John Phillips (pirate)
Encyclopedia
John Phillips was an English pirate captain. He started his piratical career in 1721 under Thomas Anstis
, and stole his own pirate vessel in 1723. He died in a surprise attack by his own prisoners. He is noted for the articles of his ship, the Revenge, one of only four complete sets of pirate articles to survive from the so-called Golden Age of Piracy
.
's pirates. Phillips was forced to join the pirates, as skilled artisans often were. Phillips "was soon reconciled to the life of a Pirate," and served Anstis as carpenter for a year.
In April, 1722, Anstis sent Phillips and some other men ashore on Tobago
to careen a captured frigate. A British warship soon arrived, forcing Anstis to flee and abandon Phillips and his comrades. Phillips avoided capture by hiding in the woods, and later returned to Bristol
in England with other abandoned shipmates, where they gave up piracy for a time.
belonging to William Minott from Petty Harbour, renamed her Revenge, and embarked on a new piratical voyage. Phillips' crewmen were John Nutt (sailing master), James Sparks (gunner), Thomas Fern (carpenter), and William White (tailor and private crewman). They agreed promptly to a set of articles. Significantly, Phillips' articles forbade rape
under penalty of death; Anstis's crew had committed a notorious gang rape and murder while Phillips was serving with them.
Phillips set sail for the West Indies, capturing several fishing vessels on the way. Aboard one of these prizes was John Rose Archer, reputed to be a former crewman of Blackbeard
; Archer joined Phillips and was elected quartermaster. On September 5, Phillips captured John Fillmore, great-grandfather of later U.S. president Millard Fillmore
, aboard the sloop Dolphin, and forced him into service at White's suggestion. This increased the Revenge's total crew to 11. Proceeding to the Caribbean, Phillips and his men hunted for merchantmen near Barbados
. They made no captures for three months, and ran severely short of food and supplies, before finally taking some French and English vessels. They went on to Tobago, where Phillips searched for some of his abandoned comrades from Anstis's crew, but found only one survivor, a black man named Pedro. Phillips careened the Revenge and took Pedro aboard.
The Revenge captured another vessel after leaving Tobago, and the carpenter Thomas Fern, in charge of the prize crew, attempted to escape with the stolen vessel. The Revenge overtook Fern and captured him, killing one of the prize crew and wounding another. Fern and one of his crewmates tried and failed to escape again later that winter, and Phillips killed them both. Charles Johnson describes this killing as being "pursuant to their Articles," but as Phillips' Article II specifies marooning rather than outright execution as the punishment for running away, this may be an error or may reflect the articles being amended at some point.
Somewhere to the north of Tobago, in March of 1723, Phillips captured two more ships, killing a ship's master named Robert Mortimer when the latter attacked the pirates in an attempt to regain his vessel. The pirates continued northward arriving at Cape Sable, Nova Scotia on April 1, 1723. Here Phillips met great success as he raided New England fishing vessels working the fishing banks between Cape Sable and Sable Island
. His men robbed some 13 vessels over the course of a few days. One vessel they spared was a schooner which belonged to William Minott, the original owner of Revenge as Phillips declared "We have done him enough injury."
with three of the other pirates on June 2, 1724. The pirates gave widely reprinted speeches before their executions. Archer blamed drinking but also blamed brutal merchant captains who drove oppressed sailors to seek piracy as a tempting way to escape.
Phillips had survived less than eight months as a pirate captain but in this short period he had captured 34 ships.
blockaded Charleston. Faced with a shortage of manpower, Phillips and his men frequently threatened prisoners to try to induce them to sign their articles, refused to honor promises of release to prisoners like Fillmore, and savagely punished anyone trying to leave the ship.
However Phillips is important to scholars of piracy because his articles have survived, through reprinting in Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates. Only three other complete or near-complete sets of articles appear in the secondary literature (those of Roberts, Gow
and a single code shared by Low and Lowther
). These few articles underpin much of scholarly insight into life aboard pirate vessels. The written account by John Fillmore of life aboard Phillips' schooner Revenge is one of the few surviving primary sources by an eyewitness to piracy during the Golden Age.
Phillips is also significant as an example of the short-lived but destructive bands of pirates who branched out from much larger pirate crews led by Anstis and Blackbeard. He ended a line of pirate captains who had successively been captured by other pirates, joined their captors, and ascended to command. Phillips' captor and mentor, Anstis, had himself been captured by Bartholomew Roberts
, who was in turn a former captive of Howell Davis
, who had turned to piracy after falling into Edward England
's hands. This line sprang originally from the pirate den on Nassau, Bahamas
, which had served as a base for Davis, England, and many other robber captains. His quartermaster Archer had originally served with Blackbeard, continuing the influence of Blackbeard's formidable crew long after it was defeated in battle in 1718.
during the capture of the Dolphin. However, Phillips reportedly used a red flag during his capture of a Martinique vessel toward the end of 1723; at the sight of the flag and Phillips' threat to show no quarter, the larger and more heavily armed crew of the Martinique vessel surrendered without firing a shot.
