Pirates of the Far East

[Dirigoboy]

At least as far East as you can go in America.

Rich in historical pirate and privateer activity, this small, easternmost town in the U.S. is putting on it's 3rd annual Pirate Festival to be held Sept. 5, 6, & 7, 2008.

Granted, I'm a little biased.......ok, alot biased. I went to boat school here years ago and it is one of the most ruggedly beautiful, yet isolated areas I've ever seen. So much to see here in terms of coastline, and the trip north is well worth it with tons of maritime history along our rugged coast. Nearby are Quoddy Head, and it's wonderful walk around the tip where whales, and other sea mamals are often spotted. Also, Campobello Island, summer home to FDR is a short trip over the bridge from Lubec. Then there's the Old Sow, one of the largest natural whirlpools: http://www.eastportme.info/oldsow.html

The festival. Granted, it's not much but it's growing.

http://www.boatschoolhusson.net/pirate_festival.php

Local history.

http://www.maine.rr.com/07/portmag/pirates/default.asp

The Insurgent Gopher metal detector website

The story of the two pirates, Samuel Ballamy and Paulsgrave Williams (circa 1715-1717), has been written before but my version comes from a book dating to before 1900 and contains information which I have not found in any other publication.

It was not at the mouth of the Machias River where the two pirates had their stronghold but further up the river. They did dig a subterranean treasure house but it was not inside the fort. There is little doubt but that the vault holds a large hoard of what we call treasure today. The story of Bellamy and Williams started out as what could have been just another instance of illegal salvaging in the West Indies. After several years of wrecking ships from the shore, the two men decided to try it at sea by becoming pirates.

Now, for piracy, they needed a ship, which they did not have. But the problem was shortly solved with the appearance of the British merchant vessel Whidah near their headquarters. The Whidah -- her holds bulging with precious metals, ivory and gems -- took shelter in a small West Indian cove. Here the British proceeded to replenish their water supply before starting the long voyage to England. A few hours later the land bound pirates were rowing towards the unsuspecting ship. In a matter of minutes every member of the crew was dead. Bellamy and Williams, immediately commissioned the Whidah as a pirate ship and headed north.

After looting a number of ships along the way, the pirates arrived at a destination selected by Captain Bellamy, the only navigator on board. The spot was near the mouth of a river (Machias River) far from any civilized community at that time. It was here that the two leaders put into action a plan they had had for some time. They reasoned that the cargo their ship carried should be hidden before they sailed again.

They decided to build a permanent headquarters, which took the form of a large log fort with defensive fences and earthenworks. Close by, a large vault was excavated to serve as a treasure house. Here the spoils of their pirating were hidden.

When all this was done and the Whidah had been overhauled, Bellamy and Williams set sail again. For several months their pirating was the by-word from New England to the Carolinas. After several forays the treasure house was filled. So extensive was the wealth that Bellamy and Williams decided they could afford to quit pirating.

However, the temptation to make one more trip was too much, and on the last trip out near-disaster occurred in the vicinity of Fortune Bay. The pirates spotted a wealthy looking vessel, which, turned out to be a French Corvette with 36 guns. In the battle that followed, most of the crew of Bellamy and Williams was killed, although the battered Whidah did manage to elude the French vessel and sailed out on one last trip.

Near Nantucket Shoals, Mass., the pirates captured the Mary Jane, an outbound whaler from New Bedford. it carried nothing of value. Bellamy appointed the Mary Jane's captain to lead the Whidah through the unfamiliar shoals until the tip of Cape Cod was passed, then Bellamy himself would navigate.

The captain of the Mary Jane, threading his way through the reefs, led the Whidah aground and the pirate vessel was torn apart. All the men on board both vessels were drowned except the captain of the Mary Jane, who finally made it to shore. Seven pirates who were following the two vessels in a small sloop also reached the shore, but they were swiftly captured and hanged by the angry townspeople of Eastham, Mass.

The pirates headquarters, near the mouth of the Machias River, has just about disappeared. But somewhere nearby is hidden one of the richest pirate caches in North America and it has never been reported found ...

