At Newport, Tew sold the Amity and paid the crew. The next couple of months were spent ashore and Tew basked in the glory of retelling his tales of living the life of a pirate. However, it’s hard to shake the sensation of constant adventure. Will Tew return to his pirating ways?
Eventually, he and his family would find their way to New York, where he encountered and became friends with Governor Benjamin Fletcher. At the time, it’s not unclear whether Tew had any desire to return to his life at sea, but by the time the late summertime rolled around , he went back to Newport to fit a new Amity for a second trip to the Indian Ocean. During this time, many sailors from England, the Caribbean, and America began to have the same thoughts of becoming a pirate.
In November of 1694, Tew left with known pirates by his side , Thomas Wake and William Want. He had purchased a letter of marque from Governor Fletcher for the sum of 300 pounds. One of his stops was in Madagascar, but the travels that followed remain unclear. Between June and September of 1695, he caught sight of an Indian ship and made the fatal mistake of marking it for plunder. The ship was armed and ready to defend its goods. Cannon fire ripped through Tew, leaving him holding his insides while standing on the deck. His crew promptly surrendered, where they were murdered or taken to India as slaves.
No one knows what happened to the remains of Thomas Tew. Although, historical accounts state that he fathered Ratsimilaho , a man who built a kingdom on the eastern coast of Madagascar. Another tale places Tew at the center of the founding of Libertalia , a mysterious and often-thought fictional colony comprised of pirates.
Thomas Tew earned quite a reputation as a pirate and many others looked up to his conquests. Other well-known pirates, like William Kidd and Henry Every strived to follow in Tew’s footsteps. Interestingly, before he transformed himself into a pirate, Captain William Kidd was actually commissioned by King William III to hunt down Tew and put an end to his exploits. At the time, neither the King nor Kidd were aware that Tew had already been killed when the commission was put into place.
If you are interested in setting your eyes on a piece of Tew’s past, his sea chest is known as the only object of its kind with proof that it leads back to a pirate. In the Florida Keys, seek out the Pirate Soul Museum (524 Front Street), which houses the largest and most authentic collection of pirate artifacts in one place. Some of the exhibits on display include pieces of gold originating from the Queen Anne’s Revenge , the warship of Blackbeard and one of the only two remaining authentic Jolly Roger flags in the world.
