William Phips
Encyclopedia
Sir William Phips was a shipwright, ship's captain, treasure hunter, military leader, and the first royally-appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay
Province of Massachusetts Bay
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony in North America. It was chartered on October 7, 1691 by William and Mary, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England and Scotland...

.

Of humble origin and poorly educated, he was a shipbuilder in Boston
Boston
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...

 before embarking on several treasure hunting expeditions to the West Indies. He became famous in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 when he recovered a large treasure from a sunken Spanish galleon, a feat that earned him instant wealth and a knighthood. In 1690, during King William's War
King William's War
The first of the French and Indian Wars, King William's War was the name used in the English colonies in America to refer to the North American theater of the Nine Years' War...

, he led a successful military expedition against Port Royal, Acadia
Port Royal, Nova Scotia
Port Royal was the capital of Acadia from 1605 to 1710 and is now a town called Annapolis Royal in the western part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Initially Port Royal was located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, at the site of the present reconstruction of the...

, and then made a disastrous attempt to capture Quebec
Battle of Quebec (1690)
The Battle of Quebec was fought in October 1690 between the colonies of New France and Massachusetts Bay, then ruled by the kingdoms of France and England, respectively. It was the first time Quebec's defences were tested....

 later the same year.

Despite the military setback and his crude country manner, his connections in London and with the influential Mather
Richard Mather
Richard Mather , was a Puritan clergyman in colonial Boston, Massachusetts. He was father to Increase Mather and grandfather to Cotton Mather, both celebrated Boston divines.-Biography:...

 family gained him the governorship of Massachusetts. He was not politically sophisticated, and became enmeshed in controversies (including physical altercations with other officials) that led to his recall to England to answer a variety of charges. He died in London before the charges against him were heard.

Early life

Phips was born the son of James and Mary Phips, in a frontier settlement at Nequasset (present-day Woolwich, Maine
Woolwich, Maine
Woolwich is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,810 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area...

), near the mouth of the Kennebec River
Kennebec River
The Kennebec River is a river that is entirely within the U.S. state of Maine. It rises in Moosehead Lake in west-central Maine. The East and West Outlets join at Indian Pond and the river then flows southward...

. His father died when he was six years old, and his mother married a neighbor and business partner, John White. Although Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather, FRS was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer; he is often remembered for his role in the Salem witch trials...

 in his biography of Phips claimed that he was one of 26 children, this number is likely an exaggeration. His mother is known to have had six children by Phips, and eight by White, although there may have been more children that did not survive infancy. His father's ancestry was country gentry in Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

, and Phips was a cousin of Sir Constantine Henry Phipps, Lord Chancellor of Ireland
Lord Chancellor of Ireland
The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801 it was also the highest political office of the Irish Parliament.-13th century:...

. According to Mather he was a shepherd until the age of 18, after which he began a four-year apprenticeship as a ship's carpenter. He received no formal schooling, although he did learn to read and write. Thus his literacy skills were rudimentary, and once he achieved wealth and fame he often relied on his personal secretary for assistance.

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 (unrelated to Massachusetts mintmaster John Hull
John Hull (merchant)
John Hull was the leading merchant and mintmaster of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He married Judith Quincy , daughter of Judith Pares John Hull (18 December 1624 – 1 October 1683) was the leading merchant and mintmaster of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He married Judith Quincy (1626–1695),...

). Mary's father, Daniel Spencer, was a merchant and landowner with interests in Maine, and Phips may have known her 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
Sheepscot River
The Sheepscot River is a river in the U.S. state of Maine. Its lower portion is a complex island estuary with connections to the Kennebec River downstream of Merrymeeting Bay.-Route:...

 at Merrymeeting Bay
Merrymeeting Bay
Merrymeeting Bay is a large freshwater tidal bay in Sagadahoc, Lincoln, and Cumberland counties, in the U.S. state of Maine. Merrymeeting Bay's unusual geography defies common landform terms. It is not what is usually meant by the word bay. It is somewhat like an estuary except for being fresh...

 in Maine in 1675. The shipyard was successful, turning out a large number of small boats. Phips, however, had grander ideas, and constructed his 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. Rather than take on his cargo, he took on board as many of the local settlers as he could. Although he was financially ruined (the Indians destroyed the shipyard and his intended cargo), he was seen as a hero in Boston.

