Talk:Thomas Tew

Allegiance
What was his allegiance? It used to say "England?" then somebody changed it to "The Open Sea." Anyone? --AW 20:37, 5 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Tew was born in England, sailed most of his life under an English flag, carried the King of England's commission, and apparently never seized an English vessel. It seemed to me England was his likeliest allegiance, so I wrote that.  I included the question mark because he was finally declared an outlaw by the King. --Pirate Dan 22:44, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Thomas Tew was from southern England where he began his trade as a ship's labourer. He was keen to learn from, drink with, and curse with the ships crews and soon began sailing with them to various local ports. The nature of his crime is not yet known (the particular record, if it has survived has not yet been found), but Thomas Tew's original trip to the America's was as a convict being sent to serve his sentence in the East Indies. Upon completion of his labour sentence, Thomas Tew resumed working aboard ships in the East Indies where he worked his way up the ranks. Eventually he wrangled a Captaincy and a commission to sail one of a few sloops destined to Africa. Enroute, they encountered a storm; some ships sank and others turned back - but Thomas Tew and his crew continued on. He and his crew were no longer under the command of a higher captain from another ship, and by the time they reached Africa, the motives of he and the crew changed significantly. Having successfully attacked and looted one of the Great Moguls ships, the ship and crew returned to Madagascar to resupply and to divy up the loot seized. Captain Tew and the crew that decided to return with him to the Americas set off once again aboard their ship the Amity. Realizing the no longer held a legitimate commission for the ship to return to the East Indies, Captain Thomas Tew and crew altered course and instead headed for New England. Their final destination is unknown, but they had stopped in Rhode Island for re-supply and somehow Captain Tew and some of his crew secured safe port in New York and the favours of Governor Fletcher. The references to 'daughters in their finest silks' refers more accurately to the young ladies of the streets that refused niether the generosity nor the sexual appetites of these crude, but wealthy sailors. Governor Fletcher used his influence to secure a legitimate commission and to send Captain Tew and another crew back to the Indian Ocean. Captain Tew would die in battle, the ship Amity would be scuttled in Madagascar, and the crew dispursed to other ships. As far as to whom Captain Thomas Tew owed his allegiance, well if the stories are true - then his allegiance was to his crew, bottles of rum, and whomever would make them wealthy. Thomas Tew WAS NOT of immediate family with the Tew family of Rhode Island, and he might never have met them. At best he was a third cousin from a Tew line that had diverged more than a century earlier. — Preceding unsigned comment added by RhubarbBuffalo (talk • contribs) 06:05, 11 June 2014 (UTC)

Father of Ratsimilaho
A man who created a kingdom on the east coast of Madagascar??? Victuallers (talk) 08:12, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Illustration
The information in Commons appears to indicate that the image on this page was done by Howard Pyle for an article by Thomas Janvier, "Sea Robbers of NY", in the November 1894 Harper's Magazine. The caption apparently used by Pyle in his later book calls the pirate, "Captain Scarfield". As this is an artist's interpretation should it then be so definitively defined as Tew and Fletcher? I ask, because it now shows up on a number of mirror sites as a picture of Thomas Tew.Mannanan51 (talk) 06:42, 13 September 2012 (UTC)mannanan51

Merchant, page 30, also states that this picture is of Tew, as she saw in Harper's. LTC (Ret.) David J. Cormier (talk) 13:24, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

Living Tews
if anyone is a tew like myself, congratulations 74.195.253.179 (talk) 07:40, 8 December 2022 (UTC)