BLACK SAM A Pirate’s Tale A Spec Script Treatment by Ran Cartwright
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BLACK SAM
A Pirate’s Tale
A Spec Script Treatment
by Ran Cartwright
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BLACK SAM
A Pirate’s Tale
Time - contemporary. Two young sisters, Maggie and
Mary, walk along a Cape Cod beach. They see an “old crone”
walking with a cane, apparently homeless. The old woman
stumbles and falls. The two sisters hurry to help her.
They help the old woman to her feet; she stares into
Mary’s eyes, startling her. There’s something about this
old woman, Mary can tell, something this old woman knows
and has kept secret. There’s a deep wisdom in those old
eyes far beyond her seemingly ancient years.
The old woman invites the two young sisters to tea and
they accept. Steadying the old woman, Maggie and Mary help
her home to an old tar paper shack with blanket door that
the sisters don’t recall ever being on the beach.
Night falls; they sit in lawn chairs around a camp
fire, tea cups in hand, shadows dancing on the nearby walls
of the tar paper shack. The old woman, a woolen shawl
around her shoulders, pauses and stares into the fire.
There’s a strange light in her eyes. She asks the sisters
if they’d like to hear a tale about a pirate and a witch, a
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true story, she says.
“Black Sam Bellamy. Now that’s a story to tell! A
tragedy that happened right here,...,” the old woman says,
and with a distant look in her eyes, she slowly raises her
head and looks out to sea. “...just off shore. This very
night...in 1717.”
The sisters want to hear. And so the old woman begins
her tale...
* * *
Flashing back - Wellfleet, MA, 1714, Sam Bellamy
arrives from England to live with his uncle’s family. He
intends to acquire enough money to buy a ship, form a crew,
and sail to the Caribbean to salvage sunken ships for gold
and silver. Sam meets many people who will shape his
immediate future. Included are Palsgrave Williams, a
jeweler, and 15 year old Maria Hallet whom he meets in a
cemetery. Maria and Sam fall in love and develop a
whirlwind relationship. Sam settles into a life of
smuggling that’s fronted by a local tavern. Included among
the smugglers are Sam’s Uncle Israel, Palsgrave Williams,
and a crusty old ex-pirate named Joseph Rivers.
During this time Maria becomes pregnant and springs
the news on Sam. With the pregnancy, Sam deems it even more
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imperative to get a ship and find his fortune. He goes to
Palsgrave, asking the jeweler to finance Sam’s enterprise.
Pals agrees on the condition that he comes along as Sam’s
quartermaster. “...you’ll need someone who’s honest to keep
tabs on all that gold...,” so says Palsgrave. It’s agreed.Pals acquires a ship; they recruit a rather mangy crew and
set sail for the Caribbean. Prior to leaving, Sam promises
Maria that he’ll be back for her, and make her and the
child so rich that all of Cape Cod will be envious.
By the time Sam and Pals arrive at a treasure wreck
site, a sunken 1715 plate fleet off the Florida coast, they
find the gold and silver already picked over. They search
for weeks, but don’t find any gold. The crew is despondent,
ready to desert. They don’t want to go back to the toils of
the Royal Navy or join the Merchant Marines or return to
Cape Cod to worthless jobs. Sam gives them a pep talk,
offering his crew a deal...
“We can return to Cape Cod; spend the rest of our
lives paying off our debts. We’ll be poor, working for rich
masters! It will be the only life we’ll ever know. Or...we
can be our own rich masters! We can go on the account;
become looters of nations!”
A crewmen holds up a recently made flag - black with
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white skull and cross bones.
“All we have to do is raise this flag! This flag
represents not death, but resurrection. Never again will we
be slaves of the wealthy. From this day forward we are new
men. Free men! What say ye? Do we work for our masters ordo we become the masters?”
It doesn’t take long for the crew to decide. They
choose piracy.
* * *
Back at Cape Cod, Maria’s father demands to know the
identity of the baby’s father. Maria won’t say. So, being
puritanical New England, Maria’s father throws her out of
the house. She finds a hayloft in a neighbor’s barn to live
in and have the baby. And with Sam nine months gone, Maria
has her baby. It’s a boy and looks like his father - black
hair, blue eyes.
Maria hides the child in the hayloft while she spends
time on the streets of Wellfleet, panhandling for a living.
