Claire Glynn: The Search for Black Sam: the Richest Pirate of All-Time

The pirates of the 1700s  were democrats. 
Their ships were crammed with men, and women, of all kinds of cultures. 
Many were former slaves. 
Others were indigenous natives. 
Others were our fore-parents escaping a lifetime of servitude as agricultural serfs.

The pay level between a common sailor and a captain on a pirate ship was only twice as much. However, that pay could be massive. Edward "Black Beard" Teach was worth $12 million. Captain John Bowen, a Creole pirate was worth $40 million.  But the greatest of them all was Black Sam Bellamy - 300 years later, Forbes magazine would estimate that "Black Sam" was the richest pirate of all time.

And then "Black Sam" sailed into a dark and stormy night off the coast of Cape Cod and the legends began...

Skull and Crossbones - the flag of the pirates