John Baker:
A pirate of English birth, reported aboard the Marianne, under command of Bellamy, off St. Croix in November 1716.

Thomas Baker:

Born in Flushing, Holland, in 1688. Profession: tailor. Along with nine merchant seamen (including Simon Van Vorst), he was taken aboard the pirate ship of "La Buze" from a boat off Cape Nicholas, Haiti, in October 1716. Transferred to Bellamy. Claimed that he would have been “marooned” had he not obeyed orders. Allegedly attempted to escape from the pirates at Virgin Gorda, but was surrendered by the governor of that place, when Bellamy’s men threatened to burn the town. Part of the prize crew of the wine-ship Mary Anne on the night of the storm. Hanged in Boston at age 29. At his execution, he proclaimed, “Lord! I have been guilty of all the Sins in the World!” and, along with Hoof, “appeared very distinguishily Paenitent.” He and Van Vorst “sang a Dutch Psalm, exhorted Young Persons to Lead a Life of Religion, and Keep the Sabbath, and carry it well to their Parents.”

Samuel Bellamy:

Believed to have been born to Stephen and Elizabeth (Pain) Bellamy (married May 31, 1672) at Hittisleigh near Plymouth in Devonshire in February 1689. Baptized on March 18, 1689. His mother dying shortly after his birth (buried February 28, 1689), Bellamy probably grew up with his two brothers and three sisters on the streets of Plymouth. He may have gone to sea at an early age. His later displays of unusual leadership and daring as a pirate captain indicate that he probably had military experience—either in the Royal Navy, or as a privateer—during the War of Spanish Succession (1702-1713).
Centuries-old Cape Cod tradition has it that Sam came to Cape Cod after the war where he met and fell in love with Maria Hallett. Her parents wanted something better for her than a footless sea-faring man, however, and forbade the two to wed. Bellamy accordingly took a crew to the West Indies to search for a sunken treasure ship—and a fortune with which to marry Maria. Treasure-hunting is, however, easier said than done. Legend has it that Bellamy turned pirate after the expedition failed, rather than return to her with empty hands.
Bellamy turned pirate as early as the fall of 1715, but no later than January 1716. Worked briefly with Henry Jennings, and then joined the pirate flotilla led by Ben Hornigold (aka “Horn o’ Gold”). Hornigold was ousted as commander of that flotilla in the summer of 1716, and Bellamy was elected in his place. Like many pirates of the early 18th-century, he was motivated by a spirit of revolt against political, social and economic oppression. He and his crew considered themselves rebels rather than robbers, and called themselves "Robin Hood’s Men"--after the famous English outlaw of the Middle Ages. This is reflected by the pirates' "constitution"--known as "The Articles". These democratic rules included surprisingly modern elements of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity".
The capture of The Whydah Galley, a homeward-bound English slaver, was the pinnacle of Bellamy's career. According to later testimony, this vessel had 20-30,000 pounds sterling in silver and gold aboard. Given that a honest sailor's pay for a month was perhaps two pounds sterling, this was an immense fortune for the men in Bellamy's pirate fleet. He transferred his command to the Whydah, and, after a few more robberies, turned the bow of his new flagship northward. Was he returning for Maria? We may never know. But what is known is that his "floating commonwealth" came to grief in a nor'easter on a Cape Cod sand bar. He was 29 years old and he and his men had taken over fifty ships in the span of a little more than a year.

Thomas Bernard:
A Bermudian reported aboard the Marianne, under command of Bellamy, off St. Croix in November 1716.

*“Blackbeard”: [aka Edward Teach/Thatch]
If the account of his early piratical career in the General History of the Pirates is accurate, Blackbeard and Bellamy were probably acquainted, as both were members of Benjamin Hornigold’s pirate company at about the same time. Blackbeard departed with Hornigold when the latter was ousted from Bellamy’s crew and went on to become one of the most famous pirates of his time.  Despite his adherence to Hornigold, he apparently bore Bellamy and his former shipmates no ill-will. Not only did he threaten to burn Boston if the Bellamy crew held there in the fall of 1717 “suffer’d”, but he also burned several of New England vessels as specific vengeance for the execution of Bellamy’s men.