One day while on the streets, the child chokes on a piece
of straw and dies. The child is found dead. And now, not
only is Maria considered and adulteress, she’s also viewed
as a murderess. Devastated, she’s thrown in the stone
prison in Eastham.
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* * *
Back in the Caribbean, Sam and Pals team up with
pirate Henry Jennings. Jennings is useless, lazy, tries to
get others to do his dirty work. Sam and Pals go along with
Jennings, but soon tire of him. The pirates plot to attack
Bayo Hondo on Cuba’s north shore, Sam to lead the assault.
As they sail into the harbor, Jennings fires his canon
nearly causing disaster for them all. Hearing that another
ship loaded gold had recently left the harbor, Jennings
hazardously goes after the ship while Sam and Pals stay
behind. While Jennings is gone, Sam steels Jennings’ gold
and leaves. Jennings returns, throwing a fit when he finds
Sam and his treasure gone.
* * *
In prison, Maria’s sick and weak, but still manages to
escape on a number of occasions by charming the prison
guards. Some of the locals begin to believe it’s the
Devil’s work and brand her a witch. Each time she escapes,
she makes her way to the Outer Banks of Cape Cod to await
Sam’s return. And each time she’s caught and brought back
to the prison in Eastham.
* * *
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Sam, Pals, and their crew meet up with the infamous
pirate captain, Ben Hornigold, and members of Hornigold’s
crew, including Edward Teech (Blackbeard) and Richard
Noland. Sam tells Hornigold about their adventures with
Henry Jennings, and how they tricked Jennings and made off
with his treasure. Hornigold finds Sam’s tale hilarious, is
impressed with the young Sam, and offers to teach Sam and
his crew the “fine art and science of my ancient and bloody
profession.”
Sam, Pals, and their crew agree. They “go on account,”
joining Hornigold’s crew. Hornigold notes that Sam’s a fast
learner, perhaps a little “too” fast. And Sam learns
something about Hornigold - the pirate captain is still
loyal to the English Crown and does not like to take
English ships or ships with English captains. And after
several months of pirating, things are coming to a head.
* * *
It’s night. Maria slips through the shadows of Eastham
Commons, having talked her way out of prison again. But try
as she might, she doesn’t go unseen. She’s spotted, the
witnesses again convinced that the Devil is behind her
continuous escapes and that she’s a witch.
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She makes her way across country to the cliffs above
Nauset Beach. There she falls asleep only to be awakened in
the morning by guards who have come to take her back to
prison.
* * *
“...she’s an English ship with an English captain, Mr
Noland!” Captain Hornigold angrily proclaims. “I will not
take that ship!”
The crew are outraged, and lead by Sam, they claim
that ALL merchant ships are fair game. A vote is taken.
Hornigold and crew agree to relieve the ship only of its
supply of liquor. Later, on Samana Beach, another vote is
taken, one to replace Hornigold as fleet captain. That
night, on the beach, a moon reflecting on the water while a
breeze rustles the leaves of palm trees, Hornigold learns
of the vote. He’s displaced, the crew electing Sam as their
new captain. Though understanding Sam’s position and
agreeing with the taking of English ships, Blackbeard
proclaims his loyalty to his old captain.
Thus, Hornigold is allowed to freely leave. He and 26
others, including Blackbeard, set sail in a ship Sam
provides to them.
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* * *
A Guard at the Eastham Prison informs the Prison
Constable that Maria Hallet has escaped again. The
Constable sits back at his desk, sighs, shakes his head,
and glares at the Guard.
The guards find Maria at the edge of the cliffs over
Nauset Beach, staring out to sea. They take her and start
back to Eastham. The guards lead her through the streets,
people in doorways and along the streets taunting her as
she passes by. And this time the townsfolk fall in behind,
forming a procession to the prison.
As the guards, Maria, and townsfolk approach the
prison gates, the find the Constable standing there
awaiting their arrival. The Constable rises a hand. The
procession stops. The crowd grows quiet. The Constable
paces back and forth, hands clasped behind his back.
“Miss Hallet, no one has ever escaped from my prison
before, yet you have on four occasion,” he says. “There has
been talk that you charmed my guards and...”
“She’s the Devil’s whore!” someone in the crowd
interrupts.
“...and accusations of witchcraft,” the Constable
continues. “Frankly, Miss Hallet, I’m tired of having my
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guards chase after you. I’m tired of you making a mockery
of my prison. As far as I’m concerned, despite what others
might say, you pose no threat to this community. I don’t
care where you go...just go.”
