The Pirate - 1. Chapter 1

My name is Robert Dewling and this is my story and how I was indoctrinated into piracy, modern day piracy.

I just turn 18, Mom and Dad decided I would go to a small private university in the south. I think they picked that university because it gave them an excuse to spend their winters in a warm climate. I checked out the school and saw they had an excellent course in architecture. My dad’s brother is an architect and I thought his buildings were fantastic. He said they were his mark on the world, “I may die but these buildings will always be here as my everlasting monument to my time on this earth.” I liked that, a lasting memory, your foot print. I didn’t know where this decision would lead me, but as I look back on it, it was perhaps the best decision I have ever made.

A few days before freshman orientation, we flew down to Florida. Mom and dad spent time looking at condo’s well I spent my time walking the campus. Orientation week was an eye opened in one way, all students lived on campus, even if their families live in the area. I didn’t understand this requirement but I would’ve had to live on campus anyway. As it turn out, it was to become a critical part of my future.

I told my dad about my days. After each day of orientation, he’d make a comment. One comment he made surprised me, “I stayed at home when I went to college, I think my life would’ve been different if I had stayed on campus. I didn’t have any close friends except those that were in the same program or who also stayed at home rather than on the campus. At times I’d hear some of the students from the dorms talking about what they were doing. It seemed they were forming life long bonds, I’m glad you’ll be staying on campus."

My dorm mate was from a small island in the Caribbean. He said his friends all called him Captain and I should as well. Over the next five years, I learned a lot about the Captain, his name was Samuel Bellamy, a direct ascendent of a pirate of the same name. This surprised me but it didn’t interfere with us becoming good friends. He said the island was his ancestral home. Although he did admit that his forefathers came from England.

During summer breaks, he’d go home and I went to work for my uncle. At first all I did was copying of sketches and drawings. I discovered that several drawings when combined could create several different structures. He said that was a time saver particularly if he was designing homes for a developer. I saw that this method also provided a base to work with, he had developed some guides which where essentially generic layouts. I could see the value of that if developments were to be built, but if a large building or a specific commercial building was to be built, he would need to provide a specific drawing tailored to the specific project. I had seen housing developments where there were only three designed homes and even they had small differences.

Working for my uncle over the summer I was more than convinced that I had chosen the correct field of study. Over the years while I was in school, as my classes became more specific, I took on more responsibility during the summer at my uncle’s firm. During the summer between by 4th and 5th year, I actually was designing small projects for my uncle. They were simple structures as compared to high risers or multifaceted buildings. I even had the opportunity to supervise two of my uncle’s projects.

During my last year, the Captain showed me pictures of his island home. One particular picture appeared to be a mountain with a bay in front of it. He had several pictures of villages, for a better word. He said the island is where he lives. The pictures of the villages looked very similar to other pictures I had seen of fishing villages in the remote parts of the Pacific Ocean. But the picture he wanted me to focus on was the one of the mountain and bay.

“Bob, I have a project in mind and I’d like your opinion on it. I’d like to put a Four Star hotel on this mountain. I was thinking of a Four Start restaurant at the base over looking the cove, and then build suites above to the very top where I would live. What do you think? Is it a feasible project?”

“Captain, that is a signifiant undertaken. It’ll cost a lot of money, do you have a survey of the mountain? It isn’t a volcano, is it?”

Laughing, “No it isn’t a volcano. A volcano erupted a long time ago forming the island. My ancestor found the island on one of his voyages and settled in this area. This cove was the main entry with his ships, there are remnants of an old dock there.”

“Give me some time and maybe I can sketch something out for you.” I knew I could tap a few resources, my uncle and my professor.

Over the next several months, I had several ideas. I sketched out several basic plans, my uncle discarded two saying they weren’t feasible for several reasons, which he outlined for me. I read his comments carefully, after all he was in the business for several years and would know a lot from experience. My professor, gave me a series of issues and told me to solve them and I’d be able to determine which of my possibilities would succeed and which would present problems during construction. A true professor, here ’s the questions it’s up to you to find the answer.

I spent the first semester of my 5th year working on the prof’s comments and the picture of the mountain as well at my uncle’s comments. “Bob, what do think about coming home with me for the semester break. You’ll see the mountain and the cove, it’ll give you a better idea of the project.”

I thought about it, I spoke to Dad he said do it. “Just let me know the cost and I’ll send you the money.”

When I told Captain I’d do it but I needed flight information so I could make the arrangements. “You don’t need to do that. You can fly with me in my plane.”

I was surprised, there’s more to this man then I knew and I decided I needed to know more. As a dorm buddy, he was great, we got along fine and we seemed to be developing one of those friendships Dad always wished he had. If I was going to spend time with him, then I needed to know more about this man. I went to the library and using their computer I typed in Samuel Bellamy. What came up actually shocked me. I now understood why he wanted me to call him Captain. He was a descendent of a pirate named Samuel Bellamy. As I read further, the paper said he was also called ‘Black Sam” Bellamy because of way he wore his hair, which was long and tied with a simple band as compared to the style of the time of a white powdered wig which he hated.

