Thomas Larimore
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Thomas Larimore (fl. 1677-1706, last name occasionally Laramore, Larrimore, Laremore, or Laremoor) was a privateer and pirate active in the Caribbean and off the eastern seaboard of the American colonies. After helping suppress Bacon’s Rebellion and serving as a militia leader he turned to piracy, his activities intertwined with those of fellow pirate John Quelch.
History[edit]
When Nathaniel Bacon rebelled against Virginia colonial officials in 1676, Larimore sided with the Virginia loyalists under Governor William Berkeley.[1] He ferried troops and fought in and around Newport News in his ship Rebecca, which was captured by Bacon’s rebels then recaptured and returned to Larimore.[2] He then used the Rebecca – with extra cannon added by the rebels – to capture the rebels’ remaining ships, helping lead the loyalists to victory.[1]
Larimore also served as quartermaster aboard several different vessels during King William's War from 1688-1697.[3] In 1702 he was commissioned as a privateer by Governor Joseph Dudley of Boston to sail against the French, and took at least five French ships. Dudley commissioned Larimore again in 1703, this time to lead a unit of foot soldiers to help defend Jamaica against the Spanish.[4] His soldiers suffered from disease and went unpaid, shuffled around the Caribbean and as far north as Newfoundland before being returned to Boston that November.[4]
Bitter and broke, Larimore threatened to take to piracy on his ship Larimore Galley.[3] Returning to Cape Ann near Boston, a number of Quelch’s men came aboard Larimore’s ship, having dispersed on shore after leaving Quelch's Charles Galley to hide their loot.[5] Governor Dudley’s men seized Larimore, his crew, and the remains of Quelch’s crew. Larimore was charged not with piracy but with harboring fugitives (Quelch's crew).[3] He was sent to England for trial, but because of his service against the French and Spanish, Dudley asked officials to pardon him.[5] By late 1706 Larimore had been returned to New England and again placed under arrest, “suspected of very ill designs and practices.”[6]
See also[edit]
- Admiralty court, the venue in which Larimore's privateering prizes were approved, and in which Larimore was later tried.
- Samuel Sewall, the judge who presided over Quelch's and Larimiore's trials, more famous for his role in the Salem Witch Trials.
References[edit]
- ^ a b Webb, Stephen Saunders (1995). 1676: The End of American Independence. Syracuse NY: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815603610. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ Jameson, John Franklin (1923). Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period by J. Franklin Jameson. New York: Macmillan. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ a b c Beal, Clifford (2007). Quelch's Gold: Piracy, Greed, and Betrayal in Colonial New England. Westport CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780275994075. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ a b Matthews, Albert (1917). Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. Boston: The Society. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ a b Hanna, Mark G. (2015). Pirate Nests and the Rise of the British Empire, 1570-1740. Chapel Hill NC: UNC Press Books. ISBN 9781469617954. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ Office, Great Britain Public Record; Fortescue, Sir John William (1916). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series ... London: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts.
