3Thomas Tew – $103 million
Also known as the Rhode Island Pirate, Thomas Tew was a 17th-century English privateer and pirate, who died in 1695.
Rhode Island was his favorite place to roam, and there you have the nickname.
Also, he became famous for the route he ran, called Pirate Round, which was a trip around the horn of Africa and into the trade routes of the Indian Ocean.
Thomas Tew took over $100 million in treasure, which if now is a vast fortune, it was even vast the the time.
The pirate features in 3 books: Charles Johnson’s ‘A General History of the Pyrates’, Douglas Botting’s ‘The Pirates’ and Richard Zacks’ ‘The Pirate Hunter’.
