was originally marked , but the marker was removed ( and his coffin possibly moved within the church grounds ) during renovations in the 18th century . Family and legacy . William and Mary Phips had no children . They adopted Spencer Bennett , the son of Mary ' s sister Rebecca , who formally took the Phips name in 1716 . He went on to serve as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts , including two periods as acting governor . Phippsburg , Maine is named in his honor .