Bellamy Cay

Bellamy Cay Lighthouse
British Virgin Islands
Location Bellamy Cay
British Virgin Islands
Coordinates 18°26′53.4″N 64°31′57.5″W / 18.448167°N 64.532639°W / 18.448167; -64.532639
Construction metal mast
Tower shape mast with light
Characteristic F W
Admiralty number J5636.5
NGA number 14699 [1] [2]

Bellamy Cay is an island in the British Virgin Islands, located entirely within Trellis Bay on Beef Island. Formerly called Blanco Islet, this island is named after its most famous resident, "Black Sam" Bellamy, the "prince of pirates".

For much of his very short but wildly successful campaign of piracy in 1716 and 1717, Bellamy used this islet (which was named Blanco Islet at the time) as his base of operations, while crew members used the protection of Trellis Bay to maintain their fleet of ships. Bellamy soon learned that from Blanco, as well as from nearby Sprat Point, ships could be seen sailing through the Sir Francis Drake Channel. His favourite prey were Spanish Galleons laden with treasure intended for the exclusive use of the King & Queen of Spain.

In the early 1950s the small island was acquired by Władysław (Wladek) Wagner, the "first Polish yachtsman," who left Poland in 1932 to sail around the world and who ended up eventually settling in Trellis Bay, Beef Island Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, where he built a boatyard and marine railway in addition to most of the buildings now standing on Bellamy Cay, where he ran a small restaurant and hotel.

Since the 1970s, the cay has been the home of the restaurant and bar called "The Last Resort" – which for many years was owned and operated by Tony Snell, a British war hero.[3] Bellamy Cay is near the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, and is inhabited by the onwers and staff of the Restaurant. The Island remains off the power, water and communications grid of the mainland, producing its own electricity and water through solar, wind and diesel generators.

See also

References

  1. ↑ British Virgin Islands The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 7 September 2016
  2. ↑ List of Lights, Buoys and Fog Signals] Atlantic Coast. Retrieved 7 September 2016
  3. ↑ "F/L Tony Snell". Retrieved 2009-11-12.

Coordinates: 18°26′54″N 64°31′58″W / 18.44833°N 64.53278°W / 18.44833; -64.53278

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