{{Short description|17th century pirate and privateer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Thomas Woolerly'''{{efn|First name sometimes given as William, last name occasionally Woolery, Wooley, Wollerly or Woollervy.}} (fl. 1683–1687) was a pirate and privateer active in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean.
==History==
Woolerly set out from Boston in 1683 alongside Christopher Goffe and Thomas Henley, headed for the Red Sea to plunder Arab and Malabar ships.<ref name="Gosse - Who’s Who">{{cite book|last1=Gosse|first1=Philip|title=The Pirates' Who's Who by Philip Gosse|date=1924|publisher=Burt Franklin|location=New York|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19564/19564-h/19564-h.htm|accessdate=23 June 2017}}</ref> By 1684 they had returned to the Caribbean, where Goffe and Henley appeared with a Dutch prize ship.<ref name="CSP" /> Henley was arrested after they were declared to be pirates, despite having a privateering commission from Governor Lilburne of the Bahamas, but was soon released.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Little|first1=Benerson|title=The Buccaneer's Realm: Pirate Life on the Spanish Main, 1674-1688|date=2007|publisher=Potomac Books, Inc.|location=Dulles VA|isbn=9781612343617|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BF1i1dRF7zAC|accessdate=17 August 2017|language=en}}</ref>
In May 1687 Woolerly sailed to New Providence with Goffe aboard in a 40-gun Dutch East India vessel, but they were accused of piracy and refused permission to resupply, though Woolerly also had a commission from Lilburne.<ref name="Marley">{{cite book|last1=Marley|first1=David|title=Pirates of the Americas|date=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara CA|isbn=9781598842012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bU6ML_VnXTwC|accessdate=17 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> Woolerly sailed away, purchasing a small ship and burning the Dutch vessel near Andrew's Island before dividing his pirated loot and leaving the area.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gosse|first1=Philip|title=The History of Piracy|date=2012|publisher=Courier Corporation|location=New York|isbn=9780486141466|pages=320–321|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-x1jcFe-TCMC|accessdate=17 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> Governor Molesworth of Jamaica dispatched HMS ''Drake'' in August to capture Woolerly; ''Drake'' detoured to search for a pirate named Bear and consequently missed Woolerly, who was suspected to have returned to New England.<ref name="CSP">{{cite book|last1=Fortescue|first1=J. W.|title=America and West Indies: August 1687 {{!}} British History Online|date=1899|publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office|location=London|pages=407–450|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol12/pp407-426|accessdate=17 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> Woolerly subsequently vanished along with his treasure.<ref name="Marley" />
==See also== * Pirate Round – later name for the voyage from America to the coast of Africa, then to the Indian Ocean via Madagascar, a route refined by pirate Thomas Tew.
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{pirates}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolerly, Thomas}} Category:Year of birth missing Category:Year of death missing Category:English pirates Category:17th-century pirates Category:Caribbean pirates Category:Piracy in the Indian Ocean