{{Short description|Pirate (fl. 1692–1696)}} '''Richard Want''' (fl. 1692–1696){{efn|First name occasionally given as William. He should not be confused with William Wanton, who was involved with privateering in the New England area at the same time, and who would later go on to be Governor of Rhode Island.}} was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean. He is best known for sailing alongside Thomas Tew and Henry Avery.
==History==
Thomas Tew's first voyage from Rhode Island, around the Cape of Good Hope, and into the Indian Ocean to plunder Moorish ships using Madagascar as a staging base was wildly successful.<ref>{{cite web|title=A get rich quick scheme|url=http://cranstononline.com/stories/a-get-rich-quick-scheme,81194|website=Cranston Herald|accessdate=2 July 2017|language=en}}</ref> Want had been Tew's first mate aboard the ''Amity'' for that 1692 cruise.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Office|first1=Great Britain Public Record|title=Calendar of State Papers: Preserved in the State Paper Department of Her Majesty's Record Office. Colonial series|date=1904|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|location=London|page=260|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWgzAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=2 July 2017|language=en}}</ref> Want had previously been a buccaneer, serving with George Raynor aboard the ''Batchelor's Delight'' when Raynor returned to Charles Town in the Province of South Carolina.<ref name="Honor Among Thieves" /> Like Raynor, Want had married and settled down in South Carolina but had roots in New England.<ref name="Honor Among Thieves">{{cite book|last1=Rogoziński|first1=Jan|title=Honor Among Thieves: Captain Kidd, Henry Avery, and the Pirate Democracy in the Indian Ocean|date=2000|publisher=Stackpole Books|location=Mechanicsburg PA|isbn=9780811715294|pages=71–75, 247|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUVD7KLa2FoC|accessdate=2 July 2017|language=en}}</ref>
Tew's crew convinced him to go back for a second cruise to try repeating his prior success. This time Want took command of his own 6-gun 60-man<ref>{{cite book|last1=Selinger|first1=Gail|title=Pirates of New England: Ruthless Raiders and Rotten Renegades|date=2017|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|location=Guilford CT|isbn=9781493029303|page=60|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p20mDwAAQBAJ|accessdate=2 July 2017|language=en}}</ref> Spanish brigantine named ''Dolphin'', fitted out in Philadelphia, and he obtained a privateering commission from the governor to cover his activities. In 1694 Tew and Want sailed out alongside another Providence companion, Joseph Faro in the ''Portsmouth Adventure''.<ref name="Hollygardens" />
Once the group arrived near Mocha in 1695,<ref name="Hollygardens">{{cite web|title=Thomas the Pirate notes|url=http://hollygardens.com/hollingsw/Thomas_the_Pirate_notes.html|website=hollygardens.com|accessdate=2 July 2017}}</ref> they were joined by Thomas Wake and William May, where they also met Henry Avery.<ref name="Eastern Seas">{{cite book|last1=Grey|first1=Charles|title=Pirates of the eastern seas (1618-1723): a lurid page of history|date=1933|publisher=S. Low, Marston & co., ltd|location=London|pages=130–132, 158, 192–193|url=http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/library/documents/1D30004CA384A81381DD3C8F45CAE3B216713B01.html|accessdate=26 June 2017}}</ref> They waited for the Mughal Empire's treasure-laden convoy to pass; most of the Mughal ships slipped by in the night but the pirates caught two stragglers. Tew's ''Amity'' sailed ahead to attack the smaller ''Fateh Mohammed'' but a cannon shot killed Tew early in the battle. Once the others defeated and looted ''Fateh Mohammed'', they turned on the larger ''Gunsway'', a personal treasure ship of Emperor Aurangzeb. Tew's ''Amity'' under ship's master John Ireland sailed back to Adam Baldridge's pirate trading post near Madagascar. Wake's ''Susannah'' was too slow and missed the battle. Want's ''Dolphin'' proved slow and unseaworthy - "an ill sayler" - and was abandoned.<ref name="Jameson">{{cite book|last1=Jameson|first1=John Franklin|title=Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period by J. Franklin Jameson|date=1923|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York|pages=165–171|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24882/24882-h/24882-h.htm|accessdate=26 June 2017}}</ref> Avery took its crew aboard his ship ''Fancy'' and burned the empty ''Dolphin''.<ref name="Eastern Seas" /> Faro and Avery caught the ''Gunsway'', with May's ''Pearl'' in tow, though Faro never engaged them. Want's crew served alongside Avery's during the battle and received the same shares of ''Gunsway's'' immense treasure.<ref name="Honor Among Thieves" />
Want remained aboard Avery's ''Fancy'', making his way through the Persian Gulf<ref name="Jameson" /> then back to South Carolina via the Bahamas.<ref name="Honor Among Thieves" /> Records indicate he had another privateering commission in 1696, this time from South Carolina.<ref name="Honor Among Thieves" />
==See also==
*Pirate Round – later name for the route Tew and others took from New England, around southern Africa, and into the Indian Ocean via Madagascar
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{pirates}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Want, Richard}} Category:Year of birth missing Category:Year of death missing Category:Pirates from the Thirteen Colonies Category:17th-century pirates Category:People from colonial South Carolina Category:Piracy in the Indian Ocean Category:17th-century American criminals