Laurens De Graaf

Laurens de Graaf (a.k.a. El Griffe, Gesel van de West [The Scourge of the West]) was a Dutch pirate born circa 1653 in Dordrecht, Holland. Some speculate that he was of mixed race, and was reportedly enslaved by Spanish slave traders and sent to work on a plantation in the Canary Islands some time before 1674.
During the early 1670s, de Graaf either escaped the plantation or was freed, and it was recorded that he married his first wife in 1674 in the Canary Islands before moving on to the Caribbean. Not long after his marriage, de Graaf took to the sea, and was reportedly captaining a French privateer vessel by 1675. By the late 1670s, de Graaf had turned to full blown piracy and captured a series of increasingly large vessels, trading up several times before finally in 1679, he captured a 28 gun frigate belonging to the Spanish Armada De Barlovento, which he renamed the Tigre (Tiger).

By 1682, de Graaf was so notorious that Henry Morgan, governor of Jamaica, himself a former pirate, sent a frigate named Norwich to hunt him down. It is not reported if they ever met. Meanwhile, the Spanish sought revenge for the theft of their frigate, and the Armada de Barlovento was also sent to hunt de Graaf down. While in Cuba, de Graaf became aware of the plan to seek him out. Rather than waiting for the Armada, de Graaf sailed immediately in search of it, and soon met with another Spanish vessel named the Princesa. A prolonged gun battle ensued, and the Spanish took heavy casualties. More than fifty crewmen of the Princesa were killed, but de Graaf lost no more than nine. The Spanish surrendered, and de Graaf gallantly put the seriously wounded captain ashore with his own surgeon and a servant. The Princesa was a huge prize, carrying the payroll for all the troops in Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, about 120,000 pesos in silver. De Graaf traded up again, renamed the ship the Francesca and made her his new flagship, and retired to Haiti.

His next adventure was to go roving with privateer Michiel Andrieszoon in the gulf of Honduras. They sighted two empty Spanish galleons, and so waited in hiding for them to be filled. However, the plan was foiled when fellow pirate Nicholas van Hoorn attacked and captured the empty ships. Van Hoorn proposed to join forces with de Graaf to attack the nearby city of Veracruz, and he eventually agreed. They also joined up with French pirate Michel de Grammont, bringing their combined strength to 5 large ships, 8 smaller vessels and 1300 pirates. On the 17th of May 1683, the pirates attacked. Using the captured galleons as a distraction, de Graaf along with Yankey Willems and a small detachment of men slipped ashore in the early morning to sabotage the fortifications and incapacitate the militia. Van Hoorn marched his men overland to join the attack.
On the second day of plundering, the Spanish plate fleet, composed of numerous warships, appeared on the horizon.The pirates retreated with hostages to the nearby Isla de Sacrificios and waited for ransoms. Impatient that payments did not arrive immediately, Van Hoorn ordered the execution of a dozen prisoners and had their heads sent to Veracruz as a warning. De Graaf was furious; the two argued and then fought a duel. Van Hoorn received a minor slash across the wrist and was returned to his ship in shackles. The wound later became gangrenous and van Hoorn died as a result of the infection a fortnight later.
De Graaf eventually gave up on the ransoms, and the pirates slipped away without engaging the Spanish fleet.
In late November 1683, de Graaf, his compatriots and their fleet of seven ships landed off Cartagena and where they stayed for almost a month waiting to strike at the city. The local governor, Juan de Pando Estrada, commandeered three private slave trading vessels - the 40-gun San Francisco, the 34-gun Paz and a smaller 28-gun galliot. The Spanish had 800 men, but their commander was young and inexperienced. The Spanish launched a pre-emptive strike on Christmas Eve but quickly found De Graaf's more experienced pirates a mighty foe. 90 Spaniards were killed versus only 20 pirates. The San Francisco was grounded and the two other ships were captured. De Graaf re-floated the San Francisco as his new flagship and renamed it the Fortune, later the Neptune. Andrieszoon took the Paz and renamed it the Mutine ("Rascal") and Willems was given command of the Francesca. The group released a large number of Spanish prisoners on Christmas Day and sent them ashore with a note for Governor Estrada thanking him for the Christmas presents. De Graaf and his bolstered fleet then laid siege to the town by blockading the harbour.
The following January, an English convoy, led by the 48-gun HMS Ruby, arrived carrying a note for de Graaf from his wife offering a Spanish pardon and commission. De Graaf did not trust the Spanish to keep their word, and ignored the note, but invited English officers to board his vessels and trade with his men. The English passed through without incident, and soon after de Graaf and his compatriots left for Haiti.

