The Amazing Life of Sir William Phips: Treasure Hunter, General, and Governor

In 1686, Sir William Phips discovered and salvaged a Caribbean shipwreck holding more than 30 tons of silver. The treasure was worth many millions of dollars in today’s terms. And he did it more than 250 years before the birth of modern scuba gear. His success was so influential that his investment group was considered a successful example of how a joint stock company could work (and these suddenly became more widespread just afterwards). A few years later, this same model was used for the formation of the Bank of England, which continued to be owned by private investors until the mid-20th century.

That experience alone should be enough to get someone into the history books. But the interesting life of Sir William Phips (sometimes spelled as Phipps) did not stop there. As a general for the Massachusetts Bay colony, Phips launched two attacks against French Canadian cities; the first was successful, but the battle he launched against Quebec was a total failure. Massachusetts spent so much money in attacking Quebec that it went into debt and had to issue the first paper money in any British colony.

Somehow, Phips was still appointed as Governor of Massachusetts Bay. Notably, he served as governor during the Salem witch trials. A wave of mass hysteria, fueled by the Puritan-dominated church at the time, swept Massachusetts, resulting in 150 people being tried for witchcraft and demonic possession. Initially tolerating this delusion, Phips eventually shut down the tribunals and pardoned those who had been accused or imprisoned as witches.

Let’s take a closer look at the highlights of this guy’s amazing life.

The Treasure Hunter

As a young man, William Phips worked as a shepherd and then a shipbuilder in Maine and Boston. He became lumber-trading captain of a small ship and began to take it to the Bahamas to search for treasure from Spanish shipwrecks. There was a lot of gold and silver down there, which Spanish ships had hauled from the mines of Mexico and South America back towards Europe (some ships never made it that far). Apparently, Phips found enough treasure to impress his investors and he developed a reputation.

Also impressed was Sir John Narborough, commissioner of the Royal Navy. On a visit to England, Narborough secured Phips a meeting with King Charles II. He also gained the support of Admiral Samuel Pepys (who is better known for his famous diary). William Phips came away with the captaincy of a Navy vessel, which had orders to help maintain political order in Boston and then to head south to seek treasure. Without having much luck in the Bahamas, the vessel went to Jamaica and then to the coast of Hispaniola (modern day Dominican Republic & Haiti). There, Phips traced down reports of a shipwrecked Spanish galleon.

1600s painting of a Spanish galleon by Cornelius Verbeeck. Public Domain.

By then, he needed a new ship. With the help of Narborough, after another trip to England, Phips assembled a group of investors that included the Duke of Albemarle. He obtained the use of two large ships and outfitted them with the equipment he needed. Historians agree that Phips knew exactly where he was going for this expedition. Narborough definitely had become obsessed with treasure hunting himself and they may have sold their investors on the fact that Phips had pinpointed the wreck location already. To act as cover, he purchased a quantity of goods for his ships, appearing in Samana Bay, Hispaniola with merchandise to trade, so that no one would suspect his true purpose there.

Silver Bank in the Caribbean Ocean. Source: aggressor.com.

1600s Spanish silver. Source: newworldtreasures.com.

Captain Phips hired native freedivers. Some accounts say that they used diving bells also. To prevent a mutiny, he offered shares to each crewmember rather than their typical wages. They searched an area just offshore called Ambrosia Bank (now known as Silver Bank, for good reason) and soon located the cannons and debris from a Spanish shipwreck. The Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion had gone down in those waters in 1641, about 45 years earlier. Over the next few months, they recovered 34 tons of treasure from the site, including silver coins, silver bullion, jewelry, doubloons, artifacts, and a little gold. The loot was worth more than 200,000 British pounds, which would be many millions on today’s terms.

Phips was considered a hero. After giving part of the fortune to the crown there, he was knighted in England. The joint stock company, an enterprise he and his investors had used, suddenly became very popular, with many more people registering them in the next few years. Even the Bank of England did so just a few years later. And Phips went back to Massachusetts as one of its wealthiest residents.

