H A S H L A N D C H A U TA U Q U A 2 0 2 3 H
C
alled the “Robin Hood of the Seas” by his allies and “Black Sam” by his enemies, Samuel Bellamy fought for liberty, equality, and fraternity sixty years before the American and French revolutions. As the fiercely antislavery captain and commodore of the Republic of Pirates, he recruited a diverse crew of all races, classes, and creeds. Sam’s rebellion against injustice began in his teens, when aristocrats forced the Bellamys and their neighbors off centuries-old farmsteads when they seized their common lands. Relocating to Portsmouth, the family struggled, leading Sam to join the privateer crew of Captain Forster at the start of the War of Spanish Succession, a decade-long, mostly maritime dispute, with Catholic Spain and France fighting Protestant Britain and Denmark over who would be king of Spain. The terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht outlawed “privateers” (legal pirates commissioned under a “Letter of Marque”), leaving many with
Samuel Bellamy
A Pirate Captain with Ideals By Joey Madia
BELLAMY TIMELINE 1689
Born in Devonshire, England.
1702
Land seized. Family forced to Portsmouth.
1703
Became a privateer, War of Spanish Succession.
1713 Treaty of Utrecht outlawed privateers. Lover’s father blocked marriage. Joined Jacobite cause. 1715 Arrived in the Bahamas. Joined the pirate community. Boarded and procured materials and treasure from ships without violence. Winter 1716
Met Edward Thache (Blackbeard), helped craft his look.
Spring Became captain of the Marianne. Fiercely anti-slavery, 1716 recruited crew of all races, classes, creeds. Aligned with Olivier Levasseur. 1716 Had crew of 200. Captured 50 ships. Gave “Princes of the World” speech. Nicknamed Robin Hood of the Seas. January Became Commodore of the Republic of Pirates. 1717
10
March 1717
Captured slaver ship Whydah carrying 28 guns and laden with treasure.
April 1717
Drowned with more than 160 others in nor’easter off Massachusetts.
no option but poverty or piracy. When Captain Forster retired, 24-yearold Sam—the sea now in his blood—remained on Cape Cod looking for work. A few months later, he fell in love with Goody Hallett, seven years his junior. When Goody’s father refused permission for marriage, Sam declared he would become a wealthy, celebrated man and joined Scottish silversmith Paulsgrave Williams in the Jacobite cause (“Jacobite” derives from Jacobus, the Latin name for James Stuart, rightful king of Britain and Ireland). In autumn 1715, they arrived in the Bahamas, joining a group of exprivateers under Benjamin Hornigold, building a fledgling Republic of Pirates based on ten egalitarian Articles. To finance their ambitious vision, they plundered the wrecks of the twelve treasure ships of the Spanish Plate Fleet, which a hurricane had sunk off the coast of Florida that July. With making his fortune and reputation and returning to Cape Cod to marry Goody always his foremost intention, Sam and his crew used psychological warfare to avoid violence, approaching ships in the dark with wild hair; painted, near-naked bodies; and swords and torches held high. Given the choice between relinquishing half of everything or fighting these savage-looking pirates, merchant captains almost always capitulated. Within a year, Bellamy’s tactics earned him the captaincy of an eight-gun sloop. He then taught Edward Thache the art of psychological warfare, suggesting he grow his beard long, braid it, add ribbons, and carry six pistols. Soon after, Thache adopted his nom de guerre—Blackbeard. In May 1716, Bellamy allied with Olivier Levasseur, called “The Buzzard” or “The Mouth,” because of the speed of his attacks and tendency to brag. For seven months, with hundreds under their command, they terrorized the West Indies and Caribbean, capturing fifty vessels. When the