John Brown:

Born in Jamaica in 1692. Joined "La Buze" from the Kingston around March or April 1715. Chose to join Bellamy after the ouster of Hornigold. Prize-master of the wineship Mary Anne on the night of the storm. Pled unsuccessfully for “Benefit of Clergy” at his sentencing. Hanged in Boston at age 25. At his execution “Brown, behaved himself at such a rate, as one would hardly imagine that any Compos Mentis [=sane person], Could have done so. He broke out into furious Expressions, which had in them too much of the Language he had been used unto. Then he fell to Reading of Prayers, not very pertinently chosen. At length he made a Short Speech, which every body trembled at; Advising Sailors, to beware of all wicked Living, such as his own had been; especially to beware of falling into the Hands of the Pirates:  But if they did and were forced to join with them, then, to have a Care whom they Kept and whom they let go, and what Countries they came into. In such amazing terms did he make his Exit! With such Madness, [to] Go to the Dead!”

Jeremy Burke:

This Irishman served as boatswain of the Marianne until he was elected as boatswain of The Whydah Galley after her capture.

Richard Caverley:

Thirty-two year-old Rhode Islander who joined Bellamy in May 1716 off the Isle of Pines, Cuba, from the Elizabeth. Served as Sailing Master of the Marianne under command of Palgrave Williams. Apprehended by New York authorities after jumping ship from the Marianne several weeks after the wreck. During the manhunt that resulted in his capture he was described as “…a Tall Lusty well-sett man; aged about 32 years. Pockfretten. Wears his own black hair. Full-faced. Dark brown clothes with Lace about two fingers broad about his hat” Released from prison in New York in 1718 as part of the General Pardon.

*William Condon:
One of the most successful commanders during the Golden Age of Piracy, Condon (a man of many aliases) was from Plymouth, England, and, as a consequence, he and Bellamy probably knew each other before becoming “Brethren of the Coast”.

Robert Danzy:
British pirate reported aboard the Marianne off St. Croix in November 1716.

Thomas Davis:

Born Carmarthenshire Wales in 1695. Professional shipwright and carpenter. His vessel, the St. Michael, was taken near Blanquilla in December 1716. Served under Bellamy in the Sultana, and the Whydah. He and John Julian are the only known survivors of the wreck of The Whydah Galley. Apprehended, and, while in gaol, offered to turn “King’s Evidence” against his shipmates. Tried for piracy at Boston Massachusetts in October 1717, and, although he was accused of having personally scuttled a Scottish vessel taken off Virginia, found not guilty. Davis is notable in the annals of pirate lore for being the only accused pirate of this period for whom a parent had both opportunity, and inclination, to intercede; “the said Thomas Davis from his youth up hath been a Dutiful and Obedient son, and his life and Deportm't has been always Regular and Becoming as well as Peaceable, and your poor Pet'r prays your Excellency and Honours will compassionate him and extend your Favour and Indulgence to his son as far as shall stand with your wisdom and Clemency”.

Dr. [James?] Ferguson:

Believed to have been born Paisley, Scotland, and a political refugee from a failed revolt against German-born King George I in 1715. This revolt was initiated on behalf of King James III (aka “James Edward Stewart”) whose father, King James II, had been deposed from the throne as the result of a political conspiracy in 1688. Ferguson was not the only fugitive from this uprising who turned pirate, and many other pirates supported the return of the Stewarts to the throne in the hopes of a pardon from “the King Across the Water”. Reported as surgeon for Bellamy's crew aboard the Marianne off St. Croix in November 1716.

John Fletcher:

Fletcher was Quartermaster for Bellamy's crew until replaced by Richard Noland after the capture of The Whydah Galley.

*John Hamann:
Notorious “fence” for pirates in the Virgin Islands during the early 18th-century. He had traded with the infamous Captain Kidd in 1699. He was reported as an out-and-out pirate during the War of Spanish Succession, and traded with a number of pirates, including Bellamy, therafter. His famous “Bermuda boat”, the William, was manned by a crew of blacks, and was reputed to be extraordinarily fast. She was ultimately hi-jacked by “Calico Jack” Rackham and his crew (including Anne Bonny and Mary Read) for use as a pirate vessel.

