Sinbad Morphew

Capt. Sinbad Morphew, 81, of Beaufort, passed away on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Beaufort, N.C.

There will be a Celebration of Life scheduled at a later date. Please refer to noebrooks.net for the details to come.

Capt. Horatio Sinbad—North Carolina’s Pirate

On Tuesday, April 1, 2025, Captain Horatio Sinbad, 81, cast off his lines and set sail from this world and his beloved home, the brigantine MEKA II, on his inevitable final voyage to the harbor of his Lord and Savior.

Left behind in Sinbad’s wide, phosphorescent wake through life, his family, his friends, the town of Beaufort, Carteret County, and North Carolina have lost a most colorful and inspirational character and passionate promoter of our maritime history. He is irreplaceable, the epitome of a one-of-a-kind figure of our time.

It was a momentous turn of fate. Imagine, the entire course of your life’s journey, an adventure lasting nearly 75 years, the result of seeing a 96-minute movie when you were eight years old? It’s an extraordinary story that could have been spun from the imaginations of writers Jack London or Mark Twain.

An eight-year-old boy from middle America sees the 1950 movie “Treasure Island.” He dreams of life on the sea as a pirate, builds his first ship—an eight-foot pram—to sail and plunder vessels on a nearby lake.

The lake was too confining for a budding pirate. It also had a scarcity of prospective victims. A few unsuspecting fair maidens, however, could be had, one of whom would later become his first wife and the mother of his four children, but that came later.

Bored with school at the advanced age of 16, he runs away from his Michigan home and winds up serving as a mate on a 96-foot schooner in the Windward Islands for three years. There, he earned the nickname, Sinbad, that later became his legal name.

You know the name, but you probably don’t know the entire story—how he and his first wife, Marilyn, were nearly drowned after his first home-built ship, the 22-foot MEKA, sank during a hurricane in the deadly Graveyard of the Atlantic 200 miles east of the Outer Banks. After drifting for two days in a life raft they were fortuitously rescued by a passing freighter.

Undaunted, while working for a few years as a draftsman for General Motors back home, Sinbad scrimped every dollar—he prefers to call them doubloons—to build in his backyard in Detroit, Michigan, a proper 20-ton ocean-going pirate vessel, the majestic brigantine, MEKA II.

Without much forethought, he could hardly have predicted the ordeal he would suffer trying to get his ship out of his backyard and afloat over five years later. The adage “Life’s a journey, not a destination” could be his motto.

Not long ago he said: “You're just looking down this horizon and you decide, ‘I'm gonna set sail and see what happens.’ And that's the whole adventure of it for me, because I didn't know all the answers. But (seeing the movie Treasure Island) was the driving force that sent me on that road.”

What an adventure it was. He lived aboard the MEKA II for 57 years, sailing more than 65,000 miles.

What else should you know about the adventures of North Carolina’s pirate? He did just about everything imaginable in order to sustain his dream. He’s designed and built boats, a restaurant, a house, and a barn. He started, and continued for over 4 decades, the Beaufort Pirate's Invasion. He’s operated a sailing school, and attended more pirate festivals and tall ship events than he can remember. He’s written books, made a documentary, and even wrote and produced a feature-length movie.

By Sinbad’s side for 47 years has been Lt. Terry Brown, his second wife, known to most as "Lt. Brown". When she signed aboard the crew, she had no idea what she was in for or how much work and danger would be involved. “Through all these years she stuck with me, Sinbad said. “I mean, the worst times, the worst storms, the worst everything, she's stuck with me and she’s still here. And I marvel at that. I feel so lucky, so very, very, very lucky.”

Over the years, the MEKA II’s nine cannon have fired at—for fun— U.S. Navy submarines, aircraft carriers, warships, North Carolina ferries and other pirate vessels, expending thousands of pounds of black powder. He brought a tall ship event and tens of thousands of visitors to Beaufort in 2006 by winning a race at Jamaica with a crew of teenagers.

But what was Sinbad most proud of? A framed parchment hanging on a wall in his captain’s cabin with then-President Ronald Reagan’s signature identifying Sinbad as an officially commissioned privateer. The document is known as a “Letter of Marque.” (A privateer can legally plunder ships of an enemy nation in wartime.) “That was a pretty interesting accomplishment and an adventure in itself,” Sinbad said. Pretty interesting adventure? What an understatement.

The MEKA II had been invited to participate in “Operation Sail” for America’s Bicentennial in New York Harbor in 1976. Knowing that his little pirate ship would be dwarfed among the 225 sailing vessels, 16 tall training ships from around the world and 50 naval warships from as many nations, Sinbad sought a way to stand out. What he needed was a Letter of Marque that no one else had. He petitioned the government.

Secretary of the Navy John Warner invited Sinbad to Capitol Hill before they went to the White House to meet then-President Ford. Always keen on putting on a good show, Sinbad and his crew arrived in Washington wearing their full privateer accoutrements. “Heavily armed! I mean cutlasses and many pistols,” Sinbad recalls. “Being naïve my whole life, I didn't realize what I was doing.” Needless to say, it caused quite a commotion. After being temporarily handcuffed and pressed against a wall by the Capitol police, Warner intervened, and off to the White House went the pirate crew from North Carolina.

All because he watched the 96-minute movie, “Treasure Island,” when he was eight years old.

So, in the favorite and final words of Captain Horatio Sinbad...“Carry On.”

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Brent Creelman, 315 Front Street, Beaufort, NC 28516 North Carolina Maritime Museum Junior Sailing Program. Further, and with great sincerity, we want to extend our thanks to all for your kind words and support during this difficult time. Your empathy has made this journey more bearable, and we are deeply touched by your kindness.

With great love and appreciation, The Morphew Family

Condolences and life tributes may be sent to the family at www.noebrooks.net

Arrangements by Noe-Brooks Funeral Home, Morehead City, NC.