Royal governor; born in
Pemaquid (now
Bristol),
Me., Feb. 2, 1631; was one of twenty-six children by the same father and mother, twenty-one of whom were sons.
Nurtured in comparative poverty in childhood and youth, he was at first a shepherd-boy, and at eighteen years of age became an apprentice to a ship-carpenter.
He went to
Boston in 1673, where he learned to read and write.
In 1684 he went to
England to procure means to recover a treasureship wrecked near the Bahamas.
With a ship furnished by the government, he was unsuccessful; but with another furnished by the
Duke of
Albemarle, he recovered treasure to the amount of about $1,400,000, of which his share amounted to about $75,000. The
King knighted him, and he was appointed high sheriff of
New England.
In 1690, in command of a fleet, he captured
Port Royal (
Acadia), and late in the same year he led an unsuccessful expedition against
Quebec.
Phipps went to
England in 1692 to solicit another expedition against
Canada.
There he was appointed captain-general and governor of
Massachusetts under a new royal charter, just issued, and he returned in May of that year, bringing the charter with him. In 1694 he was summoned to
England to answer charges preferred against him, and there he died of a malignant fever, Feb. 18, 1695. Sir William was a member of the congregation over which Cotton
Mather preached.
He was dull of intellect, rude??? educated, egotistical, superstitious, headstrong, and patriotic, but totally unfitted for statesmanship or to be a leader in civil or military affairs.