Released, Maria skirts the taunting, jeering, and
stone throwing crowd as she runs back to town, then beyond
to the cliffs overlooking Nauset Beach. There, she falls to
her knees and softly sobs, then breaks down and cries.
* * *
Sam, developing a flair for piracy, roams the
Caribbean, taking ship after ship. He’s well known as a
‘gentleman pirate,’ taking on crew who wish to join and
setting others free after looting their ships. In time his
small fleet increases in size as does his crew.
* * *
As winter settles over New England, Maria has built a
small ramshackle tar paper hut with blanket door on the
cliffs above Nauset Beach. She spends her time selling what
trinkets she can to local villagers. In her spare time she
waits and watches for Sam’s return. Exiled and branded a
witch, Maria wanders the sand dunes alone, no matter the
weather, no matter the wind, not knowing that Sam has
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turned to piracy.
* * *
February 1717, a lookout shouts: “Approaching galley
aport, 3 leagues away!” Off the port bow in the distance is
the 300 ton, 28 gun galley, Whydah. A “slaver” just having
dropped off her cargo in Jamaica, she’s making her return
voyage through the Windward Passage on her way back to
England.
Sam gives chase. It takes the pirates three days and
nights to catch the galley. Finally, the Whydah gives in
without fight. Sam and his men board the ship and are
surprised to find the hold full of gold, silver, and ivory.
Sam has made his fortune and claims the Whydah for his
flagship.
By early April 1717, Sam and Pals have met with much
success. They decide that the next winter they’ll terrorize
merchantmen in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. First,
though, Sam surprises everyone by wanting to sail north
again - back to New England. Maria awaits. And so, the two
pirate ships turn north...
* * *
The two pirate ships sail north. It’s a calm day; some
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pirates are playing cards on a hatch cover, others lounge
on deck, one plays a pipe while another dances an Irish
jig. Sam stands at the starboard rail, looking out to sea.
There’s a storm brewing. He can feel it.
Soon after the sky has grown dark, heavy overcast, a
storm tossing the Marianne and Whydah on the waves.
Lightning and thunder flash and rumble. Wind whistles
through the rigging; the small sails still set flap on the
wind. Rain pours down on the decks, the waves pounding the
ships. A work crew on the Whydah’s main deck tugs on a line
to further shorten sail.
On the Marianne, Palsgrave stands on the rain washed
main deck, watching a work crew pull a line to tighten the
already double reefed mainsail. A wind gust catches the
sail. It begins to unfurl, tearing the line free from the
work crew. The sail swells full, and with a snap like
cannon fire, it tears away from the yard, catches in the
rigging, then shrouds, then the wind carries it away into
the darkened storm, the broken lines from the missing sail
whipping around in the wind.
Later, the storm ended, the sky partly cloudy, the two
ships rest gently on the water, their sails furled or
dangling, the main sail of the Marianne still gone. There’s
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general chatter as work crews scurry about repairing storm
damage.
* * *
Maria sits in her tiny hut, a quilt wrapped around her
for warmth. A lantern hangs from the roof, casting shadows
into the corners. There’s a sudden rap on the wall of the
hut. Maria, startled, looks up. Another rap, then more.
Maria reaches for the lantern, rises, and steps outside.
Four young boys stand several feet away. One holds a
torch; the others throwing stones at the hut. They pause,
step back, then begin to throw stones at Maria. After
taunting her, they run off into the night.
Maria pauses, looks to the northern horizon as soft
thunder rumbles and lightning flashes in the distance, then
turns and disappears back into her hut.
* * *
Storm damage repaired on the Whydah, Sam recommends a
celebration. The crew decide to put on a play - “The Royal
Pirate.” The play commences as a small group of pirates
remain asleep below decks, sleeping off a drunk. In the
middle of the play, the sleeping pirates awaken. Hearing
shouts above, they scramble up a ladder in time to see a
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fellow pirate on the verge of being hung.
Not knowing it’s a play being staged by their
shipmates, the newly awakened pirates break open a gun
cabinet below deck, and rush those above, creating a mêlée
in which others are wounded and a fellow pirate killed. The
fight is finally stopped. Sam orders the attacking pirates
to be placed in chains below deck. The murdered pirate is
buried at sea. Sam swears it’s the last time a play will
ever be performed on his ship.
