Black Sam Bellamy: The Story of the Richest Pirate in History

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. Samuel Bellamy was a pirate who operated off the coast of New England and throughout the Caribbean. Later known as Black Sam, he became one of the wealthiest pirates before his untimely death in seventeen seventeen. Here to tell the story is Ashley Lebinski. She’s the former co-host of the Discovery Channel’s Master of Arms, and she’s a frequent contributor here on Our American Stories. Take it away, Ashley.

When one thinks of pirates, images of Johnny Depp and eyeliner and dreadlocks tend to come to mind. But the history is far more complicated than that. In fact, one pirate from the early seventeen hundreds is considered far more Robin Hood than Jack Sparrow. But perhaps that too is romanticized lore. This story actually begins at the end. In nineteen eighty-four, an American underwater archaeologist named Barry Clifford discovered a shipwreck not too far from the Massachusetts coastline.

There was a story here that was much more valuable than any of the artifacts. You know, of all the treasures in the world, it’s the only documented pirate treasure, period. All of the treasures that we’ve heard about, you know, in the Caribbean, it’s not pirate treasure; Spanish galleons. This is real pirate treasure. This is the stuff that Robert Louis Stevenson wrote about. It’s the stuff that I dreamt about.

And the shipwreck was actually only under fourteen feet of water and five feet of sand. A year later, the ship’s bell was recovered, and the bell had the name of the ship on it, so it made this the first fully authenticated pirate ship from the Golden Age that was found in North America. The ship’s name was the Wood Up, and at the time of its sinking, it held the largest pirate prize with treasure that was weighing about five tons, and that included indigo, precious metals, and tens of thousands of pounds of sterling.

The Wood As.

Sank one faithful night on April twenty-sixth, seventeen seventeen, after it capsized during a nor’easter which drove the boat onto a sandbar by Wellfleet, Massachusetts, just after midnight. The masts broke, and according to firsthand accounts from the few survivors, the dozens upon dozens of cannons on the ship helped rip through the deck, driving the Wood down into thirty feet of water and with it.

One hundred and forty-six.

Men, and the mooncussers showed up the next day. These are people who cursed the moon because they wanted things dark so that they could rub ships that came ashore.

It was not the only ship to go down that night. Its sister ship, the Marianne, also wrecked. In total, two survived the Wooda and seven on the Marianne. The captain, though, went down with the ship. Captain Samuel Bellamy is known as one of the wealthiest pirates in recorded history. Black Sam, as he was called, was known for his long black hair and an odd sympathy and generosity to those he captured, well, as generous as a pirate can be. In the one year he was a pirate, he and his crew captured over fifty ships. Known also as the Prince of Pirates, Bellamy’s life actually began in service. Born in Devon, England, in sixteen eighty-nine, Bellamy initially sailed for the British Royal Navy, and according to lore, while he was in Cape Cod, he had an affair with a woman named Goody Hallett, and this woman also would be a historical figure in her own right and earn the moniker, the.

Witch of Wellfleet.

There are several stories that exist as to why Bellamy left her for a life of piracy, one being that he was looking for treasure to better their life together.

Another was that she was.

Already married, he had to get out of town regardless. After Bellamy left, Hallett gave birth to a child who did not survive the night due to choking. Despite the fact that this was an accident, she was charged with murder and thrown in jail, although she constantly escaped, and then after she escaped so many times, they let her just go out during the evenings, and she would wander the beaches at night, as some say, looking for Captain Bellamy and gaining her nickname in the process. Bellamy left Cape Cod in early seventeen sixteen with his crew. He was initially more of a treasure hunter, and he was in search of an infamous treasure that was supposed to exist at the bottom of the ocean in South Florida from a very famous sunken fleet, but they quickly turned to piracy and joined the crew of Benjamin Hornigold and his second in command, Edward Teach, who’s better known as Blackbeard. Not long after, though, the crew voted Horner, Goold, and Teach out of command, electing Bellamy.

As the new captain.

He quickly captured other ships, and in spring of seventeen seventeen, he captured his prize, the Woodha Galley, when sailing through the Windward Passage. The Woodah was originally a slave ship built in England two years prior. It was three hundred tons and one hundred and two feet long and had eighteen guns and could reach speeds of fifteen miles an hour, which doesn’t seem like a lot today, but back then was quite significant.

It began its voyage in the Atlantic slave.

Trade, selling a total of three hundred and twelve enslaved peoples before its capture. Bellamy chased the ship for three days, and he only had to fire one shot for the captain to surrender. As an award for the captain’s lack of resistance, Bellamy actually gave him one of his other ships. He would not stay captain long, though, as he was killed in that faithful storm that took down most of his, what was actually a pretty diverse crew.

A third of these people were of African origin. They were Black, and some of them were being elected by predominantly European crews as officers and even captains on board slave ships. We have absolute proof of this, but a third of the pirates in the Golden Age of piracy were of African origin, most of whom will form of slaves.

The nine survivors were captured and prosecuted in Boston. Involved in the trial was actually none other than Reverend Cotton Mather, whom a lot of people know better for his involvement in the Salem Witch Trials. Of the nine, two were pardoned because it was believed they were forced into piracy, and six were hanged. And then there was a sixteen-year-old boy who they believe was sold into slavery. In total, around one hundred and four bodies were found washed upon the shore after the wreck, and the Governor of Massachusetts was concerned about looting, so he sent his own captain and cartographer, whose name was Cypri and Southact, to salvage what he could there. Southact created a map, and what’s neat about that is the map is the same one that Barry Clifford used in the nineteen.

Eighties, and that would be what he would follow to find the remains of the ship. And this ship is one of those ships.

That has an incredibly ugly past, especially with the slave trade, but briefly sailed for one of the most notorious pirates in history.

And a terrific job by the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hangler. A special thanks to Ashley Lebinski, the story of Samuel Bellamy here on Our American Stories. Lee H. Habib here. As we approach our nation’s two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, I’d like to remind you that all the history stories you hear on this show are brought to you by the great folks at Hillsdale College. And Hillsdale isn’t just a great school for your kids or grandkids to attend, but for you as well. Go to Hillsdale.edu to find out about their terrific free online courses. Their series on Communism is one of the finest I’ve ever seen. Again, go to Hillsdale.edu and sign up for their free and terrific online courses.