Youngest pirate threatened to hurt his mother unless infamous Black Sam let him join crew
Lots of kids have played pirates at some point, dressing up in a costume and waving a fake sword around.
But little John King did it for real when he became the youngest pirate in history.
It was on 9 November 1716 that notorious pirate Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy captured passenger ship the Bonetta, sailing from Jamaica to Antigua, while John and his mother were on board.
The ship’s captain Abijah Savage reported that the pirates looted the ship for 15 days, during which John – aged somewhere between eight and 11 – became enamoured with the pirate lifestyle.
He begged Black Sam – the most profitable pirate ever – to let him join the crew.
Savage claimed in a sworn statement that young John threatened to kill himself and even to harm his mother if Black Sam did not let him join the crew.
And the pirate agreed, taking John with him when they sailed away on their ship, the Mary Anne.
What’s also interesting about his desire to run off with the pirates is that John is thought to have been from a well-off family.
It’s said he was wearing French woven-silk stockings and leather shoes fastened with buckles, the kind worn by the upper classes in the 18th century, when he joined the crew.
At the time, it wasn’t unusual for young boys from poor families to get jobs on ships as cabin boys or powder monkeys (carrying gunpower from the hold to the gun decks), perhaps seeking a better life than that of a chimney sweep or child labourer.
But John’s motivations were possibly very different.
Tragically though, his piratical career was extremely short-lived.
Not long after he joined, in early 1717, Black Sam and his crew captured the Whydah, a heavily armed slave galley which Bellamy decided to claim as his flagship.
A portrait of John King
And just two months later, it was wrecked in a storm off the coast of Cape Cod, USA, whilst filled to the brim with booty they’d plundered, as well as around 150 men.
Bellamy and most of his crew were killed, including John, it’s believed.
The wreck of the Whydah was found over 200 years later, in 1984, and among other things, a small leg bone alongside a silk stocking and shoe were recovered – the kind of things John was wearing when he joined the crew.
The archaeologist who led the expedition and an expert from the Smithsonian later confirmed the leg bone belonged to a child aged between eight and 11.
While we can’t know for sure, it’s highly unlikely the bone belonged to anyone other than John.