Thomas Phips

“ Truth is, Phips was anxious that Gering should have no chance of objecting to the scoundrel who had, years before, tried to kidnap his now affianced wife—who had escaped a deserved death on the gallows. It was a rude age, and men of Phips’s quality, with no particular niceness as to women, or horror as to mutiny when it was twenty years old, compromised with their conscience for expediency and gain. Moreover, in his humorous way, Bucklaw, during his connection with Phips in England, had made himself agreeable and resourceful. ”

“ His governorship having ceased, Sir William Phips sailed for England, and was meditating a fresh expedition in search of shipwrecked treasure when he was taken suddenly ill, and died at the age of forty-five. While his adventurous career affords us little hope that any of us will ever, like him, discover shipwrecked wealth, it gives us a fine example of what perseverance combined with intelligence, courage and honesty can accomplish in the face of great difficulties; for it was a union of all these qualities which enabled Sir William Phips to wrest fortune and honors from the ocean depths. ”

“ William Phipps, having thought the boy to be following more closely than he was, stopped to let him catch up. Thus he noted the look of anguish with which the lad was leaving that grim remnant of King Philip behind. Phipps was one of Nature’s “motherly men”—hardly 17ever more numerous than rocs’ eggs on the earth. He felt his heart go forth to Adam Rust. Therefore it was that he looked down in the boy’s face, time after time, as they walked along together. Thus they came to the water-front and wharves, at the end of one of which the brig “Captain Spencer” was swinging. ”

“ Phips and his men continued to fish up plate, bullion, and dollars, as plentifully as ever, till their provisions grew short. Then, as they could not feed upon gold and silver any more than old King Midas could, they found it necessary to go in search of food. Phips returned to England, arriving there in 1687, and was received with great joy by the Albemarles and other English lords who had fitted out the vessel. Well they might rejoice; for they took the greater part of the treasures to themselves. ”

“ But Sir William Phips had not always worn a gold-embroidered coat, nor always sat so much at his ease as he did in Grandfather's chair. He was a poor man's son, and was born in the province of Maine, where in his boyhood he used to tend sheep upon the hills. Until he had grown to be a man, he did not even know how to read and write. Tired of tending sheep, he apprenticed himself to a ship-carpenter, and spent about four years in hewing the crooked limbs of oak trees into knees for vessels. ”

“ To Phips fell his allotted share of a sixteenth, which set him up with sixteen thousand pounds sterling. The Duke of Albemarle was so much gratified that he sent to that "gentlewoman" Mrs. William Phips, a gold cup worth a thousand pounds. Phips showed himself an honest man in age when sea morals were exceeding lax, and not a penny of the treasure, beyond what was due him, stuck to his fingers. Men of his integrity were not over plentiful in England after the Restoration, and the King liked and trusted this brusque, stalwart sailor from New England. ”

“ Phips himself had sprung from the lower orders,—the son of a small farmer,—and even in future days when he rose to a high position in the colonies, gaining knighthood and other honours, he had the manners and speech of “a man of the people.” ”

“ Phipps received his honors modestly. He was too patriotic to desert America and bluntly said so to his King. He and Adam received, as their share of the treasure, the one tenth agreed upon, amounting to thirty thousand pounds, of which sum all that the Captain could prevail upon Rust to accept was a third, a sum, the rover said, far in excess of the needs of his retinue and himself. ”

“ Of this amount much went to the duke of Albemarle, who had fitted out the second expedition. Phips received £16,000 as his share, was knighted by James II., and was appointed sheriE of New England under Sir Edmund Andros. Poorly educated and ignorant of law, Phips could accomplish little, and returned to England. In 1689 he returned to Massachusetts, found a revolutionary government in control, and at once entered into the life of the colony. ”

“ Phipps had sprung from a poor apprentice boy, to be the richest and most powerful man in New England. He had won title and wealth from the mother government, by his indomitable energies, while Samuel Parris had dreamed his life away, under the roof where the embryo great man had taken his first charity lesson. But though one was a man of thought, and the other of progress, no distance of time nor station could separate them.
Governor Phipps was in the prime of life, a man of noble presence, strong in intellect and in power. Parris was old and bowed to the earth with trouble ”

