Background
He was born probably in 1650 in England, United Kingdom.
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Thomas Pound
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also known as
Thomas Pounds, Thomas Ponnd
Education
There is no information about his education.
Career
In 1687 he was in New England and on May 27 of that year was ordered by Governor Andros to serve as pilot on the frigate Rose. On April 4, 1688, he was again ordered to the Rose, but the order was cancelled, and three months later, July 11, Andros gave him command of the sloop Mary.
In August 1689, Pound, Thomas Hawkins, and six or eight others left Boston in a boat belonging to Hawkins, planning to capture the first suitable vessel they encountered and go to the West Indies to prepare for an expedition against the French. Near Nantucket they captured a fishing ketch which they took to Casco Bay. Here they recruited more men and took on supplies, then sailed for Cape Cod. On August 16 they captured the sloop Goodspeed under Race Point, and on August 27, the brigantine Merrimack, out of Newburyport, near Martha's Vineyard. Going south, and driven by winds to the Virginia shore, they entered York River and captured a negro whom they subsequently sold to a Salem shipmaster.
Returning to the New England coast, they continued to stop vessels, taking foodstuffs chiefly, until October 4, when they were captured by the Mary under Capt. Samuel Pease, after a fight in which four of Pound's men were slain and nine wounded. The pirates were examined on October 19 and on January 3, 1690, all were condemned to be hanged. Only one was executed, however; the others, "except Tom Pounds, " being reprieved February 20. Four days later, "at the Instance of Mr. Epaphras Shrimpton and sundry women of quality" Pound also was reprieved.
Hawkins' sisters were the wives of eminent citizens - two of his brothers-in-law were members of the Court of Assistants - and undoubtedly it was family influence that saved the culprits. The following year Pound and Hawkins were on their way to England in the Rose when the frigate was attacked by a French privateer and the captain and Hawkins were killed. Pound assumed command and took the ship to England, where he reported the incident to Andros in July.
On August 5, 1691, he became captain of the frigate Sally Rose of the Royal Navy. From 1692 to 1695 Pound served in the British navy in European waters. On February 2 of the latter year he was transferred to the Dover Prize and assigned to the Irish station. Two years later, April 17, 1697, he was sent to America in the same vessel to serve on the Virginia station. On March 22, 1698, he sailed again for England.
Losing his command in 1699, he quit the sea forever and settled down as a country gentleman near Isleworth, Middlesex. There he died in 1703.
Achievements
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Pound's naval rank was restored after his brief piratical career and he was given command of his own vessel, served in the British navy in European waters. To Pound belongs the credit of producing the first map of Boston Harbor to be engraved, entitled A New Mapp of New England from Cape Codd to Cape Sables.
Connections
He had a wife, Elizabeth.
