![]() The Whydah Gally had left England in 1716 and took 312 enslaved people from the west coast of Africa to Jamaica. Likely born in Devon at the end of the 17th century, Bellamy began working on the high seas at the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession when he was 13 years old and later became a pirate captain, according to the New England Historical Society (opens in new tab).Īs a pirate, Bellamy captured 53 ships, including the Whydah Gally, a slave ship carrying a fortune in gold, silver and other goods. Samuel Bellamy lived to be only 28 years old, but he made a name for himself during his short life. (Image credit: Sepia Times/Contributor via Getty Images) (opens in new tab) Black Sam BellamyĪn illustration of Samuel Bellamy with the wreck of the Whydah from the Pirates of the Spanish Main series (N19) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes, dated around 1888. Related: Colombia moves to salvage immense treasure from sunken Spanish galleon 4. Drake died of dysentery off the coast of Panama in 1596. He helped start the English slave trade in Africa by making multiple trips to Guinea and Sierra Leone with his cousin and naval commander Sir John Hawkins and enslaved up to 1,400 African people, according to Murphy. He was also a leading naval commander who fought against the Spanish Armada, a huge fleet of Spanish ships that was part of a failed attempt to invade England and overthrow the queen in 1588.ĭrake's legacy is further muddied by his involvement in slavery. Drake brought back plenty of treasure from his circumnavigation and shared his riches with Queen Elizabeth I. Born in Devon, England, around 1540, Drake became the first person from England to circumnavigate the globe, according to the BBC - although this feat was not a planned exploration but rather a byproduct of his goal to raid Spanish ships in the Americas.ĭrake's exploits were legitimate from an English perspective because the Spanish had claimed the entire New World territory and the English wanted in, but to the Spanish, Drake was a menacing pirate thief they nicknamed "El Draque," or “the Dragon,” Elaine Murphy (opens in new tab), an associate professor of maritime and naval history at the University of Plymouth in England, wrote in an article on the university’s website (opens in new tab). Sir Francis Drake was a noble to some and an outlaw pirate to others. (Image credit: Wynnter via Getty Images) (opens in new tab) Sir Francis DrakeĪ portrait of Sir Francis Drake. Related: Famous women in history: 10 influential women from around the world 3. Some even took positions in the government, Murray wrote. Not only were the pirates pardoned for their crimes, but some were allowed to keep their vessels and joined the Chinese navy. Shih broke up the confederation in 1810 and negotiated a generous surrender deal with the Chinese government. Anyone caught giving commands on his own or disobeying those of a superior was immediately decapitated," Murray wrote.Īt the height of her power, Shih, also called the "Pirate Queen," controlled a fleet of 1,200 ships crewed by about 70,000 pirates. ![]() According to Murray, Shih secured control of the pirates through careful alliances and a strict code of laws. Ching died in 1807, and Shih seized sole control of the pirate confederation. The pair consolidated control of the region's rival pirate gangs into a confederation, Dian Murray, a professor emeritus of history at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, wrote in a 1981 article in the journal Historical Reflections (opens in new tab). Born into poverty as Shih Yang in Guangzhou, China, in the late 18th century, Shih was a sex worker until she married a pirate named Ching I in 1801 and took the name Ching Shih, which meant "the wife of Ching," according to a case study by the University of Oxford's Global History of Capitalism project (opens in new tab). One of the most successful pirates in history was a woman named Ching Shih, sometimes called Cheng I Sao or Zheng Yi Sao. The pirate Ching Shih (Image credit: Future) (opens in new tab)
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