“ On Sunday morning Captain Phipps betook himself to his brig, as she lay in mid-stream, to pother about by himself, while Adam dutifully escorted Goodwife Phipps to meeting, at South Church, which was nearer than the old church and more popular as well.
It was a solemn, black procession of Puritans that walked decorously to meeting in the sunlight. The day was one of almost unseemly beauty, for Nature was fairly barbarous in the colors which she wore like jewels. ”

“ The eldest son of the venerable clergyman was Thomas Phipps, Esq., who married his cousin, Rebecca, daughter of Hugh Rose, Esq., and whose son, Henry Hugh Thomas Rose Phipps, Esq. of Lincoln’s Inn, is the nearest male-heir of Esther Raboteau. The Rev. Barre Phipps’ second son, Captain Henry Barre Phipps (who has had four sons) , and Commander William Hugh Phipps, R.N., are brothers of the late Thomas Phipps, Esq. Marie Raboteau, had three sons, William, John Charles, and Robert (Senior Fellow, T.C.D.) ; she had four daughters, of whom Anne, wife of Thomas Holmes, Esq. ”

“ There was no house in Westbourne that gave her abilities half such scope as that of Mrs Captain Phipps—so the lady continued to style herself. Miss Jenny's father had advised there till he departed; after which event, the widow and her son confided in his heiress. Master Harry Phipps was not what would be called a successful young man. He was not either wild or remarkably stupid, as the world goes; his mother knew him to be a dear domestic fellow, who would play the flute or dominos for weeks of evenings in her back-parlour. ”

“ Phips disliked Radisson; the sinister Frenchman, with his evil history, was impossible to the open, bluff captain. He had been placed upon Phips’s vessel because he knew the entrance to the harbour; but try as he would for a kind of comradeship, he failed: he had an ugly vanity and a bad heart. There was only one decent thing which still clung to him in rags and tatters—the fact that he was a Frenchman. He had made himself hated on the ship—having none of the cunning tact of Bucklaw. As Phips and Bucklaw went below, a sudden devilry entered into him. He was ripe for quarrel, eager for battle. ”

“ She now met Sir William Phipps, Governor-elect of New England, who had finally arrived and who was scanning the gathering company for a sight of Adam Rust.
“Oh, how well you are looking, Sir William,” she cried to Phipps, delightedly.
377“I am looking for a friend,” said the captain, with his customary bluntness. “But thank you, Lady Margaret, thank you, heartily.”
“If you are looking for a friend, why, look over my head?” she said to him, prettily. “Oh, you dear Colonial Governors are such delightfully honest people. We all have to like you, really.” ”

“ Phips a magnificent gold cup, worth at least five thousand dollars. Before Captain Phips left London, King James made him a knight; so that, instead of the obscure ship-carpenter who had formerly dwelt among them, the inhabitants of Boston welcomed him on his return as the rich and famous Sir William Phips.
CHAPTER XI. WHAT THE CHAIR HAD KNOWN.
“Sir William Phips,” continued Grandfather, “was too active and adventurous a man to sit still in the quiet enjoyment of his good fortune. ”

“ At the head of the table, in our great chair, sat Sir William Phips himself, treating these hard handed men as his brethren, cracking jokes with them, and talking familiarly about old times. I know not whether he wore his embroidered dress, but I rather choose to imagine that he had on a suit of rough clothes, such as he used to labor in, while he was Phips the ship-carpenter."
"An aristocrat need not be ashamed of the trade," observed Laurence ”

“ Meanwhile Phipps acted as secretary to his brother, Constantine Henry, first marquis of Normanby [q. v.] , when governor of Jamaica, 1832-4, and in that capacity went from plantation to plantation, announcing to the slaves that they were to be free. When his brother went to Ireland as lord lieutenant in 1835, Phipps became steward of the viceregal household, and held the office until 1839. For a short time he was secretary to the master-general of the ordnance. On 1 Aug. 1846 he became equerry to the queen, and on 1 Jan. 1847 private secretary to the prince consort. ”

