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The Real Pirates of the Caribbean

Khalid Elhassan January 7, 2020 32 min

10. Burning Bright and Burning Out Fast

Treasure trove recovered from the wreck of the Whydah Gally. Wikimedia

Likening himself to Robin Hood, Black Sam Bellamy’s pirate career was brief, lasting little more than a year. Despite its brevity, Black Sam’s career was one of the most prolific and spectacular years in the history of piracy, during which he captured over 50 ships, quite a few of them bearing rich cargoes. Collectively, those prizes made him the richest pirate in recorded history.

In contrast to other pirates who became notorious for their gratuitous cruelty, Black Sam stood out for his shows of mercy. It earned him another nickname: the “Prince of Pirates”. He met his end off Cape Cod, where the Whydah Gally was driven ashore and wrecked by a nor’easter on April 26^th, 1717. The ship sank quickly, drowning Black Sam and all but two of her 145 man crew.

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.