Have you ever visited distant family in other states and had them ask you where Rhode Island or if it is part of Long Island, NY or Boston. And you sit there thinking to yourself, what does the smallest state in the US have to offer? If people don’t know where we are, is everything we do irrelevant?

Well, guess what, Rhode Island? We have a pirate; a very famous pirate. His name is Thomas Tew.

Tew operated mainly out of his privateering ports in Rhode Island (specifically Newport), New York, and Bermuda, and was one of the most notorious pirates to sail the Red Seas around Madagascar in the late 1600s.

While not much is known about Tew’s early life, historians believe he was born in Greensboro, North Carolina to a wealthy family based in Rhode Island where he later moved. It’s not until 1691 when Tew arrived at a port in Bermuda and paid for a share in the ship “Amity” in hope of a privateering contract, that there is solid evidence of his whereabouts. Before that, his whereabouts are unknown; most likely Tew was under smaller privateering contracts working for private employers.

In 1692, Tew set out with his crew on the ship Amity, alongside their sister-ship under the command of Captain George Drew with the intent of attacking and pillaging the French. When a violent storm separated the two ships, Tew convinced his crew to abandon their original mission of attacking French ships off the coast of West Africa, claiming it would be of little value to the public and they would gain no reward for their bravery. Instead, Tew convinced his crew to reform under a different contract.

Just as the crew agreed to abandon their original contract, an Arabian ship full of gold treasure sailed past. Tew managed to persuade his crew to attack the heavily armed ship, yearning for an opportunity to strike a great fortune; and they did. The small crew of the Amity managed to overpower the heavily armed ship and take all treasure onboard. Each man of the crew received a bounty of jewels and gold weighting over 3,000 pounds.

Tew and his crew of the Amity sailed to the English colonies and applied to the governor of Boston for a new privateering commission, but they were refused. However, for the sum of 500 pounds the crew managed to obtained one in Rhode Island, which authorized them to seize the ships of France and the enemies of the Crown of England in all waters.

Of course, they didn’t do this.

Instead the Amity attacked many of the ships they came across in open waters (English ships included), giving Tew and his crew a reckless pirate reputation. In fact, in January of 1696, the King of England William III issued a commission to Captain Robert Kidd entitled “My trusty and well-beloved Captain Kidd” enabling him to hunt down any pirates who were attacking English ships or English allies, Thomas Tew was mentioned by name.

However, by that time, the crew of the Amity had dispersed and Tew had settled in Newport to live a tranquil life among his former friends. Although both his pirating and privateering days seemed to have come to an end, Tew managed to maintain his lavish lifestyle through his “collected” gold and jewels.

But after a 1694 privateering commission by New York Governor Benjamin Fletcher, Tew was back on the open seas again.

In 1695, Tew was at the Liparau Islands at the mouth of the Red Sea where he and other vessels had joined together under the command of notorious pirate captain Captain Avery, when he struck gold again. Tew and his small crew of 40 men attacked a small fleet of Moorish vessels, capturing the first and second one easily and securing about 61,000 pounds of treasure.  But the third vessel was the real challenge.

In hand-to-hand combat with the third Moorish ship, a gunshot grazed Tew’s stomach and exposed his intestines, leaving him injured in the middle of a great battle. When Tew dropped dead, an account from Captain Johnson “History of Pirates” states that Tew’s crew was struck with such a terror at the sight of their fallen captain that they suffered themselves to be taken with little resistance.