“ It occurred to John as a very bright thought, to make inquiry at the steward's office, to whom the chambers belonged, or by whom they were held; but he came back no wiser than he went, the answer being, "Mr. Fips, of Austin Friars."
"After all, Tom, I begin to think it lies no deeper than this. Fips is an eccentric man; has some knowledge of Pecksniff; despises him, of course; has heard or seen enough of you to know that you are the man he wants; and engages you in his own whimsical manner." ”

“ Phipps, like the woodsman from Maine that he was, hewed his way from one group to another, shouting to his men, hoarsely. The beef-eaters, as inseparable as when they were dancing, chose but one man between them, and one such they peeled to a horrid core, as the demon rushed upon their sharpened weapons. ”

“ Miss Phipps looked at her and made a little signal, but Mademoiselle only shook her head, and held out her hands with a helpless gesture, and then Miss Phipps began to speak herself, in such a gentle voice—a voice quite different from her usual brisk, decided accents.
“Pixie dear, I have something to tell you. God has been very kind to the dear father whom you love so much. ”

“ Cotton Mather deserves the thanks of all good treasure seekers, however, for having given us the first-hand story of William Phips whom he knew well and extravagantly admired. In fact, after this hero had come sailing home with his treasures and because of these riches was made Sir William Phips and Royal Governor of Massachusetts by Charles II, he had his pew in the old North Church of Boston of which Rev. ”

“ As he did so the surgeon and the chief mate came running towards him. They had not time to explain, for came streaming upon deck a crowd of mutineers. Phips did not hesitate an instant; he had no fear—he was swelling with anger.
"Why now, you damned dogs," he blurted out, "what mean you by this?
What's all this show of cutlasses?"
The ringleader stepped forwards. "We're sick of doing nothing," he answered. "We've come on a wild goose chase. There's no treasure here. We mean you no harm; we want not the ship out of your hands." ”

“ Peter Phipps, who knew men through and through, and had also a profound acquaintance with women of a certain class, was face to face, for once, with a type of which he knew little. The woman who could refuse his millions, offered in such a manner, could have no real existence for him. ”

“ Peter Phipps was a man whose life had been spent in facing and overcoming difficulties, but, as he took the chair to which Josephine had somewhat ungraciously pointed, he was compelled to admit to himself that he was confronted with a task which might well tax his astuteness to the utmost. ”

“ But the king replied, that he knew Phipps to be an honest man, and that he and his friends should divide the whole treasure amongst them, even though he had returned with double the value. Phipps’s share was about £20,000, and the king, to show his approval of his energy and honesty in conducting the enterprise, conferred upon him the honour of knighthood. ”

“ Work went on until the last moment of sun. That night talk was long and sleep short, and work was on again at sunrise. In three days they took up thirty-two tons of bullion. In the afternoon of the third day the store-room was cleared, and then they searched the hold. Here they found, cunningly distributed among the ballast, a great many bags of pieces-of-eight. These, having lain in the water so long, were crusted with a strong substance, which they had to break with iron bars. It was reserved for Phips himself to make the grand discovery. ”

“ Successful generals are not always easy to confine within the bounds of strict legality. Phipps himself was a member of the General Council, having been elected thereto while absent in Acadia; and, as just before starting on the expedition, he had joined the church of the celebrated Cotton Mather, he possessed a combination "pull," as it would be denominated in these days—civil, religious, military, and doubtless social—which it must have been very difficult to overcome, [277] particularly in the unsettled condition of things then prevailing. ”

“ He was put in jail, somehow got himself out, and stood up to his enemies and silenced them, all the while seeking noble patrons with money to venture on another voyage.
At length, and a year had been spent in this manner, Phips interested the Duke of Albemarle, son of the famous General Monk who had been active in restoring Charles II to the throne of the Stuarts. Several other gentlemen of the Court took shares in the speculation, including a naval man, Sir John Narborough. ”