_________

The Story of Two Pirates The state of Maine, when you stop to consider its treasure hunting possibilities, is a natural for metal detector users. Its remoteness, coupled with a more than ample Atlantic coastline full of inlets, islands and other great out-of-sight hiding places, was a natural attraction for pirates of that day. Such is the tale of two pirates who became partners in crime and put away a fortune in stolen goods. Samual Bellamy and Paulsgrave Williams operated around 1716 through 1717, making their headquarters on the upper reaches of the Machias River. Here it is rumored that they dug a large subterranean vault into which they emptied a vast accumulation of treasure taken both from land operations and the sea, aboard ships. The two pirates started as simply illegal ship salvages in the West Indies. Their mode of operation called for the wrecking of passing ships (probably through the use of on-shore canons as well as other means) to get a passing ship grounded so that they could come aboard and take anything of value illegally. They soon came to view the salvage business the way there were conducting it as being ‘penny ante’ and soon began to look about for a ship that could carry them onto the high seas where shipboard treasure might be more valuable and less risky. Anchored in the Machias River, not farm from the Bellamy and Williams headquarters, was a British merchant ship, the Widah. Loaded to the gills with precious metals, the Widah needed supplying with water and other necessities before the long return trip to England. The two pirates, accompanied by a hastily assembled crew, rowed out to the English ship, shot and killed the entire crew, took command of the Whidah. They were now ready to sail off in pursuit of a better class of treasure. The Bellamy and Williams plan called for raiding and pirating locally along the Maine coast, but to always return with heavy accumulations of valuables, to they themselves could not be the victims of other pirates. By putting away their illegal gains, they were assured the safety of their own wealth. After looting several ships and putting together a respectable amount of treasure, the pair decided to put their plan of action into high gear. They returned to the mouth of the Machias River and prepared to build a large log fort, which would not only give them privacy, but also security against those who might come after them. The building of the log fort called for earthworks and fences also of logs to keep those who might try to assault the fortress a good distance away. In their minds, a secure defensible fort had to keep the enemy at bay. Also in the plan was of course inclusion of a large excavated vault in which to keep the seized treasures. After the large treasure vault was complete, they transferred a good deal of treasure from the Whidah to its new resting place, secure within the confines of their newly constructed fort. With a refurbished Widah and Captain Bellamy at the helm, the ship and its unsavory crew set sail along the coast ranging from New England to the Carolinas in their efforts to build up a large quantity of looted treasure. During the several months of pirating along the eastern seaboard of Colonial American, they had been so successful that for a brief time, they mutually concluded it was time to stop their pirate activities and just settle down to enjoy the fruits of their labor. They were ready to retire. But first one last trip for one last haul of treasure and they’d call it quits. It was to be their undoing. Near a place called Fortune Bay, they spotted a very good-looking prospect for an easy treasure haul. Finally within range of the ship they hoped to loot, they learned that they had picked on a French war ship (a Corvette) sporting 36 menacing canons. The ship was meant for fighting and fighting it did. Many of the Widah’s crew members were killed in the battle that ensued, but the Widah did manage to elude the French war ship and make it back to the pirate headquarters at the mouth of the Machias River. Following extensive repairs and the hiring of replacement crew members, the Widah again set sail for one last trip and one last haul. Near Nantucket Shoals off Massachusetts, the pirates seized a whaling ship called the Mary Jane. It was outbound for the high seas and carried nothing of particular value to the pirates, but being unfamiliar with the waters around Nantucket, Captain Bellamy forced the captain of the Mary Jane to lead the Widah through the dangerous waters ahead. Both vessels were soon caught up on some sharp reefs, sinking both ships. Most everyone from both ships drowned. Only a small contingent of pirates who were trailing the Widah in a small sloop managed to make it safely ashore, only to be caught and hanged by angry residents of the town of Eastham, Mass. Although the pirate headquarters at the mouth of the Machias River is well overgrown with brush, it still could be the site of a vast accumulation of pirated wealth, buried somewhere within the secret recesses of the old fort. 2 The Fishermen’s Soccer Game Treasure Occasionally a lost or misplaced treasure will appear and disappear just as suddenly as it came. Such as the experience of several Maine coast fishermen who in 1900, found and lost a treasure on the same day. Off the Maine shores about half way up and down the state’s coast, some hard-working fishermen stopped one day to relax a bit on Manana Island. They were between trips to differing fishing grounds and had some time to relax, while replenishing their ship’s supplies. One of the fishermen broke out his soccer ball and invited the remaining crew members to join him in a wild game of beachfront soccer. As the game wore on, one of the soccer players made a wild, uncoordinated kick at the ball to retrieve it. As the captain bent over to pick up the ball, he noticed some rusty metal sticking up from the sand. He dug the sand from around the metal object and was astounded to find an iron pot loaded with coins. Thinking he might be able to return later, he managed to pick up the pot and lodge it in a nearby rock crevice. Due to the clamor of the crew to finish their soccer game, he hastily returned to the field of play. Later when the crew returned to the ship, the captain managed to stay behind to relocate the crevice where he had hidden the heavily loaded coin pot. Finally deciding it was better to share the contents of the lost pot with the crew members, he called them back to help him look for the pot stuck in the crevice. The entire crew spent several hours looking for the Captains lost pot, but nothing ever turned up in any of the rock crevices they searched. Somewhere on Manana Island off the Maine coast, there may still be a good treasure-laden iron pot, stuffed into a rock crevice by the soccer-playing captain. 3 St. John’s Island Treasure Not far off Portland, Maine in Casco Bay lies St. John’s Island. Here it is reported that many fishermen hung out between trips to sea. One of their more favored spots was a tavern located on the north end of the island. A Portuguese fisherman who seemed never to have to go to sea, but always had plenty of gold and silver coins for spending money, also liked drinking at the large frame tavern. His drinking at the tavern continued for years as his seemingly limitless fortune continued to pay for time spent carousing. Later, as he lay dying in a foreign land, he produced a map of St. John’s Island and told a friend that his wealth came from a well located near his favorite drinking tavern. The coins at the bottom of the well had been part of a pirate treasure put there by a pirate named Dixie Bull. Author’s note: I have 20 pages of treasure information on Maine that I can copy for $7.50. (I will pay the postage). Send a check or money order to: Tom Vance, PO Box 14280, Tulsa, OK 74104.

Sources: Phillips, Charles, Heritage of the West, Crescent Books, New York, 1992. MP Henson, Research Data, 1990. Von Nueller, Karl, Treasure Hunters Manual, 7th Edition, The Gold Bug Publishing Company, 1966.

**Machias is just below Eastport :)

Anway......lots of natural wonders to see in Eastport. It's where the sun first touches the U.S. Magnificent sunsets, mysterious sea fog, and a place worth beaching your hull.

B&B's, cabins, and the few local motels can fill up early, so if you're hoisting sail to make it, reserve early.