William Phips
Sir William Phips was the first royally appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and the first native-born person from New England to be knighted. Phips was famous in his lifetime for recovering a large treasure from a sunken Spanish galleon but is perhaps best remembered today for establishing the court associated with the infamous Salem Witch Trials, which he grew unhappy with and was forced to prematurely disband after five months.
Early life
Phips was born the son of James and Mary Phips in a frontier settlement at Nequasset, near the mouth of the Kennebec River, on February 2, 1651. His father died when the boy was six years old, and his mother married a neighbor and business partner, John White. Although Cotton Mather in his biography of Phips claimed that he was one of 26 children, this number is likely an exaggeration or includes many who did not survive infancy. His mother is known to have had six children by James Phips and eight by White. His father was poor, but his ancestry may have descended from country gentry in Nottinghamshire, at least technically. Constantine Phipps, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, seems to have been a cousin of Phips, five years his junior.Phips watched over his family's flock of sheep, according to Mather, until the age of 18, after which he began a four-year apprenticeship as a ship's carpenter. He received no formal schooling. Despite a keen intelligence, his literacy skills were likely rudimentary. Robert Calef wrote, "It will be generally acknowledged, that not withstanding the meanness of his parentage and education, he attained to be master of a Ship." Once Phips achieved wealth and fame, he relied on a personal secretary and scribes for assistance, as was common for many figures of the time.
After his apprenticeship ended in 1673, Phips traveled to Boston, where he continued to employ his shipmaking and carpentry skills. About a year later, he married Mary Spencer Hull, widow to John Hull. Mary's father, Daniel Spencer, was a merchant and landowner with interests in Maine. Phips may have known Mary from an early age. By all accounts, the couple exhibited "genuine affection" for one another, and there is no evidence Phips was unfaithful during his long absences from home.
Phips established a shipyard on the Sheepscot River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine in 1675 at the outbreak of King Philips War. The shipyard was successful, turning out a number of small boats and building its first large merchant ship in 1676. As he was preparing for its maiden voyage in August 1676, planning to deliver a load of lumber to Boston, a band of Indians descended on the area during the Northeast Coast Campaign. Rather than take on his cargo, he took on board as many of the local settlers as he could. Although he was financially ruined, Phips was considered a hero among the colonists in Boston.
In the early 1680s, Phips began to engage in a favorite colonial pastime of treasure hunting in the Bahamas. As captain of the Resolution, he was seeking treasure from sunken Spanish ships near New Providence. The expedition is not well documented but seems to have been profitable, returning shares worth £54 to certain low-level participants. New England mintmaster John Hull was one of Phips's investors. Phips earned a widespread reputation for "continually finding sunken ships".
The voyage of HMS ''Rose of Algeree''
Narborough's treasure hunt
On May 2, 1683, the captain of the frigate HMS Falcon was sailing from England to the West Indies and beckoned the other officers to be present as he broke open his secret instructions. He learned that his mission was to aid in the hunt for a large treasure near Hispaniola. A sloop in convoy, HMS Bonetta, was designated to do most of the searching, but Falcon would act as aid and protection. These instructions were from Sir John Narborough, a rear admiral and commissioner of the Royal Navy, who also had the ear of King Charles II.Around this same time, the thirty-two-year-old Phips had made his way to England, where he gained an audience with Narborough and Charles II. By any measure, this was a remarkable achievement for a poor New Englander like Phips, but it also seems clear that he must have been at the right place at the right time. His reputation for finding sunken ships may have preceded him, and he seems to have had demonstrable gains to show, as one letter writer mentions his "late successful returns." He possibly delivered the King's portion of these returns to Whitehall in person. A plan was concocted, probably by Narborough, whereby Phips would be assigned as the commander of a 20-gun frigate, HMS Rose of Algiers, for a treasure hunt but given no other financial backing. He and his crew would be required to pay for all other expenses of the voyage, including food and diving equipment, and give a deposit of £100. Of the treasure they found, 35% would go to the King, and the rest would be divided among the otherwise unpaid crew. On July 13, 1683, the articles of agreement were signed by Phips and seven other crew members, in the presence of Narborough and Haddock.
Delivering Randolph
Before Phips could set sail, he had another mission added to the manifest. Edward Randolph, "indefatigable foe of Puritans", was serving Boston with a writ of quo warranto against the Charter of Massachusetts and searching for a frigate to be the muscle backing him:It is essential that a frigate should be on the New England coast at such a time to second the quo warranto and hasten submission;... a war vessel be present to awe them.
Randolph hoped such a display would induce New England to submit to revisions of their charter from the Crown, rather than having it fully revoked. On August 3, 1683, Randolph wrote to Sir Leoline Jenkins, "I am now informed that the H.M.S. Rose is already fitted out for the Bahamas with orders to call at Boston for 2 or 3 weeks on the way." Randolph indicates that time is of the essence, and he is willing to travel with Phips or forego the frigate idea and embark on a merchantman. Randolph, along with his brother Bernard, were given passage and cabins on HMS Rose.