Phips then established a shipyard in Boston, supported by investors who knew his skills. His mother and stepfather returned to Maine, rebuilding their settlement, where they lived until his stepfather died. His mother then returned to Boston, where she stayed with Phips' financial support.

Treasure hunting

In 1682 Phips shifted to treasure hunting, making a voyage to the Bahamas as captain of the Resolution, seeking treasure from sunken Spanish ships. Although this early expedition has been characterized in some accounts as a failure, it was clearly profitable, returning shares worth £54 to its participants, and crown agent Edward Randolph
Edward Randolph (colonial administrator)
Edward Randolph was an English colonial administrator, best known for his role in effecting significant changes in the structure of the England's North American colonies in the later years of the 17th century...

 wrote in 1683 of Phips' "late successfull returnes".

Second voyage

The success of his first foray was sufficient to motivate Phips to travel to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in search of financial backing for further expeditions. There he was introduced, possibly with the help of extended family connections, to Sir John Narborough
John Narborough
Rear-Admiral Sir John Narborough or Narbrough was an English naval commander of the 17th century. He served with distinction during the Anglo-Dutch Wars and against the Barbary Coast pirates.-Early life:...

, a rear admiral and commissioner of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. Narborough had the ear of King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

, and the connection bore fruit. In June 1683 the Admiralty agreed to fit out and lend him the Rose of Algiers, a 20-gun frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 for the purpose of hunting for treasure. The king personally took a 25% share (in addition to the crown's 10%), but also assigned two agents, Charles Salmon and John Knepp, to the ship to ensure it was used for the intended purpose.

Phips sailed from London in September 1683, and spent the next two years hunting for treasure. The voyage did not begin auspiciously. Phips quickly determined that he had only been supplied with provisions for one month, and put into Limerick
Limerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...

 for additional supplies. He and Knepp were also at odds with each other from early on, because Knepp expected crew discipline to be more like that on a regular navy vessel, and Phips was lax in enforcing minor transgressions of regulations. Phips arrived in Boston in October, where he sought to arrange further equipment, provisions, and experienced divers. At the same time, a second ship, William Warren's Good Intent, was coincidentally preparing to go to the same area in the Caribbean Phips was planning to search. After failing to convince Massachusetts authorities that they should prevent Warren's voyage, he entered into an agreement with Warren: in exchange for his divers and supplies, Warren and his company would receive shares from his proceeds.

Phips sailed from Boston in January 1683. He first searched with limited success off Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

, finding up about £200 worth of treasure from picked-over wrecks. When some of his crew became mutinous, he had them put off in Jamaica, where he gathered additional leads for potential treasure sites. Pursuing these leads, he searched off Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...

, where he again had little success. When he finally returned to London in August 1685, the accounting showed the voyage was a loss. The shares of the men were small, and the crown, which spent £700 to fit the ship, only received £471. The return voyage was complicated by a stop in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, where Phips agreed to transport to England Henry Bish, an opponent of Governor Richard Coney whom Coney had had arrested. Bish had Phips arrested (on charges that Phips transported him against his will) when they arrived in England, and it took the intercession of the king to secure Phips' release.

Major find

Phips attempted to get funding from the Admiralty for another expedition, but King James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...

, who had just taken the throne after his brother
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

's death, refused. Narborough connected Phips with the Duke of Albemarle
Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle
Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, KG, PC was an English statesman and failed soldier.He was the son of George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle....