Jeremiah Higgins:
Higgins left Jamaica aboard the Blackett to go “treasure-fishing” on the wrecks to only to be taken (along with John Fletcher) by Ben Hornigold around September 1715. Chose to stay with Bellamy at the time of Hornigold’s ouster as commodore of the pirate flotilla. Wounded in Bellamy’s attack on the 40-gun French ship off Porto Rico. Replaced Jeremy Burke as boatswain aboard the Marianne after Burke transferred to The Whydah Galley. Apprehended by New York authorities after jumping ship from the Marianne several weeks after the wreck. At the time of his capture he was carrying “fourteen Pistoles in gold. Seven Ounces or [sic] half of Dust gold, and Eighty-one or Eighty-two pieces of Eight in Silver and one pound of Silver Bullion about seventeen ounces” which represented his share of prizes taken up until early January 1717 (prior to the capture of the Whydah).  Released from prison in New York as part of the General Pardon in 1718.

*Richard Holland:

A Royal Navy defector to the Jacobite cause, Holland subsequently served under the Spanish as a privateer, as well under the “Jolly Roger” on his own account, until the mid-1720’s. After the wreck of the Whydah, Williams and “La Buze” joined forces and sailed to the coasts of Africa and Brazil in a larger vessel, while Holland is thought to have been given command of their former vessels, Marianne and Postillion.

Peter Cornelius Hoof:

Born in Sweden (possibly Gothenburg) in 1683. Left his native country in 1699 and sailed with the Dutch on the coast of Portobello until his ship, commanded by one Cornelison, was captured by Bellamy in a periagua around February 1716. Reportedly whipped on one occasion for attempting to desert. Part of the prize crew of the wineship Mary Anne on the night of the storm. At an interrogation after his capture, Hoof gave the most plausible estimate of the treasure on board The Whydah Galley at the time of her capture by Bellamy: “The money taken in the Whido, which was reported to amount to 20,000 or 30,000 pounds, was counted over, in the cabin, and put up into bags, fifty pounds to every man’s share, there being 180 men on board”. The only way in which Hoof’s testimony makes any sense is to presume that each of the 180 bags weighed fifty pounds (or 9000 lbs total), which had a value estimated by the pirates of twenty to thirty thousand pounds sterling. Hanged in Boston at age 34, he proclaimed “My Death this Afternoon, 'tis nothing, 'tis nothing. 'Tis the wrath of a terrible GOD after Death abiding on me, which is all that I am afraid of.”

*Ben Hornigold:
Sometimes called “Horn o’gold” in primary source documents, he was reported as a privateersman during The War of Spanish Succession, turned pirate prior to August 1713 (shortly after the end of hostilities), and is considered one of the “founding fathers” of what has come to be known as “The Golden Age of Piracy”. Hornigold continued with the pirate flotilla he had organized for some time after Bellamy had been elected to command of the Marianne at Porto Mariel. While he is known to have attacked French, Spanish and Dutch shipping, he appears to have avoided attacks on British vessels—a practice that reportedly led to his replacement by Bellamy sometime during the summer of 1716. He continued raiding throughout the West Indies in the vessel given to him and his followers by Bellamy until the spring of 1718 when he took the King’s Pardon. Not only did he accept the Pardon, he even went so far as to turn pirate-hunter under Bahamian Governor Woodes Rogers. Ironically, he died in a shipwreck.

*Henry Jennings:
Probably the son of Richard Jennings, a Bermudian sea captain who had been peripherally involved in an apparent Jacobite plot to hi-jack an entire British naval squadron in 1707. Possibly related to the William Jennings family of Great Britain, which had strong associations with the Jacobite movement and with Jacobite privateering. Jennings was one of the privateers illegally commissioned by Governor Lord Archibald Hamilton in November and December 1715, and conducted a number of serious raids against French and Spanish shipping. One of his most notable captures, that of the French vessel Ste Marie in March 1716, was conducted in conjunction with two pirate periaguas of Bellamy’s crew, the latter which thereafter absconded with much of the loot from the prize. Jennings and most of his men were fortunately dis-inclined to commit serious robberies against British shipping after his capture of the Ste. Marie, and he eventually turned her over to British authorities at Jamaica. He was pardoned in 1718 and was again operating as a legitimate merchant and privateer by the 1720’s.

John Julian:

Traditionally identified as the “Cape Cod Indian” who was a “pilot” of The Whydah Galley at the time of the wreck. Recent research, however, reveals that he born into the afro-amerindian Mosquito tribe of Nicaragua. He and Davis are the only known survivors of the wreck of The Whydah Galley. While Julian was held at Boston Gaol as late as July 1717, he was not put on trial. Whether due to his youth, or his race, he appears to have been sold into slavery to John Quincy (grandfather of John Quincy Adams of Amistad fame) as “Julian, the Indian”. He was executed in Boston for murder while attempting to escape from another owner in 1733. His body was turned over to "several young Students in Physick, Surgery, etc" and thereafter dissected as a learning exercise.

