Thomas Collins (died 1719) was a pirate active in theIndian Ocean. He is best known for leading a pirate settlement and trading post onMadagascar.
Theprivateering shipCharming Mary left New York in 1694, bound for Madagascar under captainRichard Glover. It was captured by pirates underJohn Ireland andRichard Bobbington and cruised against Moors in the Indian Ocean for several years. Collins had been aboard theCharming Mary, either as one of the original New York crew, or having joined when the ship put intoIle Ste Marie to trade and take on additional crew to continue its piracy.[1] Alternately, Collins may have come to the area withHenry Every before transferring to theCharming Mary; Every's shipFancy left London (asCharles II) in 1693 and was in the Indian Ocean when he captured the treasure shipGunsway in 1695.[2] A Malagasy ruler namedRatsimilaho (purportedly born in 1694) was said to be the son of a native queen and an English pirate named "Tom", often cited asThomas Tew;[a] it's also possible Thomas Collins was the father.[3]
By 1699 Collins had joinedEvan Jones aboard his shipBeckford Galley.[b] Working with pirate traderAbraham Samuel at hisPort Dauphin settlement, they captured the shipProphet Daniel, among whose crew was future New York City alderman and mayorJohn Cruger.[4] Jones tried to recruit additional pirates but some declined so they could return to England or America and seek a pardon.[5]
Collins may have returned with them, as he was next listed as carpenter of theDegrave, a ship which left England in early 1701 but was lost off Madagascar that June. Most of the crew made their way among the Malagasy natives, leaving aboard other ships or settling with local tribes.[6] Collins joined the crew of pirateGeorge Booth and helped him capture theSpeaker late that year.[3] Later he sailed withThomas Howard aboard theProsperous but was wounded and left behind when Howard's sailors started a fight at the plantation of ex-pirateAert Van Tuyl.[7]
Escaping from Van Tuyl, Collins had made his way back to Port Dauphin by 1707. Abraham Samuel had died the previous year and Collins took over his settlement and trading post, remaining there for over a decade. Historian Charles Grey writes, "The position was very valuable, for Collins, like Samuells, held the monopoly of the slave trade and, like Samuells, charged ~100 to each ship that called in for that purpose, or to provision and shelter."[6] Future Bahamas GovernorWoodes Rogers visited Collins there in 1714.[2]Robert Drury, a fellow castaway from theDegrave,[c] came to Port Dauphin in 1716 and found Collins there with fellow ex-pirate traderJohn Pro, noting that they "had lived without pirating for nine years."[8] By 1718 there were only a few ex-pirates left at Port Dauphin so Collins and John Pro left for Ile Ste Marie, where they died in 1719.[d][6] Royal Navy ships ousted the last of the Madagascar pirates in 1723.[8]
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