, who acquired from James a patent authorizing him to search for wrecks. Albemarle assembled a group of investors to fund Phips' third expedition. They acquired and outfitted two ships: the James and Mary, a 22-gun 200-ton frigate, and the 45-ton Henry of London, a sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

 commanded by Francis Rogers, Phips' second mate on the previous voyage.
Phips sailed from London in September 1686, and arrived off Hispaniola in November. The weather was bad, and the search consequently did not get under way until January 1687. Phips sent the smaller ship Henry of London out to search the banks and reefs northeast of Hispaniola, and she returned in early February with evidence of a major find. The ship they found, the Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, had wrecked in 1641 in an area known to the Spanish as the Ambrosia Banks, now called the Silver Bank
Silver Bank
Silver Bank is an area in the Atlantic Ocean north of the Dominican Republic and southeast of the Territory of Turks & Caicos. It covers an area of 1680 km² . It is separated from Mouchoir Bank in the west by Silver Bank Passage, and from Navidad Bank in the east by Navidad Bank Passage...

. From then until April the divers and ships' crews worked to recover all manner of treasure: gold and silver bullion, doubloons, jewelry, and other artifacts. Concerned about the possibility of mutiny, Phips guaranteed to the crew, who had been hired for seaman's wages, that they would receive shares in the find, even if he had to pay them from his own percentage. He carefully avoided putting in at any ports before anchoring at Gravesend
Gravesend, Kent
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...

, where he dispatched a courier to London with the news.

Phips reported recovering £300,000 worth of treasure from the wreck, although modern assessments place the value closer to £210,000. Of this amount much went to Albemarle, who owned at least 25 percent of the venture's shares. Phips, after paying out £8,000 in crew shares, received £11,000. Phips was treated as a hero in London, and the find was the talk of the town. Some economic historians argue that Phips' find significantly changed history because it lead to a major increase in the formation of joint-stock companies, and even played a role in the eventual formation in the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...

.

Phips and the crew were rewarded by the investors with medals, and Phips was knighted by James in June. James also rewarded Phips with the post of provost marshal general (chief sheriff) of the Dominion of New England
Dominion of New England
The Dominion of New England in America was an administrative union of English colonies in the New England region of North America. The dominion was ultimately a failure because the area it encompassed was too large for a single governor to manage...

, serving under Sir Edmund Andros
Edmund Andros
Sir Edmund Andros was an English colonial administrator in North America. Andros was known most notably for his governorship of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. He also governed at various times the provinces of New York, East and West Jersey, Virginia, and...

. In September 1687 Phips returned to the wreck, though he did not command the venture. Admiral Narborough elected to personally lead the expedition, which was supported by King James, who purchased shares and provided a navy frigate for security. The expedition was not very successful. The wreck had been discovered by others, and the arrival of the English scattered more than 20 smaller ships. Treasure worth only £10,000 was recovered before Narborough's death in May 1688 brought the expedition to an end. Phips had by then already left the wreck site in early May, sailing for Boston to take up his post as provost marshal general.

Military expeditions


Phips was ill-suited for the post. He had no administrative or legal experience, and he had no significant political connections either with the Andros administration or with local politicians. The Andros council had also already appointed a provost marshal by the time Phips arrived and sheriffs had been sworn in. Andros, distracted by Indian frontier issues and the impending annexation of New York and the Jerseys to the dominion, did not initially meet with Phips upon his arrival in early June. Although Andros actually swore Phips into the post in early July, his council refused Phips' demand that the previously named sheriffs be dismissed. Angry at his treatment and the uncertainty over his status, Phips sailed for London in mid-July. During this relatively brief stay in Boston, Phips attended Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather, FRS was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer; he is often remembered for his role in the Salem witch trials...

's services at the North Church, and established a close relationship with the influential pastor.

Upon his arrival in London, he learned that his principal patrons, Narborough and Albemarle, were either dead or dying. (Albemarle, then governor of Jamaica, was only rumored to be ill at the time, but he died in October.) He established contact with Cotton's father Increase
Increase Mather
Increase Mather was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay . He was a Puritan minister who was involved with the government of the colony, the administration of Harvard College, and most notoriously, the Salem witch trials...

, who was in London working to end the Andros regime and restore the old Massachusetts charter. Motivated by a shared dislike of Andros, they worked together to bring about his downfall. After the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...

 in late 1688 replaced the Catholic James with the Protestants William and Mary
William and Mary
The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...