As I read further I became more comfortable. He was also known as the Prince of Pirates because of his generosity and mercy toward those he captured. I also noted that he died when he was 28.

“Captain, I was reading about your ancestors, the paper said your ancestor who was known as the Robin Hood of the seas died at the age of 28. Is that true?”

Laughing, “No that isn’t true. It was a story he fostered to get the Navy away from hunting him. He retired to a Cay which he named as Bellamy Cay, that’s where I live. My ancestor was a smart man, at his peak he had over 50 ships sailing the seas. Every time he captured a ship he offered the captain and crew a chance to work for him. Most of them did, if they didn’t he would put them in a row boat and let them go, but that was only a few. If the captain and crew did decided to join him, then the captain sailed under his flag. That is how he got the nickname, Robin Hood.”

“So when did he die?”

“He was 50 when he died. According to the archives I have. He got into a bad barrel of rum and died of poison. The inhabitants of the Cay made a statue of him which is still on the Cay in front of a tavern called Robin Hood. I’ll show you when we go there.”

I had also read that he had amassed a fortune of 120 million dollars. I expected in the 1600’s that amount of money must have been worth significantly more, probably a king’s ransom might be right. Now I was anxious to go.

Friday’s class was the last of the semester . I talked with my uncle and he said I should take pictures of the mountain from all angles. He then suggested that when I got back to buy some modeling clay and see if I could do a mock up of the mountain. I thought that would be a good idea. Of course, I had no camera, I called my dad and he said I should buy one as it sounded like a good idea when I told him what my uncle said.

“Captain, before we leave I need to buy a camera.”

“Why?”

“I want to take some photos of the mountain. Then when we get back I’ll make a model of the it from which I can better design what you want.,”

“You can use mine. It’s a good camera and I think you’ll like it. Let’s get packed so we can leave first thing in the morning. We’ll have breakfast on the plane. Be sure you have your passport.,”

When he said first thing in the morning I thought like 6 or 7 am, but no, first thing in the morning was 5 am. That was when we left the dorm. After a one hour drive, we approached a private airport, there was a plane on the runway and no one else around. Didn’t bother the Captain. Picking up our luggage, I followed him through some kind of building, later found out is was the arrival building, unto the runway, heading for the small plane.

I guess the pilot was watching for us, as we crossed the runway, the lights on the plane were lit, a door was opened and a stair was dropped. Captain took his suitcase to the back of the plane, I followed. There he opened a hatch, placed his suitcase in the compartment, took mind and did the same. I followed him onto the plane. He spoke to the pilot, pulled up the stairs, “Take a seat, buckle up and I’ll join you once we are off the ground.” He disappeared into the cockpit.

I think I must have either been not fully awake or I really didn’t know the Captain as well as I thought after 4 years. He never mentioned the plane nor he was one of the pilots till now. You think you know someone very well and then you get surprises that say you don’t know that person as well as you thought. I knew he’d have to fly home but I always assumed it was a standard commercial flight.

It didn’t take us long to get to altitude, Captain left the cockpit and joined me. “I didn’t know you had your pilot’s license.”

“As soon as Cliff turns off that red light, I’ll fix us something to eat.”

I must have fallen asleep as I jump when Captain nudge me with a cup of coffee in his hand. “Here, wake up and eat this.” He handed me a cup of coffee and set a tray down in front of me. “I’ve already eaten and now while you eat your breakfast, I need to go and fly the plane while Cliff eats.”

I think I was still too sleepy to register what he said, the coffee smelled good and helped to wake me up. I think when Cliff sat down opposite me, I woke up very quickly, “Who’s flying the plane?” After saying that I remembered that Captain was in the cockpit when we took off and obviously he was flying now. I felt a little foolish but Cliff just laughed. The coffee was good and breakfast was two egg sandwiches like you would get at a fast food restaurant.

“We’ll be landing in about 30 minutes.” I thought so soon. “It takes just a little over an hour to reach Barbados, including take off and landing time. From Barbados we’ll take a boat to the Cay. That will take longer but we can fish for lunch and dinner.”

This has been an eye opener for me, flying to Barbados and then a boat to the Cay. This place must really be out of the way. Landing in Barbados I had to clear customs, they just waved Captain through. It didn’t take long but I thought it was amusing, l I guess he has made this trip so many times they all knew him.

Leaving the airport, Captain hailed a cab to drive us to the marinas. At first I was scared, he was driving on the wrong side of the road. “Captain, he’s driving on the wrong side of the road, he’ll get us killed.”

“No, he’s driving okay. Remember in England they drive on the wrong side and Barbados was settled by the English. I know it’s strange, but he’s driving okay. Look there's the marina.”

I looked and all I saw were sailing boats. “Where is your boat, these are all sail boats.”

He laughed, you read my ancestry history so what would you expect?”

Now I felt foolish, yes one of those sail boats would be his. When the taxi stopped in front off one of the docks, I saw that we were in front of a beautiful sail boat. I decided not to say anything more and just keep my comments to myself. But there is one thing I couldn’t ignore, Captain must have a lot of money.

“Sometime when we’re finished with the project, we’ll take the boat and go sailing for a couple of weeks. It’s fun and very relaxing.”