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Samuel (Black Sam) Bellamy - Pirate
(1689 - 1717) |
Having started his career with
Hornigold and
Blackbeard,
Samuel Bellamy went on to have a very short,
but very successful, career as a pirate. He
became famous for the mercy and generosity he
showed his victims.
This page details facts about Samuel Bellamy's
life and the events that shaped his history.
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Samuel Bellamy the Pirate -
Fun Facts for Kids ! |
Samuel Bellamy Fact
1: |
Samuel Bellamy was born in Hittisleigh,
in the county Devon, England in 1689. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact
2: |
He went to sea at an early age, and became
a sailor in the Royal Navy while still a teenager. During
his service with the Royal Navy, Samuel Bellamy saw action
in several battles. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact
3: |
Samuel Bellamy was reputed to have had
a wife and child in England, when he left to seek his fortune
in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact
4: |
While in Cape Cod, Samuel Bellamy took
up with a local 15 year old, Maria Hallett, who is believed
to have lived in nearby Wellfleet. Although her parents
liked him, they weren’t convinced that he would be a suitable
husband. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact
5: |
In order to support Maria, Samuel Bellamy
left Cape Cod with his friend, Palsgrave Williams, to salvage
treasure from the Spanish treasure fleet that had sunk off
the coast of Florida in 1715. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact
6: |
While Samuel Bellamy was gone, Maria
gave birth to a child which died shortly after birth. This
scandal resulted in Maria being jailed for a short time
before being exiled from the town. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact
7: |
Samuel Bellamy was unsuccessful as a
treasure hunter and consequently turned to piracy, joining
the crew of
Benjamin Hornigold on the ‘Marianne’. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact
8: |
Benjamin Hornigold
wouldn’t attack English ships, which led to his crew voting
to replace him as captain. His replacement, as captain of
the ‘Marianne’ was Samuel Bellamy. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact
9: |
Samuel Bellamy went on to capture the
‘Sultana’ which, with the approval of his crew, he put under
the command of Palsgrave Williams. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact 10: |
Samuel Bellamy became known as 'Black
Sam'. He liked expensive clothing and tended to wear black
coats. He also had long black hair that he tied back with
black ribbon, rather than wearing the white powdered wigs
that had become fashionable at the time. He wore four duelling
pistols in a sash, and a sword at his left hip. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact 11: |
In February 1717, Samuel Bellamy captured
the ‘Whydah’, a slave ship commanded by Captain Prince.
The ship was loaded with a rich cargo, including gold. Bellamy
gave the ‘Sultana’ to Captain Prince in return for the ‘Whydah’. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact 12: |
Samuel Bellamy then set sail for Virginia,
where he took several vessels. Following a severe storm
which damaged their ship, Bellamy headed for the Carolinas
before changing course again and sailing to Rhode Island. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact 13: |
While sailing off Rhode Island Samuel
Bellamy took a sloop, from Boston, commanded by Captain
Beer. They plundered the ship, which Bellamy intended to
return to the command of Beer. However the crew voted to
burn the ship instead, leaving Beer on Block Island, 13
miles south of Rhode Island. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact 14: |
Two weeks later they took a wine ship
off the coast of Cape Cod, before Samuel Bellamy and his
ships headed north to the Penobscot River in Maine. They
sailed a couple of miles upriver before anchoring. They
emptied and cleaned the Whydah, then set sail for Fortune
Bay in Newfoundland. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact 15: |
While there Samuel Bellamy plundered
several vessels and sank them after forcing the crews to
join him. About this time, Samuel Bellamy’s ships became
separated during a storm that lasted for several days. After
the storm Samuel Bellamy spotted a sail off the island of
St. Paul, and set off after it. When he caught up with it,
the ship turned out to be a 36 gun French ship carrying
soldiers to Quebec in Canada. The ships engaged each other
with the French twice managing to board the Whydah before
being fought off again. Deciding that the French were two
strong, Samuel Bellamy withdrew and tried to sail away.
The French ship sailed after him, and he only managed to
escape under the cover of night. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact 16: |
Samuel Bellamy and the Whydah sailed
to Newfoundland where he met up with the others. As a result
of the battle with the French, the Whydah was damaged so,
having decided to sail to New England, Samuel Bellamy decided
to hug the coastline. Between the Nantucket Shoals and St.
Georges Banks, they took the ‘Mary Anne’. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact 17: |
The Master of the Mary Anne knew the
coast well so was left aboard her, with some pirates to
keep an eye on him, so that he could guide the other ships
along the coast using a light. One stormy night the pirates
became drunk while celebrating, so the Master took his chance,
grounded the Mary Anne and was the only one who managed
to survive the resulting wreck. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact 18: |
Samuel Bellamy was killed when the Whydah,
which had been following the light, also became grounded
and wrecked by the storm. There were only a handful of survivors,
who were captured and put on trial. The testimony of the
Master of the Mary Anne helped condemn the pirates who went
on to be executed. |
Samuel Bellamy Fact 19: |
In 1984 the wreck site of the Whydah
was found off the coast of Cape Cod. |
Samuel (Black Sam) Bellamy
the Pirate (1689 - 1717) Fun Facts Info for Kids
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