, Phips and Mather petitioned the new monarchs for restoration of the Massachusetts charter, and successfully convinced the Lords of Trade to delay the transmission of formal instructions about the change of power to Andros. Phips returned to Boston in May 1689, carrying proclamations from the king and queen, to find that Andros had been arrested in a revolt in Boston
1689 Boston revolt
The 1689 Boston revolt was a popular uprising on April 18, 1689, against the rule of Sir Edmund Andros, the governor of the Dominion of New England. A well-organized "mob" of provincial militia and citizens formed in the city and arrested dominion officials...

. Phips served for a time as an overseer guarding some of the high-profile prisoners taken in the revolt; Edward Randolph
Edward Randolph
Edward Randolph , sometimes referred to as Edward Randolph of Bremo, was a ship captain, a London tobacco merchant, and the seventh and youngest son of William Randolph and Mary Isham.-Biography:...

 accused him of opening their letters in his account of the captivity.

Port Royal expedition

The turmoil in England and William's accession to the throne had prompted France to declare war on England. New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...

's Governor General Denonville
Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville
Jacques-Rene de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville was Governor General of New France from 1685 to 1689 and was a key figure in the Beaver Wars....

 took advantage of the political turmoil in New England and New York to launch a series of Indian raids across the northern frontier in 1689 and early 1690. The provisional government of Massachusetts established after the arrest of Andros was called on to respond to these raids, and in March 1690 Phips was appointed by the General Court to lead an expedition against the French in Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...

. Leading a fleet of seven ships and over 700 men, he sailed from Boston in late April and arrived before the Acadian capital, Port Royal
Port Royal, Nova Scotia
Port Royal was the capital of Acadia from 1605 to 1710 and is now a town called Annapolis Royal in the western part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Initially Port Royal was located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, at the site of the present reconstruction of the...

 in early June. On May 9 he summoned its governor
Battle of Port Royal (1690)
The Battle of Port Royal occurred at Port Royal, the capital of French Acadia, during King William's War , the first of the four French and Indian Wars. A large force of New England provincial militia arrived before Port Royal, which was surrendered without resistance not long after...

, Louis-Alexandre des Friches de Meneval
Louis-Alexandre des Friches de Meneval
Louis-Alexandre des Friches de Menneval was a governor of Acadia from 1687-1690.Little is known of his early life. He did serve in the French army in France with distinction and won Turenne’s notice and praise....

, to surrender. Meneval, in command of about 70 men and a fort in disrepair, promptly negotiated terms of capitulation. When Phips came ashore the next day, it was discovered that Acadians had been removing valuables, including some that were government property (and thus were supposed to come under the victor's control). Phips, whose motives continue to be debated by historians today, claimed this was a violation of the terms of capitulation, and consequently declared the agreement void. He allowed his troops to sack the town and destroy the church, acts that he had promised to prevent in the oral surrender agreement. He had the fortifications destroyed, removing all of their weaponry. Before he left, he convinced a number of Acadians to swear oaths of allegiance to the English crown, appointed a council of locals to administer the town, and then sailed back to Boston, carrying Meneval and his garrison as prisoners of war. Phips received a hero's welcome and was lavished with praise, although he was criticized in some circles (and has been vilified in French and Acadian histories) for allowing the sacking of Port Royal. Governor Meneval petitioned in vain for the return of minor valuables (silverware and other small items) that Phips had taken.

Quebec expedition

In the wake of the success, the Massachusetts provisional government agreed to organize an expedition on a larger scale against Quebec
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

, the capital of New France, and gave its command to Phips. Originally intending to coordinate with a simultaneous overland attack on Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 launched from Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

, the expedition's departure was delayed in the vain hope that needed munitions would arrive from England. The expedition, counting 34 ships and more than 2,000 soldiers, finally sailed on August 20. It was short on ammunition, had no pilots
Maritime pilot
A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbours or river mouths. With the exception of the Panama Canal, the pilot is only an advisor, as the captain remains in legal, overriding command of the vessel....

 familiar with the Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...

, and carried what would turn out to be inadequate provisions.

