Samuel Bellamy was believed to be born in 1689 around Devon, England.
And this is about all that is known of his early life. However, we can infer a lot about him just because of where he was born.
Even today, Devon retains strong links to maritime trade and life. It forms part of the “West Country”, being the South West (or Cornish) Peninsula of Great Britain. The Bristol Channel lies to the north, the English Channel to the south. Most of its settlements are on the coast and the ports of Exeter, Plymouth, Barnstaple and Dartmouth thrived as export ports for local tin and cloth.
With a strong culture of seafaring among its population, Devon was also a popular breeding ground for privateers and pirates. In Sam’s day, the exploits of famed privateers/pirates Sir John Hawkins, Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh had already formed part of local folklore. Other local pirates before his time were famed explorer and navigator William Dampier – the only pirate with his portrait in London’s National Portrait Gallery – Lady Killigrew, of the Killigrew family of raiders; William de Marisco; John Nutt; Harry Paye; and Thomas Stukeley.
Sam Bellamy would go on to join other local men, Henry Every, Edward “Blackbeard” Thatch, Captain John Phillips, and Captain Christopher Condent to turn to piracy during his lifetime.
There is no evidence to suggest they all knew each other growing up but later events imply it’s possible he already knew Edward Thatch before their paths crossed again.
One final fun fact about Devon is that its regional dialect is the source of much of the tropes on pirate language: arggh me hearties, shiver me timbers and all that.
However, there is no record of pirates actually saying those phrases before Robert Louis Stevenson wrote about them in Treasure Island and Hollywood subsequently embraced them.
Back to Sam.
No record of Sam Bellamy exists until around 1713, when he came of age just as the Caribbean buccaneer era was giving way to a new generation. At some point after 1713 he joined up with the more experienced Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Thatch and Benjamin Hornigold.
Blackbeard was unscrupulous about the ships he attacked but disinclined towards killing anyone. Hornigold also retained some principles; he refused to attack English shipping. Although Blackbeard’s life as a pirate is quite well-documented, Hornigold’s remains something of a mystery. No-one knows where he came from for certain and his life has only ever been historically examined through the lens of his relationship with Blackbeard to date.
Unlike Blackbeard and Hornigold, Bellamy was unaffected by such notion or loyalty to his home nation. This was believed to be the reason for Hornigold’s crew’s decision to oust Hornigold from the Captaincy and elevate Bellamy to Captain. Bellamy then sailed with a French pirate called ‘La Buse’ (The Buzzard), taking a few prizes near the Virgin Islands.
Up until this point, Sam Bellamy’s piracy career ran a fairly predictable trajectory for a pirate of his day. So to give the fantasy a bit of pizzazz, what we really need is an ill-fated romance.
Up next: the mystery of Maria Hallett