Phillips' flag was turned over to Massachusetts authorities when his victorious prisoners sailed the Revenge into Annisquam. The Boston News-Letter described the flag as follows: "their own dark flag, in the middle of which an anatomy, and at one side of it a dart in the heart, with drops of blood proceeding from it; and on the other side an hour-glass."
Thomas Anstis
Thomas Anstis was an early 18th century pirate, who served under Captain Howell Davis and Captain Bartholomew Roberts, before setting up on his own account, raiding shipping on the eastern coast of the American colonies and in the Caribbean during what is often referred to as the "Golden Age of...
, and stole his own pirate vessel in 1723. He died in a surprise attack by his own prisoners. He is noted for the articles of his ship, the Revenge, one of only four complete sets of pirate articles to survive from the so-called Golden Age of Piracy
Golden Age of Piracy
The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation given to one or more outbursts of piracy in maritime history of the early modern period. In its broadest accepted definition, the Golden Age of Piracy spans from the 1650s to the 1730s and covers three separate outbursts of piracy:the buccaneering...
.
Early career
Phillips was a ship's carpenter by trade. While voyaging from England to Newfoundland, his ship was captured on April 19, 1721 by Thomas AnstisThomas Anstis
Thomas Anstis was an early 18th century pirate, who served under Captain Howell Davis and Captain Bartholomew Roberts, before setting up on his own account, raiding shipping on the eastern coast of the American colonies and in the Caribbean during what is often referred to as the "Golden Age of...
's pirates. Phillips was forced to join the pirates, as skilled artisans often were. Phillips "was soon reconciled to the life of a Pirate," and served Anstis as carpenter for a year.
In April, 1722, Anstis sent Phillips and some other men ashore on Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
to careen a captured frigate. A British warship soon arrived, forcing Anstis to flee and abandon Phillips and his comrades. Phillips avoided capture by hiding in the woods, and later returned to Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
in England with other abandoned shipmates, where they gave up piracy for a time.
Captaincy
Some of Phillips' pirate comrades were arrested and imprisoned shortly after their arrival in Bristol, prompting Phillips to take ship again for Newfoundland. There, he conspired to steal a ship and return to piracy. On August 29, 1723, with only four companions, Phillips seized a schoonerSchooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
belonging to William Minott from Petty Harbour, renamed her Revenge, and embarked on a new piratical voyage. Phillips' crewmen were John Nutt (sailing master), James Sparks (gunner), Thomas Fern (carpenter), and William White (tailor and private crewman). They agreed promptly to a set of articles. Significantly, Phillips' articles forbade rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
under penalty of death; Anstis's crew had committed a notorious gang rape and murder while Phillips was serving with them.
Phillips set sail for the West Indies, capturing several fishing vessels on the way. Aboard one of these prizes was John Rose Archer, reputed to be a former crewman of Blackbeard
Blackbeard
Edward Teach , better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies....
; Archer joined Phillips and was elected quartermaster. On September 5, Phillips captured John Fillmore, great-grandfather of later U.S. president Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore was the 13th President of the United States and the last member of the Whig Party to hold the office of president...
, aboard the sloop Dolphin, and forced him into service at White's suggestion. This increased the Revenge's total crew to 11. Proceeding to the Caribbean, Phillips and his men hunted for merchantmen near Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
. They made no captures for three months, and ran severely short of food and supplies, before finally taking some French and English vessels. They went on to Tobago, where Phillips searched for some of his abandoned comrades from Anstis's crew, but found only one survivor, a black man named Pedro. Phillips careened the Revenge and took Pedro aboard.
The Revenge captured another vessel after leaving Tobago, and the carpenter Thomas Fern, in charge of the prize crew, attempted to escape with the stolen vessel. The Revenge overtook Fern and captured him, killing one of the prize crew and wounding another. Fern and one of his crewmates tried and failed to escape again later that winter, and Phillips killed them both. Charles Johnson describes this killing as being "pursuant to their Articles," but as Phillips' Article II specifies marooning rather than outright execution as the punishment for running away, this may be an error or may reflect the articles being amended at some point.
Somewhere to the north of Tobago, in March of 1723, Phillips captured two more ships, killing a ship's master named Robert Mortimer when the latter attacked the pirates in an attempt to regain his vessel. The pirates continued northward arriving at Cape Sable, Nova Scotia on April 1, 1723. Here Phillips met great success as he raided New England fishing vessels working the fishing banks between Cape Sable and Sable Island
Sable Island
Sable Island is a small Canadian island situated 300 km southeast of mainland Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean. The island is a year-round home to approximately five people...