Because of contrary winds and the difficulty in navigating the Saint Lawrence, the expedition took eight weeks to reach Quebec. The late arrival (wintry conditions were already setting in on the river) and the long voyage meant that it would be impossible to conduct a lengthy siege. Phips sent a message into the citadel demanding its surrender. Governor General Louis de Buade de Frontenac
Louis de Buade de Frontenac
Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau was a French soldier, courtier, and Governor General of New France from 1672 to 1682 and from 1689 to his death in 1698...

 declared that his only response would be from "the mouths of my cannons". Phips then held a war council, which decided to make a combined land assault and naval bombardment. Both elements failed. The landing force, 1,200 men led by Major John Walley, were unable to cross the well-defended Saint-Charles River
Saint-Charles River
Saint-Charles River is a river of Quebec , and the main river in Quebec City. Its huron-wendat name is Akiawenrahk.-Geography:It springs from Saint-Charles Lake, follows a course of approximately 33 km and ends into Saint Lawrence River...

, and the naval bombardment failed because the New Englanders' guns were unable to reach the high battlements of the city, and they furthermore soon ran out of ammunition. The fighting, according to Phips, cost the expedition 30 casualties and one field cannon. However, disease and disaster were to take a greater toll. Smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

 ravaged the troops, and two transports were lost to accidents; another 200 men were lost to these causes.

The expedition cost the colony £50,000 to mount, for which it issued paper currency, a first in the English colonies. Many of the expedition's participants and creditors were unhappy at being paid this way, and Phips generously purchased some of the depreciated paper with hard currency, incurring financial losses in the process. He returned to England in February 1691 to seek financial and political support for another expedition.

Governor of Massachusetts Bay

He found no further support for another expedition against New France, and instead joined with Increase Mather and other agents to gain a new charter for Massachusetts. A number of Mather's requests concerning the charter were rejected, but William and Mary placated Mather by allowing him to nominate the colony's next governor. At Mather's suggestion, the monarchs appointed Phips the first royal governor under a newly issued colonial charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay
Province of Massachusetts Bay
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony in North America. It was chartered on October 7, 1691 by William and Mary, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England and Scotland...

. The charter greatly expanded the colony's bounds, including not just the territories of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but also those of the Plymouth Colony, islands south of Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...

 including Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....

 and Nantucket, and the present-day territories of Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

, and Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

.

On reaching Boston on May 14, 1692, Phips found the colony gripped by witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

 hysteria. Beginning in February 1692, more than 125 people were arrested on charges of witchcraft, and were held in prison pending the inauguration of the new government. Phips established a special Court of Oyer and Terminer to hear the accumulated cases
Salem witch trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...

 on May 27, appointing Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton
William Stoughton (Massachusetts)
William Stoughton was a colonial magistrate and admininstrator in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He was in charge of what have come to be known as the Salem Witch Trials, first as the Chief Justice of the Special Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692, and then as the Chief Justice of the...

 as the chief judge. The court notoriously admitted spectral evidence
Spectral evidence
Spectral evidence is a form of evidence based upon dreams and visions. It was admitted in court during the Salem witch trials by the appointed chief justice, William Stoughton. The booklet A Tryal of Witches taken from a contemporary report of the proceedings of the Bury St...

 (alleged demonic visions) and denied the accused access to legal counsel, and a number of people were convicted and executed based on such evidence. Although the court was terminated in September 1692, accusations and arrests continued, including charges against some fairly high profile individuals. Phips finally put an end to the proceedings by first suspending the trials, and then in May 1693 releasing prisoners (numbering about 150) charged with witchcraft.
French and Indian raids had resumed in the years following Phips' 1690 expeditions, so he sought to improve the province's defenses. Pursuant to his instructions from London, in 1692 he oversaw the construction of a stone fort, which was dubbed Fort William Henry
Fort William Henry (Pemaquid Beach, Maine)
The Fort William Henry is located in the village of New Harbor in the town of Bristol, Maine. The fort was the largest in New England. The fort was originally built in 1692 but destroyed four years later by New France in the Siege of Pemaquid . The fort was rebuilt in 1908. The fort was added to...

, at Pemaquid (present-day Bristol, Maine
Bristol, Maine
Bristol is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,644 at the 2000 census. A fishing and resort area, Bristol includes the villages of New Harbor, Pemaquid, Round Pond, Bristol Mills and Chamberlain. It includes the Pemaquid Archeological Site, a U.S. National...

