Sam Bellamy – Under the Black

Last week I was in Boston to visit friends, which was really just an excuse to do pirate research. There were two parts to my research- the Whydah Museum in Cape Cod and the microfilm archives at the Boston Public Library.

I went to Cape Cod, where the Whydah crashed, first.

The Whydah Galley was a slave ship captained by Lawrence Prince. It was fast and powerful, one of the best ships in that age. It was taken by pirate Sam Bellamy without any bloodshed.

On April 26, 1717, the Whydah crashed while trying to navigate Cape Cod’s shores in a storm.

The wreck was discovered in the 1980s, and the museum features found artifacts. While I knew most of, if not all (I mean, I’ve researched a lot about pirates) of the information, it was incredible to see these artifacts.

Artifacts in the museum included:

Cannons: English Long cannons were originally mounted on the ship. The wreck also had a Dutch cannon.
Muskets and pistols: Muskets were 3.5-4.5 feet long. Pistols, the weapon of choice, where roughly 1.5 feet long.
Grenades.
Every day items: Brass clothes hooks, leather shoe sole, brass scissors, gold rink, brass and pewter belt buckles, copper cufflinks.
Navigational tools: Ring dials to calculate attitude and navigation dividers converting distance on a map to distance in real life.
Silverware: Pirates used pewter plates, forks and spoons. Each pirate had their own plate, and some inscribed their initials onto their plate.
A syringe. It was possibly pewter and also looked like using it would really hurt.
And of course, PIRATE TREASURE! Gold jewelry and silver Spanish pieces of eight.

Bellamy has become one of my favorite pirates because he was against the system and brutality of British captains and conditions on English ships.

The exhibit also gave attention to the men of color who served on Bellamy’s ship. People of color (and I will really expand on this later) received freedom and equality on ships that they did not receive elsewhere.

It was a pleasant experience and enriching to see these artifacts in real life. It’s especially helpful when you’re trying to discover fine, everyday details like what pirate plates were made out of. There was also a life-size replica of a portion of the ship itself, which gave me a good perspective of, you know, what it would actually be like to walk on that ship.

While not much was dedicated to the night Bellamy crashed, it was still a really important piece in the Golden Age of Piracy. The few survivors of the storm were chased down and hung in Massachusetts, which earned the rage of several pirates.

Note: This is just my experience at the exhibit. I will have a lot more in-depth about the ship, it’s crew, etc.

Hey everyone! Sorry I’ve taken so long to update this. I’m still reading through The Republic of Pirates, mostly because I’ve been stopping every five seconds to take notes. (I’ve decided to just read it through now and take notes later.) But I’ve found out some interesting things so far.

First of all – for anyone who watches Black Sails – the Urca de Lima did exist, and it did run afoul of a storm and become shipwrecked. It wasn’t, however, carrying the gold and silver. But it was still part of the shipwrecked Spanish fleet that became the origin story for some pirates.

What followed is an array of domino incidents. The years 1715-1716 shaped the pirate republic and alliances/rivalries. There were three main pirate pairs of captains and partners or captains and mentees:

Sam Bellamy and Paulsgrave Williams (Partners)
Benjamin Hornigold and Edward Teach (Teach was Hornigold’s protegee)
Henry Jennings and Charles Vane (Jennings mentored Vane)

Jennings considered himself still a privateer, despite the fact that privateers weren’t really a thing anymore. His belief caused him to look down on Hornigold, causing friction between the two.

The three pairs crossed paths while chasing down French prizes. Jennings partnered with Bellamy to capture a ship. But when Hornigold arrived, Jennings sailed off the meet him, and Bellamy took that opportunity to steal Jennings’ prize and then team up with Hornigold.

Now, Hornigold considered himself a British patriot and refused to attack English ships. He would only attack Spanish and French ships. Bellamy, on the other hand, was fighting against the British and the system that left him poor.

Eventually, Hornigold’s crew grew angry over his unwillingness to attack English ships. So they deposed him and joined Bellamy’s crew.

And that’s where I left off. Hornigold is in New Providence Island, trying to rebuild Nassau’s fort. And Bellamy is on his way to capturing the Whydah, a ship he wants to use to destroy the British man-of-war Scarborough.

Tag: Sam Bellamy

The Whydah Museum

The Urca de Lima didn’t have “treasure,” but it did help create some pirates