As we cannot, with any certainty, deduce this man from his origin, we
shall begin where we find him first a declared enemy to mankind. Capt.
Bellamy and Paul Williams, in two sloops, had been upon a Spanish wreck,
and not finding their expectation answered, they resolved not to lose
their labour, and agreed to _go upon the account_, a term among the
pirates, which speaks their profession. The first who had the misfortune
to fall in their way, was Capt. Prince, bound from Jamaica to London, in
a galley built at that port, whose cargo consisted of elephant’s teeth,
gold dust, and other rich merchandise. This prize not only enriched but
strengthened them. They immediately mounted this galley with 28 guns,
and put on board 150 hands, of different nations; Bellamy was declared
captain, and the vessel had her old name continued, which was Whidaw.
This happened about the latter end of February, 1717. They, now thus
fitted for continuing their desperate resolution, shaped their course
for Virginia, which coast they very much infested, taking several
vessels. They were upon shifting this station, when they were very near,
as the psalmist expresses it, _going quick down into hell_; for the
heavens beginning to lower, prognosticated a storm. At the first
appearance of the sky being likely to be overcast, Bellamy took in all
his small sails, and Williams doubled-reefed his mainsail, which was
hardly done when a thunder shower overtook them with such violence, that
the Whidaw was very near oversetting. They immediately put before the
wind, for they had no other way of working, having only the goose wings
of the fore-sail to scud with. Happy for them the wind was at W. by N.
for had it been easterly, they must have infallibly perished upon the
coast. The storm increased towards night, and not only put them by all
sail, but obliged the Whidaw to bring her yards aportland, and all they
could do with tackles to the goose neck of the tiller, four men in the
gun-room, and two at the wheel, was to keep her head to the sea, for had
she once broached to, they must infallibly have foundered. The heavens,
in the mean while, were covered with sheets of lightning, which the sea,
by the agitation of the saline particles, seemed to imitate. The
darkness of the night was such, as the scripture says, _as might be
felt_; the terrible hollow roaring of the winds, could be only equalled
by the repeated, I may say, incessant claps of thunder, sufficient to
strike a dread of the Supreme Being, who commands the sea and the winds,
one would imagine in every heart; but among these wretches, the effect
was different, for they endeavoured by their blasphemies, oaths, and
horrid imprecations, to drown the uproar of jarring elements. Bellamy
swore he was sorry he could not run out his guns to return the salute,
meaning the thunder, that he fancied the gods had got drunk over their
tipple, and were gone together by the ears. They continued scudding all
that night under their bare poles: the next morning the mainmast being
sprung in the step, they were forced to cut it away, and at the same
time, the mizen came by the board. These misfortunes made the ship ring
with blasphemy, which was increased, when, by trying the pumps, they
found the ship made a great deal of water; though by continually plying
them, they kept it from gaining. The sloop, as well as the ship, was
left to the mercy of the winds, though the former, not having a tant
mast, did not lose it. The wind shifting round the compass, made so
outrageous and short a sea, that they had little hopes of safety; it
broke upon the poop, drove in the taffarel, and washed the two men away
from the wheel, who were saved in the netting. The wind after four days
and three nights, abated its fury, and fixed in the N. N. E. point,
hourly decreasing, and the weather clearing up they spoke to the sloop,
and resolved for the coast of Carolina. They continued this course but a
day and a night, when the wind coming about to the southward, they
changed their resolution to that of going to Rhode Island. All this
while the Whidaw’s leak continued, and it was as much as the lee pump
could do to keep the water from gaining, though it was kept continually
going. Jury-masts were set up, and the carpenter finding the leak to be
in the bows, occasioned by the oakum working out of a seam, the crew
became very jovial again. The sloop received no other damage than the
loss of the mainsail, which the first flurry tore away from the boom. In
their cruise off Rhode-Island, the beginning of April, they took a sloop
commanded by Capt. Beer, belonging to Boston, in the lat. of
South-Carolina, 40 leagues from land. They put the said captain on board
the Whidaw, while they rifled and plundered his vessel, which Williams
and Bellamy proposed returning to him, but the crews being averse to it,
they sunk her, and put the captain ashore upon Block Island.
