The best adventures start with imagination.

ISBN: 9798516358227

Sam Bellamy is a sailor and willing to work, but he’d like a return on his effort that isn’t available to the people in his social class. He objects to living with laws he has no voice in making that favor the wealthy, and exact unjust punishments on the poor. To take a stand, he becomes an outlaw. He is a pirate, and the sweet trade of piracy is a capital crime.

Mariah Hallett is a talented weaver with an unusual skill for healing animals that her neighbors both fear and use when convenient. She is at the center of a controversy between two religious men, each determined to save her soul: One believes she is blessed, the other believes she is a witch. When she is accused of murder, she is banished to live alone on the high moors overlooking the sea.

        The Whydah is a slave ship returning to England, her hold filled with the golden profits from trading in human beings. Captured by Sam and his crew, she is refitted as a pirate ship, heavily armed and loaded with plunder.

Sam and Mariah are lovers and kindred spirits. He returns to her in the Whydah, and she’s waiting for him.

But gold doesn’t float.

Set in the early 1700s, MASTER OF THE SWEET TRADE is a historically accurate account of Samuel Bellamy’s career, plus a retelling of the local folklore surrounding the mysterious Mariah Hallett. The imagination used to flesh-out these two lines of research makes this novel an exciting vehicle for visiting a past filled with adventure on the high seas, and sacrifice and courage in the New World.   

On April 26, 1717, off the coast of what is now known as Marconi Beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, the Whydah was lost in one of the worst storms on Cape Cod’s eastern shore. There were two known survivors.    

 Sam Bellamy left behind more than an unfulfilled romance and a trail of plundered ships. His legacy includes the only authenticated pirate ship ever discovered. Every summer the dive team of The Whydah Project brings up artifacts, cannon, and treasure, and the Whydah reveals more of her secrets.