), where a wooden fort had been destroyed in 1689
Siege of Pemaquid (1689)
The Siege of Pemaquid was a successful attack by a large band of Abenaki Indians on the English fort at Pemaquid, then the easternmost outpost of colonial Massachusetts...

. The expense involved in this effort made it unpopular in the province. Attempts by Phips to coordinate defenses with neighboring provinces were marred by difficulties often emanating from his rough personality and temper (relations with the neighbors improved after his departure.) He recruited Major Benjamin Church to lead a 450-man expedition against the Indians in Maine. In August 1693 Phips reached a tenuous peace agreement with the Abenaki people; it was eventually subverted by French intrigues to bring the Abenaki back on the warpath, and had no lasting impact.

Phips' governorship was marked by political factionalism, and his lack of connections to existing local powers hurt him. Furthermore, Joseph Dudley
Joseph Dudley
Joseph Dudley was an English colonial administrator. A native of Roxbury, Massachusetts and son of one of its founders, he had a leading role in the administration of the unpopular Dominion of New England , and served briefly on the council of the Province of New York, where he oversaw the trial...

, a Massachusetts native (and former dominion official) was in London, scheming to replace him. He frequently quarreled with friends, foes, and other government officials. His biographers describe his behavior as "blustering aggressiveness", and his contemporaries complained of his "lowness of education". He quarreled with neighboring governors over military issues, and aggravated a border dispute with neighboring Rhode Island
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original English Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of North America that, after the American Revolution, became the modern U.S...

. He twice got into physical altercations with other government officials, situations that Dudley and his other opponents highlighted to the Lords of Trade. He was also accused of violating the Navigation Acts
Navigation Acts
The English Navigation Acts were a series of laws that restricted the use of foreign shipping for trade between England and its colonies, a process which had started in 1651. Their goal was to force colonial development into lines favorable to England, and stop direct colonial trade with the...

 (which he was, as governor, supposed to enforce) in what his opponents described as "illegal and self-serving commercial activities". Phips' attempts to justify his actions included attacks on his enemies, many of whom were on good terms with the colonial secretary, William Blathwayt
William Blathwayt
William Blathwayt was a civil servant and politician who established the War Office as a department of the British Government and played an important part in administering the Thirteen Colonies of North America....

. Blathwayt continued to support him, as did Increase Mather, but this was not enough to overcome the many complaints lodged against him.

On July 4, 1694 Phips received an official summons to appear before the Lords of Trade in London. He spent much of the summer at Pemaquid, overseeing the frontier defenses, while Lieutenant Governor Stoughton oversaw the gathering of evidence for the hearing. He sailed for England on November 17, and arrived in London on January 1, 1694/5. Upon his arrival, he was arrested on exaggerated charges, levied by Dudley, that he had conspired to withhold customs monies. Dudley had hoped that the £20,000 bail would prevent Phips' return to Massachusetts, but Phips was bailed by Sir Henry Ashurst. However, Phips fell ill with a fever while preparing his defense, and died on February 18, 1694/5, before his charges were heard. He was buried in London in the yard of the Church of St. Mary Woolnoth
St Mary Woolnoth
St. Mary Woolnoth is an Anglican church in the City of London, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, located on the corner of Lombard Street and King William Street near the Bank of England.- Early history :...

. His grave was originally marked, but the marker was removed (and his coffin possibly moved within the church grounds) during renovations in the 18th century.

Family and legacy

William and Mary Phips had no children. They adopted Spencer Bennett
Spencer Phips
Spencer Phips was a British politician in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Born Spencer Bennett, he was adopted by Massachusetts Governor Sir William Phips, whose name he legally took...

, the son of Mary's sister Rebecca, who formally took the Phips name in 1716. He went on to serve as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, including two periods as acting governor.

Phippsburg, Maine
Phippsburg, Maine
Phippsburg is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States, on the west side of the mouth of the Kennebec River. The population was 2,106 at the 2000 census. It is within the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical rea...

 is named in his honor.

External links

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