I cannot pass by in silence, Capt. Bellamy’s speech to Capt. Beer. _I am
sorry they won’t let you have your sloop again, for I scorn to do any
one a mischief when it is not for my advantage; —— the sloop, we must
sink her, and she might be of use to you. Though you are a sneaking
puppy, and so are all those who will submit to be governed by laws which
rich men have made for their own security, for the cowardly whelps have
not the courage otherwise to defend what they get by their knavery; but
—— ye altogether: —— them for a pack of crafty rascals, and you, who
serve them, for a parcel of hen-hearted numskulls. They vilify us, the
scoundrels do, when there is only this difference, they rob the poor
under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the
protection of our own courage. Had you not better make one of us, than
sneak after these villains for employment?_ Captain Beer told him, that
his conscience would not allow him to break through the laws of God and
man. _You are a devilish conscience rascal_, replied Bellamy; _I am a
free prince, and I have as much authority to make war on the whole
world, as he who has a hundred sail of ships at sea, and an army of
100,000 men in the field; and this my conscience tells me: but there is
no arguing with such snivelling puppies, who allow superiors to kick
them about deck at pleasure_.
The pirates, wanting neither provisions nor water, and the Whidaw’s
damage being repaired, passed the time very jovially.
A fortnight after setting Capt. Beer ashore, Williams boarded and took a
vessel off Cape Cod, laden with wine; the crew of which increased the
number of their prisoners. They put seven men on board the prize, with
orders to keep company with the ship and sloop, and left on board her
the master.
As they had been long off the careen, they stood away to the northward,
and made the best of their way to Penobscot river. When they were at the
mouth of it, it was thought more eligible to careen in the river
Mechisses. They entered it as agreed and run up about two miles and a
half, where they came to an anchor with their prizes. The next morning
all the prisoners were set ashore with drivers, and orders to assist in
building huts; the guns were also set ashore, and a breast work raised,
with embrasures for the cannon on each side of the river. This took up
four days. A magazine was dug deep in the earth, and a roof raised over
it by the poor slaves, the prisoners, whom they treated after the same
manner as the negroes are used by the West-India planters. The powder
being secured, and every thing out, they hove down the sloop, cleaned
her, and when she had all in again, they careened the Whidaw by the
largest prize.
They now thought of cruising again, and accordingly steered for
Fortune’s Bay in Newfoundland. They made some prizes on the Banks,
forced all the men, and sunk the vessels.
They had not been long on this coast before they were separated by a
storm, which held some days. Off the island of St. Paul the Whidaw spied
a sail, which she immediately gave chase to. The ship brought to and lay
by for her, and proved a Frenchman of 36 guns, carrying soldiers to
Quebec. The Whidaw engaged with great resolution, and the French did not
show less, for he boarded the Whidaw and was twice put off, with the
loss of men on both sides. Bellamy, after two hour’s engagement, thought
the Frenchman too hard a match, and was for shaking him off; but his
enemy was not as willing to part with him, for he gave chase, and as he
sailed altogether as well as Bellamy, the latter had certainly been
taken, and had received the due punishment of his crimes, had not the
night coming on favoured his escape. He lost in this engagement 36
hands, besides several wounded.
The Whidaw returned to the coast of Newfoundland, and off Placentia Bay
met with his consort and the prize. They resolved to visit again the
coast of New-England, the Whidaw being much shattered in the late
engagement, having received a great many shot in her hull. They ran down
this coast, and between St. George’s Banks and Nantucket Shools, took
the Mary Anne.
The master of the vessel, taken formerly off Cape Cod, was left on board
her, and as he was very well acquainted with the coast, they ordered him
to carry the light and go ahead; and the pirates commonly kept him at
the helm. He upon a night of public rejoicing, seeing all the pirates
drunk, laid hold of the opportunity, and run his vessel ashore about
midnight, near the land of Eastham, out of which he alone escaped with
life. The Whidaw, steering after the light, met with the same fate. The
small vessel ran into a sandy bay, and the men got ashore without
difficulty.
When the Whidaw struck, the pirates murdered all their prisoners, that
is, all their forced men; as it is concluded, from the mangled carcasses
which were washed ashore; but not a soul escaped out of her or Williams,
who was also lost.
The pirates, to the number of seven, who escaped, were seized by the
inhabitants, and on the information of the master who escaped, and on
their own confession were imprisoned, condemned, and executed. They were
all foreigners, very ignorant and obstinate; but by the indefatigable
pains of a pious and learned divine, who constantly attended them; they
were at length, by the special grace of God, made sensible of, and truly
penitent, for the enormous crimes they had been guilty of.