Major-General Sir William Phips (or Phipps; February 2, 1651 – February 18, 1695) was a treasure hunter, military officer, and colonial administrator from the New England Colonies. He was the first royally appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and the first native-born New Englander 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 on February 2, 1651 in the frontier settlement of Nequasset, Maine, the son of James and Mary Phips. His father died when Phips was six years old, and his mother subsequently married a neighbor and business partner, John White. Although Cotton Mather's 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. Phips' mother is known to have had six children by James and eight by White. Though Phips' father was poor, he was possibly descended from landed gentry in Nottinghamshire. Constantine Phipps, who served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was possibly a cousin of Phips.
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 prominent individuals of his time and place.
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, the widow to John Hull (unrelated to the mintmaster 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 during the outbreak of King Philips War. The shipyard was successful, producing 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 group of Indian warriors descended on the area as part 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 as the Indians destroyed the shipyard and his intended cargo of masts and lumber, 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. The mintmaster John Hull was one of Phips's investors. Phips earned a widespread reputation for "continually finding sunken ships".Earle (1979) p. 125. Earle's citation is from the Archivo General de Indias, Seville.
The voyage of HMS Rose
Narborough's treasure hunt
On May 2, 1683, the captain of the English 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 Rear-admiral Sir John Narborough of the Royal Navy, who also had the ear of King Charles II.Peter Earle (1979) pp. 122–125.
Around the same time, the 32-year old Phips made his way to England, where he was granted 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." Phips 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 captain of the frigate HMS Rose 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 Richard Haddock.
Delivering Randolph
Before Phips could set sail, he had another mission added to the manifest. Edward Randolph, an "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 to Sir Leoline Jenkins July 26, 1683, in British History Online"[Randolph] clamored for a ship, preferably a ship of war to give the business prestige."Michael G. Hall Edward Randolph and the American Colonies (1960) pp. 79–81.
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."Eward Randolph to Sir Leoline Jenkins, British History Online, August 3,1683. 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 Rose.
John Knepp's Account
Just before 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.Baker & Reid (1998) p. 30 In the Royal 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 Rose while Phips was absent in London. The reception was 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.John Knepp at MHS & F.L. Gay "A Rough List of a Collection of Transcripts" Knepp has 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 recorded 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 was addressed to Narborough and Haddock and presented Phips in a negative light. Knepp excelled at taking coordinates and was 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.MHS holds a copy of John Knepp Journal in the F.L. Gay Collection. It remains unpublished but is available for public viewing in their reading room.
Randolph arrived at Boston
On October 27, Increase Mather recorded his one and only diary entry for all of 1683: "Randolph arrived at Boston."Diary by Increase Mather. 1674–1687. Cambridge MA. University Press. 1900. p. 51 or search by date. 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 BlathwaytBritish History online search Blathwayt and July 1683. 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.Davies (1991) p. 64
As Phips created chaos for the Massachusetts colonial 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 Rose became a focal point for such 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 not before some of his crew almost caused a small riot in Boston and perpetrated an 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.