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The Real Pirates of the Caribbean

Khalid Elhassan January 7, 2020 32 min

12. Black Sam’s Turn From Treasure Hunter to Pirate

Captain Black Sam Bellamy, real name Samuel Bellamy (1689 – 1717), did not earn the nickname “Black Sam” because of any fell acts or dark deeds. He simply got called that because he eschewed the white powdered wigs of his era, and grew out his own mane of long black hair instead. He went to sea at an early age, and by the time he reached adulthood, he was a seasoned Royal Navy combat veteran, with a number of sea battles under his belt.

In 1715, Black Sam went to Cape Cod in search of relatives, and there, news arrived of the wreck of a Spanish treasure fleet in a storm off the Florida coast. Bellamy joined a treasure hunting expedition that hoped to recover the sunken riches, but when they failed to do so, they turned to piracy to recoup their investment.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.