Samuel Bellamy, better known as Captain Black Sam Bellamy, was one of the most successful – and richest – pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy, which lasted from the 1650s to the 1730s. Below are some interesting facts about this exceptional real pirate of the Caribbean.
From Royal Navy Tar to Pirate
Samuel Bellamy (1689 – 1717) did not get the nickname by which he is better known, “Black Sam”, because of any fell acts or dark deeds of piracy. He got it because he was not into the white powdered wigs that were popular among men in his era. Instead, he grew out his own mane of long black hair. Born in England, Bellamy joined the British Royal Navy at an early age. By the time he reached manhood, he was already a combat veteran who had fought in various sea battles.
Bellamy went to Cape Cod in 1715, in search of relatives. While there, news arrived that a Spanish treasure fleet had been wrecked in a hurricane off the Florida coast. So Bellamy joined a treasure hunting expedition in 1716, that hoped to recover the sunken riches. The expedition did not meet with any success, so Bellamy turned to piracy to recoup his investment. He joined the crew of Captain Benjamin Hornigold and his first mate Blackbeard of the Mary Anne. As seen below, Bellamy was about to experience a meteoric rise in his wildly successful – but brief – new career.
The Most Successful Piratical Year of the Golden Age of Piracy
In 1716, Captain Hornigold got patriotic and refused to attack the ships of fellow Englishmen. So his pirate crew voted him out as captain, and kicked him and Blackbeard off the Mary Anne. Bellamy, who had none of Hornigold’s scruples about preying on English vessels, was elected captain. His biggest haul was the Whydah Gally, which Bellamy overtook on its maiden voyage after a three-day chase. He captured it with a rich haul of gold, ivory, indigo, and other high value goods.
Bellamy upgraded the Whydah with extra cannons, turned it into his flagship, then fell upon the shipping lanes to the Carolinas and New England and feasted. The pirate career of Black Sam Bellamy, who liked to compare himself to Robin Hood, lasted little more than a year. However, it was one of the most prolific and spectacularly successful years in the history of piracy. In that brief stretch, he captured more than fifty ships, which made him the richest pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy. In addition to his success, Bellamy stood out for his shows of mercy. That earned him another nickname: the “Prince of Pirates”.
Bellamy’s Watery End
Bellamy did not get to enjoy his looted riches for long. His piratical career – and his life – came to an end off Cape Cod, where the Whydah Gally was driven ashore and wrecked by a nor’easter on April 26th, 1717. The ship sank quickly, and Bellamy and all but two of her 145-man crew were drowned. His other ship, the Mary Anne, was also wrecked later that night, and all but seven of her crew were drowned. The nine survivors from the two ships were arrested, prosecuted in Boston for piracy, and six were convicted and hanged.
When it sank in 1717, the Whydah Gally was the biggest ship ever captured by pirates until then, and its hold held about five tons of looted treasure. It included about 30,000 pounds sterling, gold, ivory, indigo, and other valuables. In 1984, it was announced that the wreck of Bellamy’s sunken flagship had been discovered by underwater explorer Barry Clifford. The wreck and about 200,000 recovered artifacts were used to found The Whydah Pirate Museum, now located in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
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