William May (pirate)

William May (fl. 1689-1700, alternately spelled Mays, Mayes, Maise, Maze, Mues, Mace, Mason, and Masson) was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean. He was best known for taking over William Kidd’s ship Blessed William and sailing with Henry Every.

After a time as a buccaneer and privateer in the Nine Years' War, May joined William Kidd’s crew in 1689 aboard the Blessed William. Led by Robert Culliford, the crew mutinied against Kidd and voted May as captain, taking several small Spanish vessels in the Caribbean.

May sailed to New York, where acting Governor of New York Jacob Leisler granted May a privateering commission versus the French. May attacked French ships, giving a French prize renamed Horne Frigate to Culliford. After French privateers stole their collected loot, they exchanged the Blessed William for a prize ship they named Jacob and sailed to Madagascar in late 1690. After a cruise in the Indian Ocean, May and his quartermasters Culliford and Samuel Burgess returned to New York. With a fresh privateering commission in hand from new governor Benjamin Fletcher (Leisler having been executed), May had the 200-ton, 16-gun, 100-man brigantine Pearl fitted out in Rhode Island. Instead of sailing to the coast of Guinea to attack French slave depots, May took the ship back to Madagascar in early 1694 to continue piracy in the Indian Ocean. Culliford had been left behind at Mangalore after being arrested while ashore.

In 1695 May joined Thomas Tew, Richard Want, Joseph Faro, Thomas Wake, and Henry Every in a raid on the Mughal treasure convoys. The convoy almost escaped but the straggler Gunsway and its escort Fateh Mohammed were caught and looted by the pirates, chiefly by Every. Tew was killed early in the battle while Want and Wake could not keep pace with the others and fell behind; Faro’s ship had sufficient speed but was denied a share of the treasure, Every claiming they had never participated. May’s Pearl had to be towed to the site; they traded with Every afterwards but Every took almost all the money back after his crew discovered that the Pearl’s men had clipped their gold coins.

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