On the 6th of July 1685, de Graaf attacked another town, Campeche. A protracted battle ensued, allowing the Spanish time to flee with all goods and valuables, surrendering the town but giving the pirates no plunder. The pirates settled in to the town, and after two months in the town the pirates, failing to secure a ransom, began to burn the town and execute prisoners and once again, de Graaf stepped in to stop the violence against the hostages. The pirates departed Campeche in September 1685, carrying away many prisoners for ransom.The pirates split up and de Graaf fled from a superior fleet off the Yucatán. After a day-long battle with two larger Spanish ships, de Graaf was able to escape by dumping all his cargo and cannons overboard to lighten the ship. The following February the Spanish staged a raid on de Graaf's plantation on Saint Dominque. In retaliation, de Graaf raided Tihosuco, looting and burning buildings. Returning to Haiti, de Graaf accidentally wrecked his ship while pursuing a Spanish barque, however he managed to take the Spanish vessel with only his ship's long boat.

De Graaf then continued to rove the Caribbean waters, battling with the Cuban coastguard and defending Haiti from invasions. He blockaded the Jamaican coast for six months before departing for the Cayman Islands, and captured a small English sloop en route.In March 1693, de Graaf met and married his second wife, Anne Dieu-le-Veut. He agreed to marry her after she threatened to shoot him for insulting her. De Graaf spent the summer of 1693 making several raids on Jamaica, the English retaliated in May 1695 with an attack on Port-de-Paix at Saint Domingue, where they sacked the town and captured de Graaf's family. De Graaf himself fled to Louisiana, where he died on the 24th of May 1704.

Bartholomew Roberts

Bartholomew Roberts, born John Roberts on the 17th of May 1682 in Casnewydd Bach, Pembrokeshire, was a Welsh pirate who operated in the Americas, Caribbean and West Africa in the early 18th Century. He is the undisputed most successful pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy, having taken over 470 ships in his career, making his earnings in today's money equivalent to £22.5 million. It isn't known exactly when he changed his name to Bartholomew, but it was likely as a pirate alias, perhaps inspired by a famous buccaneer of the time, Bartholomew Sharp.

Roberts is thought first to have gone to sea at the age of 13, but then he disappears from records until 1718, where he is listed as a mate aboard a Barbados sloop. In 1719, he was third mate aboard a slave ship named Princess, when the vessel was seized by pirate Captain Howell Davis. Davis pressed Roberts into his service, who quickly proved himself as a navigator. It is said that Davis would use Welsh to communicate with Roberts, keeping it hidden from the rest of the crew.
Davis then hoisted English colours and sailed to the Portuguese island of Principe, and posing as an English captain, invited the Governor for lunch aboard his ship, intending to hold him hostage. However, the Portuguese somehow discovered that Davis was a pirate, and invited him for a glass of wine at the fortress first, and he his party were ambushed and shot dead en route.
This meant a new captain had to be elected. The ship had a parliamentary system, and the men aboard were divided into "Lords" and "Commons". Commons could vote in the election of a captain, but only Lords could nominate candidates. Within six weeks of his capture, Roberts was elected captain, which was particularly curious given that he often protested being on board at all.

Roberts' first act as captain was to avenge Captain Davis, and sailed the inherited Royal Rover back to Principe and viciously sacked the island. Soon afterwards he captured a Dutch Guineaman, then two days later a British ship called the Experiment. While the ship took on water and provisions at Anamboe, a vote was taken on whether the next voyage should be to the East Indies or to Brazil. The vote was for Brazil. Roberts and his men spent nine weeks searching Brazilian waters without success, when as they were about to return to the West Indies, they encountered a fleet of 42 Portuguese ships in the Todos os Santos' Bay. Roberts quietly captured one of the vessels and ordered the captain to point out the richest ship in the fleet. He pointed out a ship of 40 guns and a crew of 170, which Roberts and his men boarded and captured. The ship proved to contain 40,000 gold moidores and jewellery including a cross set with diamonds, designed for the King of Portugal.
Roberts, now vastly wealthy, sailed for Devil's Island off the coast of Guinea to spend the loot. After a few weeks there, they sailed to the River Surinam and captured a sloop. When a brigantine was sighted in the distance, Roberts and forty men chased it in the faster sloop, leaving Kennedy in charge of the Royal Rover. Due to unfortunate weather, the sloop became wind-bound for eight days, and when Roberts was finally able to return, he discovered that Kennedy had sailed off with the Royal Rover and what remained of the loot. Roberts and his crew renamed their sloop the Fortune and between them drafted a charter of eleven rules now known as the Pirate Code:

