Joseph Thompson | |
---|---|
Nationality | Cuban |
Occupation | Pirate |
Known for | A single incident involving grenades |
Piratical career | |
Base of operations | Caribbean |
Commands | Eagle |
Joseph Thompson (died 1719) was a pirate from Trinidad, Cuba, [1] and was active in the Caribbean. He is primarily known for a single incident involving grenades.
Thompson was among 209 pirates on New Providence who declared to Captain Vincent Pearse their intention to accept a 1718 offer of amnesty and pardon. Along with Charles Vane and a few others, he soon returned to piracy. [2] After picking up additional crew for his sloop Eagle (some of whom had served with William Moody), he captured and looted several ships in the vicinity. [3] In December 1718 in full view of Port Royal [4] Thompson captured a ship called Kingston whose cargo was worth over £20,000. The ship's owners complained to Jamaican Governor Nicholas Lawes, but there were no Royal Navy warships available. [5]
Instead Lawson issued commissions to two sloops in the harbor, [4] promising them a share of the pirates' treasure in addition to the rewards guaranteed by King George's September 1717 proclamation to combat piracy. [5] The two sloops sailed before year's end, encountering the pirate ship and another captured vessel. The pirate vessel under Captain Thompson raised a black flag and moved to attack. [1]
Thompson's ship came alongside one of the pirate-hunters and "threw vast numbers of powder flasks, granado shells, and stinkpots into her which killed and wounded several, and made others jump overboard." [5] The other pirate-hunter picked up the survivors, whose stories of the fight "so disheartned the men on board ye other vessell, the pyrate having a superior force, that they made the best of their way back to Port Royal." [5] Thompson's 150-man crew, "banditti of all nations," marooned the remaining sailors on the Cayman Islands. [5]
Jamaica's merchants pleaded again with Lawes to do something about Thompson. Lawes commissioned four more 10-gun, 80-man sloops with help from the merchants, [6] and after refitting another in Port Royal plus the arrival of the fifth-rate frigate [7] HMS Ludlow Castle, divided his forces to protect incoming merchants and hunt down Thompson. Four of the sloops soon cornered Thompson's ship, killing him and recovering the Kingston. [6] Some of his surviving crew were captured to await trial in Bermuda, where they were found guilty and hanged in 1720. [3]