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When the war ended in 1713, many former privateers became pirates, and
it was not long before Sam and his mate Paul Williams decided to 'go on
the account'. They were taken aboard the sloop
by Captain
Leboose, who was cruising the Caribbean for prey, in company with
the well-known pirate Ben Hornigold in the 10 gun sloop Mary
Anne.
By May of 1716, Black Sam had become
an elected officer of the Postillion. He made a dashing figure in his long
deep-cuffed velvet coat, knee breeches, silk stockings, and silver-buckled
shoes; with a sword slung on his left hip and four pistols in his sash.
Unlike some of his fellows, Bellamy never wore the fashionable powdered wig,
but grew his dark hair long and tied it back with a black satin
bow.
The new pirate gang was soon capturing ships and
crews. Leboose took
a seaman named John Brown off an English vessel and this
man became friendly with Black Sam, and seemed to bring good luck to him.
Hornigold suddenly decided to retire, and his 90 man crew made Bellamy
captain of the Mary Anne.
Bellamy and Leboose set off for St. Thomas to provision and
make enquiries about a secluded place where they could careen their
weed-grown ships. Beef Island was reputed to be the haunt of renegades and
buccaneers, and when Bellamy realised that the deputy Governor of Tortola
was Captain Hall, an old privateering acquaintance from Port Royal and a
well-known desperado to boot, he lost no time in sailing up to Trellis Bay
where Hall was living at that time.
Captain Hall
was encouraging about Black Sam's prospects of preying on
the fat cargoes
passing almost daily down Sir Francis Drake's Channel, and he recommended
that the pirates make their base on Blanco, the tiny islet in Trellis Bay
known today as Bellamy Cay.
Black Sam was delighted
with Blanco Islet, where an untidy settlement
soon sprang up: a muddle of
driftwood shacks, makeshift tents and palm frond shelters. Cannon were
mounted to command the approaches to the cay, as careening would leave the
crews vulnerable for several weeks. While some men cleaned the ships, the
rest kept busy barbecuing the Beef Island cows and hogs, and smoking strips
of meat to preserve them in the buccaneer fashion. Soon passing fishermen
were stopping to trade with the pirates and, according to John Brown who
later wrote of his experiences, Blanco Islet became a sort of market even
before there was much pirate loot on offer.When
their ships were ready, Bellamy and Leboose began cruising the area looking
for victims.
Their first was the Sultana, an English
man-of-war which Black Sam boldly captured as his flagship, giving the
Mary Anne to Paul Williams to command. Their next prize
fell into their hands like manna from heaven; a merchant ship from
Ireland with a cargo of ham, butter, cheese and other much-needed
provisions. While on their way back for a further
spell of careening and carousing on Blanco Islet, Bellamy seized the
St. Michael as she was passing through the Sir Francis
Drake Channel, and put a prize crew of his own men aboard. When the pirates
were ready for their next cruising venture they took the St.
Michael with them, leaving her original crew marooned on the tiny
cay to wait for their return. But Black Sam found the St.
Michael too slow and gave the sloop back to her captain, allowing
him to leave Trellis Bay at last.
A friend in
Virgin Gorda sent Bellamy news of another gang of pirates
which had roared
into Spanish Town that winter, led by the vicious Charles Martel. Their
behaviour inspired a Mr. Hornby to write a complaint to Governor Hamilton
about the dealings of unscrupulous Virgin Islanders with such renegades. It
is probable that Martel and Black Sam spent that holiday together, as pirate
crews took every opportunity to meet and drink in company with their
fellows. Another infamous pirate of the day who was in the area and never
could resist a wild party was Blackbeard. The hills around Trellis Bay must
have echoed with music, raucous shouts and drunken laughter throughout that
Christmas of 1716.
In January, Governor Hamilton
responded to Hornby's letter by sending Captain Hume in HMS
Scarborough to Virgin Gorda with orders to apprehend the offending
pirates. While Bellamy and his mates laid low in Trellis Bay, the
Scarborough chased Martel to St. Croix, and then was itself
driven out of the area by Blackbeard, leaving Bellamy and his men to resume
their relentless patrol of the Virgins' Channel.
The Prince of Pirates is said to have taken more than fifty
prizes in
the Virgin Islands that winter; but he eventually decided it was
too dangerous to linger there now that the Navy knew where he was based. He
was leaving the Caribbean when his predatory eye fell on the finest ship he
had ever seen. He was determined to take her for his own, but because the
Whidah was a ship of such quality, Bellamy knew he would need the Devil's
luck to capture her.
For three days Black Sam
pursued the alluring Whidah. As he slowly
gained on her,
she fired off her stern guns and Bellamy prayed to the Black Powers that she
would not force him to fire back and damage her. The Dark Forces may have
heard him, for the 18- gun Whidah mysteriously surrendered
without any further struggle still unscathed.
But the devilish luck of the Prince of Pirates was about to
change, perhaps because he had left John Brown behind in Trellis Bay. At the
end of April, Sam Bellamy set the Whidahon a
northeasterly course which sent her straight into dense fog. The cold mist
grew even thicker as night fell, and it was raining so hard that nothing
could be seen. At midnight on April 26th, Sam Bellamy's pact with the Devil
ran out as the increasing turbulence of breaking seas warned too late of
danger. The beautiful ship was torn apart and Black Sam and all but two of
her crew were drowned in the thundering surf.
These survivors testified at their trial that the
Whidah had been
carrying three million dollars' worth of
gold, silver, jewels and ivory
tusks: the plunder taken by her captain
during his time in the Caribbean.
Perhaps Black Sam
Bellamy's last thoughts when he went down with the
Whidah
were of the clear warm waters of Trellis Bay, and those triumphant
celebrations of his pirate victories on Blanco Islet in the Virgin
Islands.
copyright
Jill Tattersall
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