* * *
Just off shore at Nauset Beach on Cape Cod a death’s
head pirate flag flutters on the breeze, its edge tattered
and worn. Beneath the tattered flag rides the Whydah,
enveloped in an eerie glowing mist, a ghost ship with torn
sails and dangling lines.
Maria stands at the water’s edge, watching and
waiting, the breeze billowing her hair. A cloud billows
across the water toward her. Out of the cloud steps Sam,
walking on the water. They come together, embrace, and kiss.
The kiss broken, Maria looks up, finds Sam changed.
His face white, drained of blood, dark circles around his
eyes, a gash on his forehead, skin decaying. He smiles.
She’s uncertain, afraid, struggling to break free. She
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finally pushes free, forcing herself...
...awake as she sits up, gasping from the nightmare.
She peers around wide-eyed, throws off the quilt, jumps up
and hurries outside. Afraid, Maria hurries to the edge of
the cliff top and stares out to sea. There’s nothing there.
* * *
Three ships at anchor, their sails struck, the
Marianne tethered to a small sloop captained by Simon Beere
who’s been brought aboard the Whydah. Sam likes Beere, asks
Beere to join him. Beere defiantly and haughtily declines,
denouncing Sam and his profession at the same time.
An enraged Sam then chastises Beere: “Damn my blood!
I’m sorry they won’t let you have your ship...we’ll sink
her! And damn you, Captain Beere, you’re a sneaking puppy
and so are all who’ll submit to be governed by laws that
rich men have made for their own security! The cowards
haven’t the courage otherwise to defend what they get by
their knavery! Damn all of ye! Damn the crafty rascals and
you who serve them - all of you a pack of hen-hearted
numbskulls! They call us cutthroats and villains! The only
difference is they rob the poor under the cover of law! We
plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage!”
Still angered, Sam has his gun crew sink Beere’s ship,
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then orders Beere and his crew to Pals ship. Sam doesn’t
want Beere aboard the Whydah.
* * *
A hard rain drenches Maria as she runs through the
streets of Eastham, aprons draped over an arm, holding her
shawl over her head with the other hand. She rounds a
corner, runs headlong into two ruffians. She spins, looking
at them fearfully as they return her stare, and then she
turns and continues running, heading home to her tar paper
shack on the cliffs above Nauset Beach.
Arriving at her shack, she ducks inside, lights the
hanging lantern and pulls her quilt around her for warmth.
She rocks back and forth, her knees drawn up under her
chin, the rain pouring down on her hut.
* * *
Dark clouds gather on the northern horizon. The Whydah
and Marianne are at anchor, their sails trimmed. Another
gathering storm. The crew are becoming alarmed, thinking
they may be cursed.
Later that evening, the storm rages, lightning and
thunder roaring around them, waves crashing against the
ships. Sails are furled, lines secured. Then…
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The lines and shrouds of the Whydah’s mizzen mast whip
in the wind. There’s a sudden loud crack and the upper part
of the mizzen mast crashes to the deck.
Below deck hanging lanterns swing, water leaks through
cracks, pours through the grating of some hatch covers.
There’s another load crack. The main mast, at a slight
angle, the deck above buckled, has been broken loose from
its wooden braces.
Later, the storm is over, the clouds clearing. The
Whydah’s anchored, the crew busy themselves with repairs.
The storm separated the two ships. There’s no sign of the
Marianne. Soon, the Whydah, alone, continues north, the
mizzen mast gone. The Lookout spots a sail and the Whydah
overtakes a small two masted ship, the Ann. The Ann lays-
to, her mainsail lines loosened, wind dropping from the
sail. With the Ann taken captive, the two ships continue
north.
* * *
Meanwhile, on the Marianne, Palsgrave spots two ships
on the horizon. His crew begin to ready for an attack, and
then realize they are pursuing the Whydah and another ship.
The Marianne rejoins the Whydah, making their small fleet
three ships.
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Pals decides he wants to stop at Block Island off the
New England coast to visit his sister and mother. Sam
concurs, deciding to continue north with the intention that
he and Pals will meet up again in two weeks at Green Island
in Canada. So, approaching Block Island, Pals takes the
Marianne and departs the fleet while the Whydah and Ann
continue on.