The General

Later appointed as an army general for the Massachusetts Bay colony, Phips led an attack against a French Canadian city on the eastern seaboard, Port Royal in Nova Scotia (then part of Acadia). He was hailed as a hero for taking it easily. It probably didn’t hurt that he overwhelmed the 70 soldiers in the ill-prepared French fort with a naval force of seven ships and some 700 men.

When Phips tried to repeat his luck against a larger target, he was not so successful. In 1690, he led Massachusetts in an invasion of Quebec, which turned into an expensive failure. Quebec was France’s base in Canada and the British dearly wanted them evicted from North America. Phips' envoy attempted to get the French to surrender, but they would not.

Overall, Phips’ attack did not go well, partly since the French were ready for it and had fortified the city. First, Phips could not find a pilot with experience to navigate the St. Lawrence River, so getting upriver took much longer than anticipated and they only arrived late in the year as the weather was getting colder. Second, the land-based militia party that was supposed to weaken the city for the ships ran into problems that included smallpox and a lack of supplies; it ended up turning back rather than helping prepare for the battle. Third, the French stood ready when Phips’ ships landed near Quebec, shelling the troops with an onslaught of cannons and repelling the invasion.

The Battle of Quebec was so expensive that Massachusetts went into debt, becoming the first British colony to issue paper money in 1690.

The Governor

When Phips went to England to ask for more support for another attack on Quebec, William and Mary instead made Phips the first royally-appointed governor of Massachusetts. They may have thought that a native born governor would be more palatable in the colony, even if Mother England was not giving it the autonomy that it wanted. During this time, the church and its Puritan ministers (especially the Mathers) held tremendous power in Boston and throughout New England. Phips was not religious, but he had the initial support of the Mathers, and eventually he did convert to Christianity, perhaps as a political decision.

As governor, Phips tolerated and helped enable the delusional Salem witch trials, which followed a wave of mass hysteria over witchcraft and demonic possession that were said to have consumed a large number of souls in colonial Massachusetts. The cases of accused witches (some 150 of them) overwhelmed the court system. Phips participated in setting up a special tribunal. At the very least, history tells us that he tolerated and turned a blind eye to the injustices that were occurring.

Finally, Phips ended up being the leader who shut down the tribunals. Perhaps he was influenced by the fact that they accused his wife of being a witch, which may have been the final straw. He also pardoned everyone who had been accused or convicted of witchery (though he was not able to help those who had been hanged or stoned to death already).

Shortly thereafter, Phips travelled to England again, seeking political support. This time, he was accused of corruption, which was probably a frivolous charge made by an opponent. He died before the date of his trial.

The Big Score

It’s surprising that few people have heard of Sir William Phips. But some experts believe he had another impact on history as well: popularizing the “big score” (acquiring a life-changing fortune in a short period of time). Before he went treasure hunting, Phips had come from a poor background. He was not a member of any privileged class. There was no reason he necessarily should have succeeded in his treasure hunting, but before he left on his expedition, he had told his wife that they would be rich and she would have a big house in the best part of Boston.

Somehow, he became incredibly fortunate, and after discovering wealth, he gained military and then political power. He was famous during his time and it was a time when few people outside the aristocracy had the chance to experience great success. Most people simply worked hard and were not aware of any opportunity to change their stations in life. Historians have argued that Phips’ life story popularized the belief that it was possible for anyone to find fortune and success. Given the stain of the Salem witch trials, I would not say that Phips did everything right, but he sure lived an interesting life.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Phips#Governor_of_Massachusetts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_England
http://www.newbostonhistoricalsociety.com/phips.html
https://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials
https://www.americanheritage.com/content/william-phips-and-big-jackpot

Top image: Sir William Phips' envoy demanding the surrender of Quebec (the French governor refused). Most other images are public domain, unless otherwise credited in the text.