The Daring Exploits of Pirate Black Sam Bellamy by Jaime Goodall

Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Daring Exploits of Pirate Black Sam Bellamy:

Pirates, witches, and Cape Cod.

Quick synopsis:

The story of the notorious pirate Black Sam Bellamy.

Fact for Non-History People:

By some measures, Bellamy is the richest pirate ever with about $120 million stolen by today’s estimates. (Disclaimer: This is a really hard thing to estimate.)

Fact for History Nerds:

He was called “The Price of Pirates” because he dressed nice and was known to be humane and fair (as far as pirates go, not normal people).

My Take on The Daring Exploits of Pirate Black Sam Bellamy:

The story of “Black Sam” Bellamy is, like many pirate stories, badly documented and usually contains more lore than actual facts. What makes Bellamy such a draw is that his story contains some semblance of a love story and a tragic end after amazing successes. His story also involves Cape Cod, which is my happy place. No, I am not entirely unbiased. Even still, I loved Jaime Goodall’s The Daring Exploits of Pirate Black Sam Bellamy. Let me tell you why!

It should be noted that much of the book is not directly tied to Bellamy. As I said, if you want to document the truth when discussing any pirate, there is only so much you can truly believe. What Goodall does is fill in the gaps by building the world of pirates and immersing the reader in the time period leading up Bellamy’s…..villainy? Listen, there is a romantic side to pirates, but they also killed a lot of people. Bellamy was one of the more humane pirates, but we should not be fitting him for a halo.

What I really appreciated about Goodall’s narrative is the significant research she clearly conducted while writing in a more familiar rather than academic tone. If you quote the Notorious B.I.G, you clearly know what you are doing. In conclusion, come fly the black flag and read this book.

Verdict:

A fun jaunt about a pirate. Buy it here!