Our pirate story continues this week with Master Hawkins, his two new accomplices (Ned Low and Francis Sprigg) and many African natives being brought to the New World to be sold as slaves by pirates.

It so happened on the voyage over, several of the pirates got deathly sick and died. Being short-handed, the pirates brought Hawkins, Low and Sprigg out of the hole and put them to work aboard the ship.

When the pirate ship landed in the Caribbean, the ship’s captain, a man known only as Captain Blood, told the three young men they had a choice: Either be sold as slaves or join up with his crew of pirates. Why, it didn’t take long for the young men to become pirates, no-sirree.

Weren’t long before all three young men were enjoying the free life of being pirates. All learned quickly that obeying the captain’s orders meant you would live longer and the more you robbed and killed, the richer you would be.

As it does with most humans, the lust of gold and treasure makes a man do things he wouldn’t ordinarily do. So it was with young Hawkins, Low and Sprigg. They swore on their mother’s graves that soon they would have their own ship and keep all the stolen treasure for themselves.

Their chance soon came as they headed up a mutiny on board their own pirate ship. With the help of some more scallywags on board, they were able to take over the ship. Old Captain Blood was forced, by the point of a sword, to walk the plank right into Davey Jones’ Locker.

Hawkins was voted in as the ship’s captain and he chose Ned Low as his first mate and Francis Sprigg as his second mate. With this crew of cutthroats and a few more they picked up along the way, no ship or its treasure was safe on the high seas. The pirate ship was renamed “The Royal Fortune” and Hawkins’ own crew started calling him Black Bart because of his devilish acts and the ungodly way he treated people.

By 1725, the Royal Navy had captured most of the pirates who roamed the high seas. The pirates were either hanged or thrown in jail. The few who weren’t caught buried their treasures and went into hiding.

Black Bart and his crew knew the days of piracy were slowly coming to an end, but they needed just one more haul. As they sailed up the South Carolina coast, they spotted a trading ship sailing into Winyal Bay at Georgetown. This would be a prized target, so they raised their black skull-and-bones flag and moved in for the kill.

Soon, the trading ship was boarded by the pirates, and to their surprise, two large chests of gold were discovered on board, along with barrels of rum and wine.

Black Bart’s crew unloaded all the loot and gold onto their ship and took no prisoners, except for two young slaves. The trading ship was then set on fire and left to drift in the bay as the pirates gave her a toast with their newly acquired steins full of rum.

Before the Royal Fortune sailed, about half of its crew was sent ashore to get their land legs and bring fresh water back on board the ship. This would prove to be a fatal mistake, for as they were gone, two British Man of War ships showed up at the entrance of the bay.

With such a short crew, Black Bart knew he couldn’t slip by the warship without being blown out of the water.

He ordered his skeleton crew to set a course up the Pee Dee River (which runs into Winyal Bay). One of the Man of War ships followed as they sailed past the Black and Waccamaw rivers but turned back because of shallow water around the mouth of the Little Pee Dee River.

As the days and nights fell, the Royal Fortune made its way upriver. For some mysterious reason, every night there was heard a splash in the river as more of the ship’s crew started disappearing. After a while there was only Black Bart, first mate (Ned Low), second mate (Francis Sprigg) and the two slaves left on board.

Not long after the ship sailed past the settlement of Cheraw, it ran into rocks at Buchannan Shoals (Old Sneadsboro) and the Royal Fortune started sinking. Black Bart ordered his small crew to load the gold on a longboat and they started rowing upriver. They made it as far as what we now call Blewett Falls and again their boat ran into rocks and began to sink.

The men carried the gold to the eastern bank just as their boat disappeared down the rapids. Satisfied the gold chests were safe, Black Bart closed one eye and then the other and fell into a deep sleep.

As the sun rose the next morning, he was awakened by the sound of two cocked pistols — both pointed toward his head. It seems during the night his so-called accomplices, Low and Sprigg and the two slaves, decided they wanted all the gold for themselves. Well, you’ve got to realize they were all pirates!

A small cave was found under a large rock by the edge of the river. The slaves dragged the two chests of gold down into the cave. When they started back out, they were met with the point of a cutlass in their bellies.

Black Bart was next and with his last words, he placed an evil curse on the treasure, his two shipmates and anyone who tried to dig up his gold.

Soon two shots rang out and as the smoke cleared, Ol ’Black Bart fell into the cave atop his treasure. Low and Sprigg pulled the treasure map out of Black Bart’s coat, covered the cave entrance and started walking down the river. They hoped to find a boat to retrieve the gold later.

They hadn’t gone far before Sprigg fell into a hole with a nest of water moccasins and was bitten to death, while Low, still having the map, made his way on down the river.

After several days, Ol ’Low contracted malaria from all the mosquito bites, but he finally made it to a small settlement. He was burning up with fever and talking out of his head, something about snakes, the river and buried treasure. He died the next day.

The settlers found the treasure map hidden in his clothes and were prepared to go look for it when it started raining — and I mean raining. The river swelled and was in a flood stage for several days. Between the water and the mud, the treasure was never found.

Blewett Falls Dam now stands where the treasure was supposedly hidden. The only evidence that was ever found of Black Bart’s treasure was an old Spanish sword stuck in the rocks on a small island just below the Pee Dee River Bridge on U.S. 74, and maybe, just maybe, an old treasure map is still out there.

But of course, somewhere buried along the banks of the Pee Dee near Blewett Falls, Ol’ Black Bart and his gold still remain — curses and all.

J.A. Bolton is a member of the N.C. Storytelling Guild, the Anson County Writers Club, Richmond County Historical Society and the Story Spinners in Laurinburg.

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J.A. Bolton

Storyteller