John King:

The youngest-known pirate of the 18th century, King was a passenger on The Bonetta, a merchant sloop bound from Jamaica for Antigua under Captain “Abijah Savage” (possibly Habijah Savage of Boston). He joined Bellamy's men voluntarily after his vessel was taken at St. Croix in November 1716 and "was so far from being forced or compelled thereto by them...that he declared he would Kill himself if he was Restrained, and even threatened his mother who was then on Board as a Passenger". Recent forensic analysis reveals that a legbone recovered from the Whydah site is from a child no older than eleven. King should have listened to his mother!
  

*”La Buze” [=”The Buzzard”]
Sometimes identified as “Oliver Levasseur” this French pirate of numerous aliases joined the Bellamy/Hornigold flotilla in April 1716, after the capture of the Marianne, but prior to Hornigold’s final departure. He parted company with Bellamy and went his own way in his sloop La Postillion in early January 1717. Williams rejoined La Buze in July 1717 off the Carolinas, and the pair were reported off the coast of Africa in early in 1718 and again in 1719. La Buze proceeded to the Indian Ocean where he continued his piratical career—until at least 1723--with such pirate captains as Edward England and John Taylor. He was finally captured and hanged by French authorities at Mauritius around 1730. At his execution, he is reported to have defiantly thrown a document into the crowd that purportedly contained coded directions to his treasure buried at the Seychelles.

? Lambeth:
Identified by John Brown as one of the “pilots” of The Whydah Galley at the time of the storm. Probably identical to John Lambert—see below.

John Lambert:

Born in Newcastle, England, he was the Sailing Master of The Whydah Galley at the time of the storm.

William Lee:

Possible veteran of the old Hornigold crew, and brother of Edward Lee of the same gang, he was reported aboard the Marianne off St. Croix under Bellamy in November 1716.

William Main:

Believed to have transferred to La Buze’s Postillion no later than January 1717; having been replaced as Sailing Master for the crew by John Lambert. Possibly the same William Main who was tried and hanged as boatswain of Bartholomew Roberts’ Royal Fortune in 1722.

Edward Moon

Ex-privateersman under Captain Pinkethman (one of the more famous and daring privateersmen of the War of Spanish Succession). Reported aboard the Marianne under Bellamy in November 1716 off St. Croix.

Richard Noland

Born in Dublin, Ireland, he had been a veteran pirate with Hornigold’s crew, but chose to join Bellamy when Hornigold was ousted. Succeeded John Fletcher as quartermaster for the crew.  As such, Noland would have supervised votes of importance, enforced discipline, assigned work details, and ensured that captured plunder was divided equally. Probable prize-commander of the snow Anne at the time of the storm. Unlike The Whydah Galley and the pink Mary Anne, the other two pirate vessels of Bellamy’s fleet, the Anne and the Fisher, suffered only moderate damage as they rode out the storm anchored-up north of the Whydah’s wreck site. The Fisher was deliberately scuttled the next day, and her crew joined Richard Noland’s pirates on board the Anne. After capturing a handful of fishing vessels off Cape Ann and the Maine coast, her men then fled to the Bahamas. Noland rejoined his old commander, Ben Hornigold, and later took the King’s Pardon in 1718 with him and Williams. Unlike Williams, Noland managed to stay honest and eventually even became “respectable” enough to testify at pirate trials as a character witness.

William Osbourne

This possible Royal Navy deserter was described as a “Gunner's mate” among the pirates aboard the Marianne in November 1716 off St. Croix.

Hendrick Quintor

Born 1692 at Amsterdam, Quintor was of African heritage. Aboard a Spanish brigantine when she was taken by La Buze around April or May of 1716. Part of the prize crew of the wineship Mary Anne on the night of the storm. Apprehended by the authorities and hanged in Boston at age 25. At his execution he commented “'Tis a Dark Time with me”.

Joseph Rivers

Part of Louis Guittar's pirate crew off Virginia aboard La Paix (“Peace”) in 1701. (Accounts of the capture of this pirate ship by HMS Shoreham after a desperate eight-hour battle can be found in Donald Shomette’s Pirates of the Chesapeake, or Peter Earle’s Pirate Wars. Rivers apparently avoided apprehension/prosecution and was aboard the Marianne off St. Croix in November 1716.