1. Every man shall have an equal vote in affairs of moment. He shall have an equal title to the fresh provisions or strong liquors at any time seized, and shall use them at pleasure unless a scarcity may make it necessary for the common good that a retrenchment may be voted.
2. Every man shall be called fairly in turn by the list on board of prizes, because over and above their proper share, they are allowed a shift of clothes. But if they defraud the company to the value of even one dollar in plate, jewels or money, they shall be marooned. If any man rob another he shall have his nose and ears slit, and be put ashore where he shall be sure to encounter hardships.
3. None shall game for money either with dice or cards.
4. The lights and candles should be put out at eight at night, and if any of the crew desire to drink after that hour they shall sit upon the open deck without lights.
5. Each man shall keep his piece, cutlass and pistols at all times clean and ready for action.
6. No boy or woman to be allowed amongst them. If any man shall be found seducing any of the latter sex and carrying her to sea in disguise he shall suffer death.
7. He that shall desert the ship or his quarters in time of battle shall be punished by death or marooning.
8. None shall strike another on board the ship, but every man's quarrel shall be ended on shore by sword or pistol in this manner. At the word of command from the quartermaster, each man being previously placed back to back, shall turn and fire immediately. If any man do not, the quartermaster shall knock the piece out of his hand. If both miss their aim they shall take to their cutlasses, and he that draw the first blood shall be declared the victor.
9. No man shall talk of breaking up their way of living till each has a share of 1,000. Every man who shall become a cripple or lose a limb in the service shall have 800 pieces of eight from the common stock and for lesser hurts proportionately.
10. The captain and the quartermaster shall each receive two shares of a prize, the master gunner and boatswain, one and one half shares, all other officers one and one quarter, and private gentlemen of fortune one share each.
11. The musicians shall have rest on the Sabbath Day only by right. On all other days by favour only.

The traitor Kennedy proved a very poor pirate with no knowledge of navigation, and following his betrayal, Roberts excluded any Irishman from joining his crew. Kennedy and his crew intended to give up piracy and sail for Ireland, but being a poor navigator hit the west coast of Scotland. Seventeen of the crew were arrested near Edinburgh and put on trial for piracy, with nine of them being hanged. Kennedy slipped away and reached Ireland. Having soon spent all his ill-gotten gains in Dublin, he went then to Deptford where he is said to have kept a brothel. When one of his prostitutes accused him of theft, he was sent to the Bridewell Prison, where he was denounced as a pirate by the mate of a ship he had taken. Kennedy was transferred to the Marshalsea prison and put on trial for piracy. He was hanged at Execution Dock on the 21st of July, 1721 amid a rather long winded speech.

Roberts meanwhile, had returned to the Caribbean and in February 1720, was attacked by naval sloops from Barbados and Martinique, and the Fortune was forced to flee battle with heavy damage.Roberts swore vengeance against the inhabitants of Barbados and Martinique. He had a new flag made with a drawing of himself standing upon 2 skulls, one labelled ABH (A Barbadian's Head) and the other AMH (A Martiniquian's Head).

Roberts' flag

After making repairs, Roberts sailed north to Canada to ravage Newfoundland. After raiding Canso, Nova Scotia, capturing a number of ships around Cape Breton and robbing the Newfoundland banks, Roberts raided the harbour of Ferryland and captured a dozen vessels. On the 21st of June he attacked the larger harbour of Trepassey, sailing in with black flags flying. All the ships in the harbour were abandoned by their panic-stricken captains and crews, and Roberts seized Trepassey without any resistance being offered. Roberts had captured 22 ships, but was angered by the cowardice of the captains who had fled their ships. Every morning when a gun was fired, the captains were forced to attend Roberts on board his ship; they were told that anyone who was absent would have his ship burnt.
Roberts replaced his Fortune with a brig from Bristol, and fitted her with 16 guns. When the pirates left after about a week, all the other vessels in the harbour were set on fire. During July, Roberts captured nine or ten French warships and commandeered one of them, fitting her with 26 cannons and changing her name to the Good Fortune. With this more powerful ship, Roberts captured many more vessels before heading south for the West Indies. In September the same year he renamed it the Royal Fortune, the first of several ships to be given this name by Roberts. Then he spent several months successfully roving the Caribbean and taking dozens of prizes. It is also said that he attacked and captured the governor of Martinique at sea, and hanged him from the yardarm of his ship.

