Last week I was in Boston to visit friends, which was really just an excuse to do pirate research. There were two parts to my research- the Whydah Museum in Cape Cod and the microfilm archives at the Boston Public Library.
I went to Cape Cod, where the Whydah crashed, first.
The Whydah Galley was a slave ship captained by Lawrence Prince. It was fast and powerful, one of the best ships in that age. It was taken by pirate Sam Bellamy without any bloodshed.
On April 26, 1717, the Whydah crashed while trying to navigate Cape Cod’s shores in a storm.
The wreck was discovered in the 1980s, and the museum features found artifacts. While I knew most of, if not all (I mean, I’ve researched a lot about pirates) of the information, it was incredible to see these artifacts.
Artifacts in the museum included:
- Cannons: English Long cannons were originally mounted on the ship. The wreck also had a Dutch cannon.
- Muskets and pistols: Muskets were 3.5-4.5 feet long. Pistols, the weapon of choice, where roughly 1.5 feet long.
- Grenades.
- Every day items: Brass clothes hooks, leather shoe sole, brass scissors, gold rink, brass and pewter belt buckles, copper cufflinks.
- Navigational tools: Ring dials to calculate attitude and navigation dividers converting distance on a map to distance in real life.
- Silverware: Pirates used pewter plates, forks and spoons. Each pirate had their own plate, and some inscribed their initials onto their plate.
- A syringe. It was possibly pewter and also looked like using it would really hurt.
- And of course, PIRATE TREASURE! Gold jewelry and silver Spanish pieces of eight.
Bellamy has become one of my favorite pirates because he was against the system and brutality of British captains and conditions on English ships.
The exhibit also gave attention to the men of color who served on Bellamy’s ship. People of color (and I will really expand on this later) received freedom and equality on ships that they did not receive elsewhere.
It was a pleasant experience and enriching to see these artifacts in real life. It’s especially helpful when you’re trying to discover fine, everyday details like what pirate plates were made out of. There was also a life-size replica of a portion of the ship itself, which gave me a good perspective of, you know, what it would actually be like to walk on that ship.
While not much was dedicated to the night Bellamy crashed, it was still a really important piece in the Golden Age of Piracy. The few survivors of the storm were chased down and hung in Massachusetts, which earned the rage of several pirates.
Note: This is just my experience at the exhibit. I will have a lot more in-depth about the ship, it’s crew, etc.
Under the Black 