Career
Rhett was colonel of the Provincial militia, receiver-general of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, surveyor, and comptroller of customs for Carolina and the Bahama Islands. In 1706, Rhett commanded a flotilla which fought off a Franco-Spanish attack on Charles Town. In 1716 he provided two vessels to be fitted out as pirate hunters - the Henry and the Sea Nymph, each with eight guns and a crew of between 60 and 70 mentor
Rhett assumed the position of captain of this small flotilla and led it to victory in the 1718 Battle of Cape Fear River, capturing the infamous Stede Bonnet, the so-called "gentleman pirate."
Rhett"s house in Charleston, completed in 1716, still stands in its original location at 54 Hasell Saint, Charleston, South Carolina.
lieutenant has been restored and is now privately owned. A descendant was Robert Rhett.
William Rhett is a minor character in Tim Powers" novel On Stranger Tides. Lars Arentz-Hansen plays William Rhett in the Starz television series Black Sails.