By the spring of 1721, Roberts had almost completely paralysed trade in the West Indies, and so crossed the Atlantic for West Africa. It was there that the Royal Fortune proved to be leaky, and so the pirates moved to another ship, the Sea King that belonged to an allied pirate, and then renamed the Royal Fortune. Roberts then captured two large ships at Point Cestos, one of these was the frigate Onslow, transporting soldiers bound for Cabo Corso Castle. A number of the soldiers wished to join the pirates and were eventually accepted, but as landlubbers were given only a quarter share. The Onslow was converted to become the fourth Royal Fortune.

By this time, Royal Navy ships had left England in search of Roberts. On the 5th of February, the HMS Swallow found several of Roberts' ships carousing by the Calabar River. The Swallow veered away to avoid a shoal, making the pirates think that she was a fleeing merchant ship. The Ranger, commanded by James Skyrme, departed in pursuit. Once out of earshot of the other pirates, the Swallow opened her gun ports and opened fire. Ten pirates were killed and Skyrme had his leg blown off by a cannonball, but refused to leave the deck. Eventually, the Ranger was forced to strike her colours and the surviving crew were captured.

Five days later, on the 10th of February, the Swallow returned to the Calabar River where The Royal Fortune and others were still moored. At first, the pirates thought that the approaching ship was the Ranger returning, but a deserter from the Swallow recognized her and informed Roberts while he was at breakfast. Most of the crew were drunk, and unfit for duty. As he usually did before action, Roberts dressed himself in his finest clothes:

"Roberts himself made a gallant figure, at the time of the engagement, being dressed in a rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches, a red feather in his hat, a gold chain round his neck, with a diamond cross hanging to it, a sword in his hand, and two pairs of pistols slung over his shoulders ..." 

Roberts' plan was to sail past the Swallow, which meant exposing themselves to a broadside. Once past, they would have a good chance of escaping. However, the helmsman failed to keep the Royal Fortune on the right course, and the Swallow was able to approach to deliver a second devastating broadside. Roberts was killed by a grapeshot, which struck him in the throat while he stood on the deck. Before his body could be captured, Roberts' wish to be buried at sea was fulfilled by his crew, who weighed his body down and threw it overboard after wrapping it in his ship's sail. It was never found.

The battle continued for another two hours, until the Royal Fortune‍ '​s mainmast fell and the pirates surrendered. Only three pirates, including Roberts, had been killed in the battle. A total of 272 men had been captured by the Royal Navy. Of these, 65 were black, and these were sold into slavery. The remainder, apart from those who died on the voyage back, were taken to Cape Coast Castle. 54 were condemned to death, of whom 52 were hanged and two reprieved. Another twenty were allowed to sign indentures with the Royal African Company. 17 men were sent to the Marshalsea prison in London for trial, while over a third of the total were acquitted and released.

Captain Chaloner Ogle who commanded the Swallow was rewarded with a knighthood, the only British naval officer to be honoured specifically for his actions against pirates and eventually became an Admiral. This was a decisive battle in the war against piracy, and many consider the death of Roberts to be the end of the Golden Age of Piracy.

William Kidd

William Kidd was a Scottish privateer, pirate hunter and pirate born in Dundee, 22rd of January, 1645. It has been questioned whether he was a true pirate, as there is evidence that he may have only acted as a privateer, and his execution was political. Regardless, his actions were far less violent than many of his contemporaries. His father was John Kyd, a naval captain who was lost at sea. Kidd later moved to New York City, and by 1689, had joined an Anglo-French pirate crew who sailed the Caribbean. The crew later mutinied, and put the captain ashore, Kidd became the new captain and the ship was renamed the Blessed William. Kidd then sailed the ship to the British colony of Nevis, and was appointed by the governor Christopher Codrington, to a small fleet tasked with defending the colony from the French, with whom the English were at war. Being unable to pay the sailors, Governor Codrington allowed his defenders to act as privateers, and take whatever spoils they would from the French. Kidd sailed for the tiny French island of Mariegalante, whereupon he and his men pillaged and razed the only town on the island, and looted around £2000 sterling.