John Knepp's Account
Just before the Rose set sail, things were complicated again when the Crown decided to place a minder on board named John Knepp "to look after the King's interest". Knepp seems to have been a purser. In the English Navy, the purser acted as a sort of Company Store, providing sailors whiskey, tobacco and other desirables which could be purchased with credit against their wages collected through the captain. It was a lucrative post and required an investment to procure, hence it usually went to young Naval clerks and scions who could afford the capital outlay. The purser was dependent on good relations with the captain, yet Knepp seems to have looked down on Phips and decided to be forward in introducing himself to the crew of HMS Rose while Phips was absent in London. The reception was rather less than friendly:... then most of them began to curse the ship and wished she had been afire before they saw her and that they had better have hired a ship of merchants...
Everything known about the crew comes from a detailed journal of the trip to Boston kept by Knepp, and he has rightly been called a "hostile observer", but he was often ignorant of the complex nature of the voyage, as well as basic colonial politics. By the time the ship set sail the next day, Phips and Knepp were distinctly at odds, as Knepp records when asked for a cabin or berth and was told he would have to make do sleeping on a trunk. The articles of agreement testify to the trust that the King and Narborough placed in Phips, and the crew seemed willing to do as Phips commanded, but Knepp acted as if he was not beholden to Phips. Knepp's journal is addressed to Narborough, and presents Phips in a negative light. Knepp excelled at taking coordinates and seemed trained in piloting, but did not exhibit a breadth of experience or knowledge of the rigging. Though he recorded every perceived misstep by Phips, his careful plotting of the journey also shows the great ability Phips possessed as a sailor, crossing the Atlantic in half the time of another ship that they meet and making first landfall at Cape Ann.
Randolph arrived at Boston
On October 27, Increase Mather recorded his one and only diary entry for all of 1683: "Randolph arrived at Boston." Phips quickly began to provide a show of force for Randolph by insisting other ships strike their colors and firing across their bows if they did not. Knepp claims that Narborough did not condone this, and many historians have followed his lead in treating Phips' activities in Boston harbor as arrogant showboating, but it seems clear from the letters of Randolph and Blathwayt that Phips had reason for his actions Phips cites personal instructions from the King, and indeed Charles II was known to have insisted on a salute to his flag. As Phips created chaos Massachusetts government, he continued to pursue his original intention of gathering diving equipment and divers to take to the Bahamas. Phips later followed the same procedures of requiring ships to strike in the West Indies and with a new crew in Bermuda. Phips lack of experience in the Royal Navy would suggest he likely made mistakes and did not always go about this procedure in the best way. It must have been a strange and uncomfortable chore for someone whose loyalties were with Boston. Randolph was never one to withhold criticism, but he did not complain of Phips activities in Boston harbor that winter, and Randolph even seems to have assisted Phips by searching a ship for him. But choosing a threatening posture showed Randolph's inability to understand the New England character, and it did not produce the effect Randolph intended. The magistrates voted to submit to the crown, but the deputies resisted. Phips and the Rose became a focal point for the resistance.Randolph's writ of quo warranto required a response from Massachusetts by the end of "Michaelmas term." Having not received a response, Randolph and his brother boarded a ship bound for England on December 14. A few days later, Phips began making preparations but was detained by problems with the Boston government and the ongoing search for victuals. Phips finally sailed clear of the Boston Harbor on January 19, 1684 but unfortunately not before some of his crew could caused a small riot in Boston and perpetrate a despicable assault in Hull, according to Knepp. Knepp was not on board, meaning he had effectively deserted according to the Articles, "though I should be almost undone by it" and so it became all the more important for Knepp to show Phips in a bad light.
Two days after Phips left the Boston area, Increase Mather gave a rousing speech to the deputies and freemen advising them not to submit to the Crown and to resist the quo warranto. One historian calls this Increase Mather's "first important entry into politics." It had been Phips' debut into colonial politics too, if clumsily and involuntarily. To what extent he was swayed by the arguments of Randolph as they crossed the Atlantic, it is hard to know, but Phips certainly behaved as a royalist in the meetings he had with Bradstreet and Stoughton, at least as recorded by Knepp. However, by 1688, Phips had crossed over to Increase Mather's side and begun to consistently oppose Randolph and the Dominion government he helped bring about
After leaving Boston, Phips searched the picked over wrecks in the Bahamas with limited success. Too many other treasure hunters had already gone before. When some of his crew became mutinous, he had them put off in Jamaica. On November 18, 1684, Phips was in Port Royal, Jamaica, the same time as Captain Stanley of the Bonetta. Soon afterward, Phips visited the north coast of Hispaniola and slowly cruised north exploring the banks where Stanley had been diligently searching for over a year.
After Phips returned to London in August 1685, Samuel Pepys ordered the Navy Board to assess the Rose. Pepys had been out of power when Narborough set the strange plan in motion. In March and May 1686, Phips was ordered to attend the Lord Treasurer, where it was found that the king was only to receive £471 in treasure, though the wear and tear on the Rose was estimated at £700. In this age of piracy and high mortality, Phips making it back to London alive and with the King's ship still afloat was probably enough for him to pass the test. Already Narborough had a new plan in the works for Captain Phips, though this time it would be a private venture. Narborough's long infatuation with the Hispaniola treasure had not been diminished by Captain Stanley's discouragement on the Bonetta. Knepp's report on Phips did succeed in disqualifying Phips who had shown that he was serviceable: willing serve the interests of the Crown.