Pirate Thomas Tew passed through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait before capturing a Mughal ship in 1693.
Tew sailed from Bermuda in the Amity, intending to raid ships traveling between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. He reached the Bab-el-Mandeb, the narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, and encountered a large Mughal vessel carrying valuable cargo.
Tew’s successful attack helped establish the route later followed by other Atlantic pirates. The voyage became one of the earliest famous pirate expeditions from the American colonies into the Indian Ocean.
Bab-el-Mandeb is sometimes confused with the Strait of Hormuz, but they are different strategic passages. Bab-el-Mandeb lies between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, while Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman.