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

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See out for details. 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 1717. 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 1700s is considered far more Robin Hood than Jack Sparrow, but perhaps that too is romanticized lore.

This story actually begins at the end. In 1984, 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 14 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 Wooda. 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 Wooda sank one fateful night on April 26, 1717, 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 Wooda down into 30 feet of water. And with it, 146 men. And the moon cussers showed up the next day.

These are people who cursed the moon because they wanted things dark so that they could rob ships that came ashore. It was not the only ship to go down that night. Its sister ship, the Mary Ann, also wrecked.

In total, two survived the Wooda and seven on the Mary Ann. 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 50 ships. Known also as the Prince of Pirates, Bellamy's life actually began in service. Born in Devon, England in 1689, 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 earned the moniker the Witch of Wellfleet. There are several stories that exist as to why Bellamy left her for a long 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 and 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 1716 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 Hornigold and Teach out of command, electing Bellamy as the new captain. He quickly captured other ships and spring of 1717, he captured his prize, the Wooda galley when sailing through the windward passage. The Wooda was originally a slave ship built in England two years prior. It was 300 tons at 102 feet long and had 18 guns and could reach speeds of 15 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 312 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 fateful 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 of the Union, 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 were former 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 slavery and six were hanged and then there was a 16 year old boy who they believe was sold into slavery. In total, around 104 bodies were found washed up on 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 Cyprian Southack to salvage what he could. There, Southack created a map and what's the map is the same one that Barry Clifford used in the 1980s 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 on the production, editing and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler. A special thanks to Ashley Lebinski, the story of Samuel Bellamy here on Our American Stories. This is Lee Habib, host of Our American Stories, the show where America is the star in the American people and we do it all from the heart of the South, Oxford, Mississippi. But we truly can't do this show without you. Our shows will always be free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, consider making a tax deductible donation to Our American Stories. Go to OurAmericanStories.com.

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