The Daring Exploits of Pirate Black Sam Bellamy: From Cape Cod to the Caribbean

by Jamie Goodall

In 1717, the Council of Trade and Plantations received "agreeable news" from New England. "Bellamy with his ship and Company" had perished on the shoals of Cape Cod. Who was this Bellamy and why did his demise please the government?
Born Samuel Bellamy circa 1689, he was a pirate who operated off the coast of New England and throughout the Caribbean. Later known as "Black Sam," or the "Prince of Pirates," Bellamy became one of the wealthiest pirates in the Atlantic world before his untimely death. For the next two centuries, Bellamy faded into obscurity until, in 1984, he became newsworthy again with the discovery of his wrecked pirate ship.
Historian Jamie L.H. Goodall unveils the tragic life of Bellamy and the complex relationship between piracy and the colonial New England coast.

Genres: Pirates, Nonfiction, Nautical, History

160 pages, Paperback

Published July 3, 2023

Reviews

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of "Black Sam" Bellamy is, like many pirate stories, badly documented and usually contains more lore than actual facts. What makes Bellamy such a draw is that his story contains some semblance of a love story and a tragic end after amazing successes. His story also involves Cape Cod, which is my happy place. No, I am not entirely unbiased. Even still, I loved Jaime Goodall's The Daring Exploits of Pirate Black Sam Bellamy. Let me tell you why!

It should be noted that much of the book is not directly tied to Bellamy. As I said, if you want to document the truth when discussing any pirate, there is only so much you can truly believe. What Goodall does is fill in the gaps by building the world of pirates and immersing the reader in the time period leading up Bellamy's.....villainy? Listen, there is a romantic side to pirates but they also killed a lot of people. Bellamy was one of the more humane pirates, but we should not be fitting him for a halo.

What I really appreciated about Goodall's narrative is the significant research she clearly conducted while writing in a more familiar rather than academic tone. If you quote the Notorious B.I.G, you clearly know what you are doing. In conclusion, come fly the black flag and read this book.

[Rick Jurewicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Daring Exploits of Pirate Black Sam Bellamy, while being a fairly short book, undertakes a huge task in telling the story of a historical figure that lived during the Golden Age of Piracy that history knows little about. While it is true that only a small portion of the book actually chronicles what little is know about Bellamy’s origins, his time as a pirate captain between the year 1715 and his death in the storm that destroyed his mighty flagship, the now-legendary Whydah, off the coast of Cape Cod in April of 1717, the author weaves together what she has gathered from documented facts and testimonies of both victims and allies of Bellamy, and of folkloric elements pointing toward Bellamy’s possible motivations for becoming in such a short time the most successful pirate in history.

Much of the lead-in to the heart of Bellamy’s part of the story is a history of New England, Britain, Spain and France in creating the political and social environment that set the stage for the world that Bellamy entered into in the early part of the 18th century.

I wish there was more on Bellamy to go on, but what we do know paints a picture of a historical figure that is wrapped in an interesting web of romanticism, intrigue, adventure and just the right amount of villainy…and if you believe the tales, even as a villain he was not so cruel and vile as some of the more well-known names of pirate history.

I enjoyed this book, and I am glad I found it. From the many citations and sources, this author worked very hard to bring this book to life. I recommend it as an essential part of your personal library of piratical history, fact, lore and legend.

[Sem · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant enough read although most of it is background, not biography. Bellamy is intriguing but there's little to be said about him if one discounts the Maria legend (I do). In fact, I've begun to wonder why I read pirate biographies since it's impossible to know very much about most of these men. I've reached the point of feeling as if I'm circling around the same information stretched as far as it will go in all directions so as to constitute a book rather than an essay. At least the author has a sense of humour.

[Leslie Landrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is more about English pirates in the Atlantic than it is about Sam Bellamy. Still, Interesting.