Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay
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From the golden age of piracy to Confederate privateers and oyster pirates, the maritime communities of the Chesapeake Bay are intimately tied to a fascinating history of intrigue, plunder and illicit commerce raiding. Author Jamie L.H. Goodall introduces infamous men like Edward “Blackbeard” Teach and “Black Sam” Bellamy, as well as lesser-known local figures like Gus Price and Berkeley Muse, whose tales of piracy are legendary from the harbor of Baltimore to the shores of Cape Charles.
EDITORIAL CORRECTIONS: I relied on a bad primary source, so the original paragraphs in the following section are factually incorrect. The press has updated future printings, but some versions of the publication still contain the old paragraphs.
- Page 47, paragraph 2, lines 1-10
ORIGINAL “To celebrate yet another success, the men on each ship helped themselves to the large quantities of wine and alcohol that was on board the captured vessel. When the two prisoners on board the captured ship saw the pirates drunkenly passed out on the deck, they took the opportunity and steered the ship toward the land, running it aground quickly. Local inhabitants helped the two men seize the pirates. The pirates were then sent to Boston. When the men on the Whidah saw that their prize was getting away, they made chase. But they, too, were entirely too drunk and ran their own vessel aground on the shore south of the Cape. Between 120 and 130 of the ship’s crewmembers drowned.”
CORRECTED “Some say Bellamy then intended to dock at Cape Cod to visit his alleged lover, Maria Hallett, before rejoining Williams in Maine. Others speculate he planned to head to Boston. Regardless of his objective, Bellamy never reached his destination. A heavy fog rolled in that evening, causing the pirates to sail dangerously close to the shoals. Around midnight, a nor’easter hit with winds over seventy miles per hour. Still heavily laden with plunder, the Whidah crashed bow first into a sandbar. Within “a quarter of an hour after the ship struck,” the mainmast had snapped and the ship capsized. By morning, the Whidah had been “beat to pieces,” leaving 144 men dead. Ten miles south, the Mary Anne had also wrecked.”
- Page 47, paragraph 3, lines 2-3
ORIGINAL “Sam Bellamy and his few surviving crewmembers were imprisoned, condemned, and executed for piracy. They met their maker at the end of the hangman’s noose.”
CORRECTED “Fate may have spared nine of Bellamy’s men that night, but not for long, with two being acquitted, one enslaved, and seven executed for piracy.”
