Thomas Lea SMITH (1769-1859)

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage

Individual Note

From "Bermuda Lore 1649-1900" by John Cox: TLS was a privateer ship-owner of some note. In his early career he was overtaken by American privateers and carried prisoner to New York where he fell in love with a young woman named Anne Chauncey. Despite the circumstances surrounding his confinement, he managed to entertain Miss Chancey in style because his captors never realised he had sewn up a hundred pounds of gold into his breeches! Later, he plundered a number of French ships during the Haiti uprisings. He also owned salt ponds in Turks Islands where he spent the summers raking and harvesting.