The date of the birth of Samuel Bellamy was 1689 and the location was Dartmoor in Devon, England with the parents of Stephen and Elizabeth Bellamy and at least 6 other siblings in the family. He chose at an early age to support his family after the death of his mother and signed on to be part of a naval crew in 1702. In a few short years quickly mastered the abilities of a mariner and relocated to the eastern shores of America to seek out family members. He decided to leave that region in 1716 and venture south as others had done in search of the sinking of the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet the years before and try his luck at locating it. After none was found he chose instead to enlist in the crew of Benjamin Hornigold on the ship Marianne who happened to be at the time Edward Teach and become a pirate. With the reluctance of Hornigold to plunder English ships because it was the country of his birth the crew became despondent and with a vote instead chose Bellamy as the new captain. With his newfound position, he proved to be successful and plundering of another ship which was an upgrade relocated to it and gave his current vessel to Palsgrave Williams.

When the opportunity presented itself to secure the Whydah Gally in 1717 headed for Cuba which was discovered to be a ship hauling slaves it was too much to pass up with more cannons and faster speed and of the new3est design from England. With little effort, the captain of the vessel surrendered and out of kindness transferred his crew to it and gave the captain his former craft the Sultana as an even trade. After outfitting this new acquisition to suit himself Bellamy set sail to the east coast of America again to plunder the trade ships. Bellamy was compassionate to the needs of his crew and longed for the finer things his plundering rendered and that combined with the skill of a master seaman and now two ships under his command was a formidable adversary to shipping. With more captured ships both captains decided to visit relatives and acquaintances in the region but a powerful storm caused the ship with Bellamy and his crew to sink with few survivors. After the remains made it to shore only a handful of the crew escaped drowning and after the trial most were hanged and only a small portion that was pressed into piracy against their will were exonerated.


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