William Kidd, portrait by James Thornhill

During the Nine Years War, Kidd captured an enemy privateer vessel and was awarded £150 by the crown for his service. One year later, the Blessed William was stolen by pirate captain Robert Culliford, while he was ashore at Antigua in the West Indies.On the 16th of May 1691, Kidd married Sarah Bradley Cox Oort in New York, an English woman in her early twenties who was already twice widowed and one of the wealthiest women in New York, due to the inheritance from her first husband.
On the 11th of December 1695, Kidd was tasked with pirate hunting, specifically the pirates Thomas Tew, John Ireland, Thomas Wake and William Maze. Little was it known that Tew at least was already dead when the order was issued. Kidd would have been socially bound to accept the contract, as refusal would have been viewed as disloyalty. The expedition was well funded, and his new ship, the Adventure Galley, weighing over 284 tons burthen, she was equipped with 34 cannon, 150 men, and notably, oars. The oars were a key advantage as they enabled the Adventure Galley to manoeuvre in a battle when the wind was still.
As Kidd's expedition was leaving from London, the Adventure Galley sailed out down the Thames, Kidd unaccountably failed to salute a Navy yacht at Greenwich, as custom dictated. The Navy yacht then fired a shot to make him show respect, and Kidd’s crew responded with an astounding display of impudence, by turning and slapping their backsides in disdain. Because of Kidd's refusal to salute, the English vessel's captain retaliated by pressing much of Kidd's crew into naval service, despite rampant protests. Thus short-staffed, Kidd sailed for New York City, capturing a French vessel en route. In his desperate need to replenish his officers and crew, Kidd was forced to hire replacement crewmen in New York, many of whom were scoundrels and former pirates.

In September 1696, Kidd sailed from New York for Africa in search of pirates. Kidd's voyage was fraught with bad luck, as a third of his crew died of a cholera outbreak on the Comoros Islands just off Madagascar, and the Adventure Galley developed a number of leaks. What's more, he failed to find any pirates. Kidd then sailed to the mouth of the Red Sea in search of pirates, and once again failed. By this point Kidd was getting desperate. According to Edward Barlow, a captain employed by the English East India Company, Kidd attacked a Mughal convoy under escort by Barlow's East Indiaman, and was repelled. If the report is true, this marked Kidd's first foray into piracy.
As would be mentioned at his trial, Kidd had many opportunities while at sea to attack other vessels, and yet did not, and many of his crew deserted. Those who remained aboard would make frequent open threats of mutiny. Kidd killed one of his own crewmen after a heated exchange. The crewman was gunner William Moore, who urged Kidd to attack a Dutch vessel that had come into range. Kidd refused, stating the act was not only piratical but would anger the Dutch-born King of England. Kidd called Moore a lousy dog, and Moore retorted, "If I am a lousy dog, you have made me so; you have brought me to ruin and many more." Kidd hurled a large iron bucket at Moore, who fell to the deck with a fractured skull and died the following day.
On the 30th January 1698, Kidd raised French colours and took his greatest prize, an Armenian ship, the 400-ton Quedagh Merchant, which was loaded with satins, muslins, gold, silver, an incredible variety of East Indian merchandise, as well as extremely valuable silks. The captain was an Englishman named Wright, who had purchased passes from the French East India Company promising him the protection of the French Crown. After realising the captain of the taken vessel was an Englishman, Kidd claims he tried to persuade his crew to return the ship to its owners, but they refused, claiming their order from the English crown was to take French vessels, which included Armenian ones.
On the first of April, 1698, Kidd landed at Madagascar, and met with Captain Robert Culliford, who had stolen the Blessed William from him eight years earlier, now captaining the Mocha Frigate. Kidd reportedly treated with Culliford, and drank his health. Most of Kidd's crew abandoned him for Culliford, and only 13 remained with him and the Adventure Galley. Deciding to return home, Kidd left the Adventure Galley behind, ordering her to be burnt because she had become worm-eaten and leaky. Before burning the ship, he was able to salvage every last scrap of metal down to the door hinges. With the loyal remnant of his crew, he returned to the Caribbean aboard the Adventure Prize.
While returning to New York City, Kidd learned that he was a wanted pirate, and that several Royal Navy men-o'-war were searching for him. Realising that the Adventure Prize was a marked vessel, he cached her in the Caribbean Sea and continued toward New York aboard a sloop. He deposited some of his treasure on Gardiners Island, hoping to use his knowledge of its location as a bargaining tool. One of Kidd's investors lured him to Boston on the false promise of clemency, and had him arrested on the 6th of July, 1699. Kidd spent more than a year in prison before he was sent to England for questioning by Parliament. The new Tory ministry hoped to use Kidd as a tool to discredit the Whigs who had backed him, but Kidd refused to name names, naively confident his patrons would reward his loyalty by interceding on his behalf. There is speculation that he probably would have been spared had he talked. Finding Kidd politically useless, the Tory leaders sent him to stand trial before the High Court of Admiralty in London, for the charges of piracy on high seas and the murder of William Moore. Whilst awaiting trial, Kidd was confined in Newgate Prison, and wrote several letters to King William requesting clemency. Much of the evidence in Kidd's defence was misfiled, and six of his associates testified against him in exchange for pardons. Kidd was hanged on the 23rd of May, 1701, and Execution Dock. His body hung on the Thames at Tilbury Point for three years.