Jean Shuan (or “Chouan”)
Born in 1693 at Nantes, France. Aboard The Tanner Frigate when it was taken in the Gulf of Gonaive (Haiti) by Bellamy in the Whydah in March 1717. Part of the prize crew of the wineship Mary Anne on the night of the storm. Claimed that he had been advised by Dr. Ferguson to stay with the pirates on account of an illness he was suffering at the time of his capture. Hanged in Boston at age 24, he was ministered-to in French by Cotton Mather at the execution. When advised by Mather to renounce all other spiritual mediators, he commented “I can't well tell, what to say to it.”

Thomas South

Born about 1687 at Boston in Lincolnshire. Taken by Bellamy in Marianne from the St. Michael around January 1717. Part of the prize crew of the Mary Anne on the night of the storm. Acquitted of piracy at Boston in Massachusetts in October 1717, on the grounds that he had declared his intent to escape from the pirates to members of the original crew of the Mary Anne.

Jean Taffier

This Frenchman was among the stragglers of the Martel/Kennedy pirate gang who were rescued by Bellamy and Williams at St. Croix in January 1717. Probable gunner of the Marianne sloop during the spring of 1717, he is believed to have successfully retired from piracy, with John Taylor (and possibly Palgrave Williams), in 1723.

David Turner

Former apprentice to Jonathan Freeland of London before turning pirate, this "North Country man” was reported aboard The Whydah Galley off Virginia in April 1717. Apparently he was one of the 19-man prize crew of Noland’s Anne, for he is recorded as having taken the King’s Pardon with Noland and Williams at New Providence in 1718.

Simon van Vorst

Born in New York, 1693, and possible relative of Ide Van Vorst, an original patentee of Tappan, New York. Van Vorst was apparently a merchant sailor aboard a New York vessel owned by Nathan Simson (one of the richest merchants in New York at that time), when she was taken by the French. After his release, he (together with Thomas Baker and eight others) were taken from a boat by La Buze in October 1716 off Cape Nicholas, Haiti. Three were released, being married. Later transferred to Bellamy’s command. Part of the prize crew of the Mary Anne on the night of the storm. Hanged in Boston at age 24. As a member of a Reformed church, and given the tenor of his interaction with Cotton Mather at his execution, van Vorst may have been one of the condemned pirates for whom Mather had interceded. Van Vorst was “heartily sorry” for his “very bad life” and, of all his sins, the ones that weighed most heavily on him at his execution were “My undutifulness unto my Parents; and my Profanation of the Sabbath.”

Palgrave Williams

Son of John Williams, a former Rhode Island Attorney-General, Palgrave Williams was a well-to-do goldsmith by profession who may have helped finance Bellamy in his unsuccessful treasure-hunting venture in the Caribbean, and thereafter turned pirate with him. Unlike most pirates, who were in their mid-twenties, Williams was of the ripe old age of 39 when he took this step. Described as “a middlesized man of a dark brown complexion wearing a peruke” (a type of wig), he took command of the Marianne after Bellamy’s capture of the Whydah. Separated from the Whydah by a storm two weeks prior to the wreck, he missed the April 26 disaster only because he had put into Block Island to visit his mother and sisters. In the weeks after the wreck of The Whydah Galley, Palgrave Williams became New England’s “Public Enemy Number One”, and no less than five government vessels were sent out to take him. He neatly evaded them all, and took the King’s Pardon at Nassau in 1718. Ever a restless soul, however, he soon “relapsed” into piracy. Apparently enjoying the life of a disreputable pirate, he rejoined his old associate “La Buze” and is believed to have stayed “on the account” with other pirate crews until at least 1723, ranging as far as the Indian Ocean. One historian of the past century has him operating with a group of Spanish and French pirates as late as 1729, but this has not been corroborated from available independent documentation. Nor is there corroboration for the story that he eventually retired in peace and prosperity just across Narragansett Bay from the wife and children he had abandoned years before in favor of pursuing “the Sweet Trade” of piracy.

[Edward?] Wood
British-born pirate reported aboard the Marianne under command of Bellamy at St. Croix in November 1716.

email us: whydahmuseum@yahoo.com

All rights reserved, © Historic Shipwrecks, Inc.