* * *
A hard steady rain falls on Nauset Beach. There’s
occasional lightning and thunder. Maria’s little garden is
washed away. Later, the storm over, the morning sun pushes
through sparse cloud cover. Maria stands looking at her
garden. She shakes her head, looks to sea, and then turns,
walks to her hut, and enters.
Sitting, Maria lights the hanging lantern. She begins
to weave on a loom, quickly gets bored, and sits back. She
grabs her shawl, rises, and leaves the hut. Shawl about her
shoulders, Maria slowly walks along the water’s edge, tide
lapping around her bare feet. She pauses and stares out to
sea.
Later, Maria goes to Eastham with an armload of aprons
to sell. Everyone either ignores or threatens her while an
old man with horse drawn cart watches. Later he shows up at
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Maria’s hut with baskets of vegetables for her. He
understands her plight, having lost a daughter who was
about Maria’s age.
* * *
The Ann and Whydah, cannons run out, flank the small
three masted Mary Anne, an Irish ‘pink’ (not to be confused
with Pals ship the Marianne) loaded with wine. Sam assigns
seven of his pirates to run the Mary Anne with three of her
original crew. They continue north, the Mary Anne lagging
behind, the pirates taunting and teasing the three crewmen.
And all the while the Mary Anne drifts farther and farther
apart from the Whydah and Ann.
Then, on the northern horizon, they see fog drifting
across the water. Unknown to the pirates, the largest
nor’easter in decades is building and the three ships are
sailing straight toward it. And as night begins to fall,
the winds pick up as the storm clouds rapidly gather.
As the Whydah and Ann lose sight of the Mary Anne,
another ship is spotted - the Fisher . Sam ‘persuades’ the
Fisher’s captain to guide Sam’s ships safely through the
storm and to port on Cape Cod. But the Fisher’s captain has
other ideas - run the Whydah and her crew toward the rocks
along the shoreline.
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* * *
Maria stands on the cliffs above Nauset Beach, looking
out to sea, occasionally glancing north at the gathering
storm as it nears - lightning more frequent, thunder
roaring, the wind picking up.
* * *
On the Mary Anne, the storm approaches; lightning and
thunder roll across the sea. A light rain falls. The seven
pirates, drunk, and three crew are on deck, watching.
Now night, the rain a major squall, the seas rough,
tossing the Mary Anne between growing waves. The wind
whistles through the lines and shrouds, straining the
sails. Lightning and thunder are heavier, more frequent.
The rain pours heavily while waves wash over the deck. The
crew and pirates grasp anything for support as the storm
rips sails, lines, and masts free. Finally, terrified and
soaked through, they hurry below deck, thinking they are
doomed.
Below deck the pirates and prisoners huddle together
in a corner of the hold under a rocking lantern. Cold, wet,
and scared, they shiver as the raging storm echoes through
the hold. Empty wine bottles and trash roll across the
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floor as the wind and waves roll the ship back and forth.
The timbers of the ship groan under the battering gale. A
pirate instructs a Mary Anne crewman to read from his Book
of Common Prayer .
* * *
The Whydah and Ann sail on, lead by the Fisher . The
howling gale tosses the ships, dangling lines snap in the
wind, waves crash against the hulls.
* * *
Maria sits in her shack, her arms curled around her
knees drawn up under her chin. She peers around fearfully,
the lantern rocking. Outside the storm rages, wind, and
rain buffeting her shack.
* * *
A huge wave hits the Mary Anne, rattling the timbers.
The pirates, grasping their wine bottles, and crew, cry
out. The lantern flame flickers, then steadies. Death is
coming.
* * *
Ten miles north, the storm rages around the three
ships as the Fisher turns inshore, luring the Whydah toward
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the rocks. The Whydah is battered by the storm, huge waves
breaking across her bow. Howling wind blows the torrential
rain horizontal, cutting through the shrouds and lines.
Pirates race around the ship to make her steady, trim
sails, secure lines.
Sam realizes it’s a losing cause; he’s been tricked.
He can hear the nearby breakers. He orders the anchors
dropped to save the ship from crashing into the rocks. The
Whydah lurches as the anchors take hold and the ship begins
to swing around, stern shoreward, dragging the anchors with
it. It does no good. The anchor cables are cut to free the
ship.