On the 13th of December, 2007, the Quedagh Merchant was found by divers. A cannon was recovered, known as Captain Kidd's cannon, which is now a permanent exhibit at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.In May 2015, a 50kg silver ingot was found of the coast of Madagascar, believed to be part of Kidd's treasure. The bar was presented to the President of Madagascar.

Thomas Tew

Thomas Tew (c.1640-1695) was an Anglo-American privateer turned pirate, most famous for establishing a route that would become known as the Pirate Round, a circuit around the Atlantic, the Cape of Good Hope, the Horn of Africa and India, copied from the route taken by East India Company ships, that would become a popular circuit for pirates in the years following.
It is written that Tew had a family in Rhode Island as early as 1640. however his birthplace is a mystery. Whether he was born in New England or Great Britain is a matter of some debate. What is known is that he enlisted as a privateer against the French and Spanish, and by 1691 had moved to Bermuda. The following year, Tew obtained a letter of marque from the Governor of Bermuda. Various backers provided him with a vessel, a seventy-ton sloop named the Amity, armed with eight guns and crewed by forty-six officers and men. He and another captain obtained a privateer's commission from the lieutenant governor of Bermuda to destroy a French factory off the coast of West Africa. Thus equipped, in December of that year, Tew set sail as a privateer against French holdings in The Gambia. However, they were not long set sail when Tew announced his intention of turning to piracy, asking the crew for their support, since he could not enforce the illegal scheme without their consent. Tew's crew reportedly answered with the shout, "A gold chain or a wooden leg, we'll stand with you!" The newly-turned pirates proceeded to elect a quartermaster, which was common practice to separate powers from the Captain.

Tew's first voyage was successful, having reached the Red Sea in the later part of 1693, the Amity  chased down a large ship en route from India to the Ottoman Empire. The ship was carrying over 300 soldiers, however they surrendered almost immediately without a single casualty among the pirates. Tew's men helped themselves to the ship’s rich treasure, worth £100,000 in gold and silver alone, not counting the value of the ivory, spices, gemstones and silk taken. Tew's men afterward shared out between £1,200 and £3,000 per man, and Tew himself claimed about £8,000. Tew was in favour of hunting down the rest of the Indian convoy, but yielded to the opposition of the quartermaster. He set course back to the Cape of Good Hope, stopping at the island of St. Mary's on Madagascar to careen. Tew returned to Newport in April, 1694. Benjamin Fletcher, royal governor of Province of New York, became good friends with Tew and his family. Tew eventually paid off the owners of the Amity fourteen times the value of the vessel.

Tew's flag

Tew's second voyage ended in disaster. Having established the route that would later be known as the Pirate Round, Tew set sail again in November 1694 with 30-40 men, but by the time he reached Madagascar had recruited around 20 more. By August 1695, He fell in with a brigade of pirates at the mouth of the Red Sea intent on recreating Tew's success of taking down an Indian treasure ship the previous year. The squadron was led by Henry Avery, captain of the powerful warship, the Fancy. The battle waged on for hours, and Tew himself was disembowelled by cannon fire, whereupon his demoralised men surrendered. However, Avery and the rest of the brigade fought on and eventually won, and Tew's men went free.

Tew's burial place is unknown, but it is said he was the father of the Malagasy king, Ratsimilaho. William Kidd, before he also turned pirate, was commissioned by William III to hunt down Tew. Little did either of them know Tew was already dead when the commission was issued.