. His men robbed some 13 vessels over the course of a few days. One vessel they spared was a schooner which belonged to William Minott, the original owner of Revenge as Phillips declared "We have done him enough injury."
Death
The last of these captures near Nova Scotia was a sloop commanded by Andrew Harradine. This latter conspired with some other prisoners who had previously been forced to join the crew, planning to mutiny and kill Captain Phillips. Harradine and his allies attacked the Revenge's leaders on April 18, killing Phillips as well as his sailing master, boatswain, and gunner. Archer was temporarily spared, but died on the gallows at BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
with three of the other pirates on June 2, 1724. The pirates gave widely reprinted speeches before their executions. Archer blamed drinking but also blamed brutal merchant captains who drove oppressed sailors to seek piracy as a tempting way to escape.
Phillips had survived less than eight months as a pirate captain but in this short period he had captured 34 ships.
Significance
Phillips was essentially a small-time criminal as compared to pirates like Roberts; he commanded only a small schooner, and at the time of his death he had just 11 men under his command, as compared to the 276 men captured aboard Roberts' vessels, or the four-ship flotilla with which BlackbeardBlackbeard
Edward Teach , better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies....
blockaded Charleston. Faced with a shortage of manpower, Phillips and his men frequently threatened prisoners to try to induce them to sign their articles, refused to honor promises of release to prisoners like Fillmore, and savagely punished anyone trying to leave the ship.
However Phillips is important to scholars of piracy because his articles have survived, through reprinting in Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates. Only three other complete or near-complete sets of articles appear in the secondary literature (those of Roberts, Gow
John Gow
John Gow was a notorious pirate whose short career was immortalized by Charles Johnson in A General History of the Pyrates. Little is known of his life, except from an account by Daniel Defoe, which is often considered unreliable, the report on his execution, and an account by Mr...
and a single code shared by Low and Lowther
George Lowther (pirate)
George Lowther was an 18th century English pirate who, although little is known of his life, was active in the Caribbean and Atlantic...
). These few articles underpin much of scholarly insight into life aboard pirate vessels. The written account by John Fillmore of life aboard Phillips' schooner Revenge is one of the few surviving primary sources by an eyewitness to piracy during the Golden Age.
Phillips is also significant as an example of the short-lived but destructive bands of pirates who branched out from much larger pirate crews led by Anstis and Blackbeard. He ended a line of pirate captains who had successively been captured by other pirates, joined their captors, and ascended to command. Phillips' captor and mentor, Anstis, had himself been captured by Bartholomew Roberts
Bartholomew Roberts
Bartholomew Roberts , born John Roberts, was a Welsh pirate who raided ships off America and West Africa between 1719 and 1722. He was the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy. He is estimated to have captured over 470 vessels...
, who was in turn a former captive of Howell Davis
Howell Davis
Captain Howell Davis was a Welsh pirate. His piratical career lasted just 11 months, from July 11, 1718 to June 19, 1719, when he was ambushed and killed. His ships were the Cadogan, Buck, Saint James, and Rover...
, who had turned to piracy after falling into Edward England
Edward England
Edward England, born Edward Seegar in Ireland, was a famous African coast and Indian Ocean pirate captain from 1717 to 1720. The ships he sailed on included the Pearl and later the Fancy, for which England exchanged the Pearl in 1720...
's hands. This line sprang originally from the pirate den on Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
, which had served as a base for Davis, England, and many other robber captains. His quartermaster Archer had originally served with Blackbeard, continuing the influence of Blackbeard's formidable crew long after it was defeated in battle in 1718.
Phillips' Jolly Roger
Fillmore does not mention Phillips using a Jolly RogerJolly Roger
The Jolly Roger is any of various flags flown to identify a ship's crew as pirates. The flag most commonly identified as the Jolly Roger today is the skull and crossbones, a flag consisting of a human skull above two long bones set in an x-mark arrangement on a black field. This design was used by...
during the capture of the Dolphin. However, Phillips reportedly used a red flag during his capture of a Martinique vessel toward the end of 1723; at the sight of the flag and Phillips' threat to show no quarter, the larger and more heavily armed crew of the Martinique vessel surrendered without firing a shot.
Phillips' flag was turned over to Massachusetts authorities when his victorious prisoners sailed the Revenge into Annisquam. The Boston News-Letter described the flag as follows: "their own dark flag, in the middle of which an anatomy, and at one side of it a dart in the heart, with drops of blood proceeding from it; and on the other side an hour-glass."