A huge wave crashes into the ship, pitching it on its
side. Cannons break loose, crashing across the deck. Below,
more cannons break loose, crashing through bulwarks and
bulkheads, and into the sea. Pirates are swept overboard,
sliding across the decks, washed from the lines and shrouds
- Sam among them.
Masts snap and are washed away, shredded sails flap in
the wind, dangling lines snap like gunfire. All across the
rolling ship desperate pirates attempt to jump and swim
only to be swept under. Finally, the ship completes its
roll, capsized, keel up, like a turtle shell being battered
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by the waves.
And in the surf just offshore, there are only two
survivors of the 146 crew and prisoners who were aboard the
Whydah.
* * *
The morning sun rises on Nauset Beach. Ironically, the
Whydah has crashed ashore within sight of Maria’s tar paper
shack. Ship debris is everywhere, including many bodies of
pirates and prisoners. Off shore rests the over turned hull
of the Whydah. Scavenging villagers wander the beach,
whispering among themselves that the witch on the cliffs
above caused the wreck. And Maria stands above, staring
down, knowing the truth of what she sees.
* * *
Ten miles south, the storm is ended, the sky partly
cloudy, a brisk breeze blowing. The pirates and three crew
of the Mary Anne stagger on deck, realize they’ve survived
the nor-easter, their ship grounded on a sandbar.
Delighted, they sit in the sand in the shade of the hull,
drinking what’s left of the wine until two locals come by,
offering help. They accept, but are eventually caught by
authorities as the identity of the pirates are revealed.
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* * *
Sam, dazed, pained, battered and broken like his ship,
staggers across the marshy landscape between brush and
bushes, making his way to Wellfleet. He makes it to the
tree cemetery where he had first met Maria. Then, with
effort, he lies down and curls up by the tree trunk. He
falls asleep and sometime during the night he dies. He’s
later found by locals.
* * *
Six days later - Block Island, Palsgrave and his crew
ready the Marianne to sail when a surviving crewmen from
the Whydah suddenly shows up. Battered and beaten, the
crewman relates the tale. Saddened at the loss of his
friend and fellow shipmates, Palsgrave releases Beere and
his men, and then Pals and his crew sail, turning their
ship south toward Nassau.
* * *
Returning to the present - so ends the old woman’s
tale of the pirate and witch of Cape Cod. The campfire
flames dance, soft orange light reflect on the faces of the
old woman, Mary, and Maggie. The old woman smiles,
chuckles, then pulls out a locket Pals had made for Sam as
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proof of her tale. She hands the locket to Mary.
The sisters inspect the locket closely, taking note of
the inscription. The old woman sits back and sighs. The
wind kicks up, a soft peel of thunder in the distance. She
looks out to sea; a misty fog bank is rolling in on the
shore. She begins to rise from her chair. “These old bones
don’t take to foul weather like they use to,” she says as
the two sisters also rise.
With the storm approaching, it’s time to leave. Mary
and Maggie thank the old woman for her hospitality and
kindness then start home, Mary unconsciously taking the
locket. They disappear into the dark. The old woman smiles,
watching them go, and then turns and slowly walks to the
edge of the cliff, watching the gathering storm, the fog
thickening off shore.
Mary absentmindedly glances at the locket, realizes
she still has it. She stops in her tracks, knowing she must
return it. She tells Maggie to wait, and hurries off into
the night back toward the old woman’s shack.
Back at the hut, the campfire still burns, but the old
woman nowhere to be found. Mary notices a soft golden light
coming from the beach below. She walks to the cliff edge
and looks down.
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On the beach below Mary sees the old woman slowly
approaching a glowing misty fog on the shore. In the fog
offshore is a ghost ship with shredded sails and dangling
lines. Out of the fog steps the ghost of Sam Bellamy.
The old woman pauses as Sam’s ghost approaches. Sam
smiles as he holds out his hands and takes her hands in
his. She changes into the young and beautiful teenage Maria
Hallet. They embrace, and then smile up at Mary atop the
cliff. Mary smiles as she hears Maria’s voice in her
thoughts: “Keep the locket,” she hears Maria say. “And when
you look at it, remember the story an old woman once told
you.”
Mary smiles, tears in her eyes. She glances at the
locket in the palm of her hand, and then clenches the
locket in her fist, holding it close to her heart. And she
watches as the ghosts of Sam and Maria turn and, arm in
arm, walk away, disappearing into the night, the ghost ship
riding off shore.
THE END