Pirate skeletons found in famed 1717 Cape Cod shipwreck
The Whydah Gally is the world’s only certified pirate shipwreck. Discovered off Wellfleet, Mass., in 1984, the ship is said to have belonged to legendary Capt. Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy, who captured the ship in 1717, just months before it sank in a storm off Cape Cod.
© Provided by National Post Some of the coins and gold raised from the wreck of the Whydah.
The ship had once transported slaves. After Bellamy took it over — he sailed it for less than a year before the sinking — it transported pirated booty from more than 50 ships along the New England coast. The Whydah was Bellamy’s “bank,” in which he stored a varied treasure from those conquered. The more than 15,000 coins recovered thus far represent the most diverse group of shipwreck treasure coins ever found.
Barry Clifford, who found the wreck, and his team of archeologists have recently discovered what they say are the skeletal remains of six of Bellamy’s crew, encased in mineral concretions that have grown over them over the centuries. The museum is X-raying and analyzing them now, and hope to get DNA samples and locate living relatives. But it may take some time: A concretion worked on for 23 years only recently revealed the pirate inside.
The Whydah reportedly held more than four and a half tons of gold and silver (some $120 million today) and to protect the goods, Bellamy fitted it with 28 state-of-the-art cannon.
“The Whydah collection represents an unprecedented cultural cross-section of material from the 18th century,” the Whydah Pirate Museum says. “The stories of these artifacts, as well as that of the ship herself, knit together over a dozen countries on four continents.” Indeed, artefacts previously recovered from the ship reflect the racially, nationally and religiously diverse crew.
The ship had once transported slaves. After Bellamy took it over — he sailed it for less than a year before the sinking — it transported pirated booty from more than 50 ships along the New England coast. The Whydah was Bellamy’s “bank,” in which he stored a varied treasure from those conquered. The more than 15,000 coins recovered thus far represent the most diverse group of shipwreck treasure coins ever found.
Barry Clifford, who found the wreck, and his team of archeologists have recently discovered what they say are the skeletal remains of six of Bellamy’s crew, encased in mineral concretions that have grown over them over the centuries. The museum is X-raying and analyzing them now, and hope to get DNA samples and locate living relatives. But it may take some time: A concretion worked on for 23 years only recently revealed the pirate inside.
The Whydah reportedly held more than four and a half tons of gold and silver (some $120 million today) and to protect the goods, Bellamy fitted it with 28 state-of-the-art cannon.
“The Whydah collection represents an unprecedented cultural cross-section of material from the 18th century,” the Whydah Pirate Museum says. “The stories of these artifacts, as well as that of the ship herself, knit together over a dozen countries on four continents.” Indeed, artefacts previously recovered from the ship reflect the racially, nationally and religiously diverse crew.
© Postmedia files National Geographic’s 2007 exhibit Real Pirates shows a replica of the Whydah Gally hull.
Samuel Bellamy
One of the six skeletons most recently found near the wreck, which scattered its contents as it went down, may even be that of Black Sam himself, the museum told HuffPost ; he was so named for the natural locks he sported at a time when the fashion was for white powdered wigs. An Englishman, he is best known as the wealthiest pirate in recorded history, and had learned the life of piracy from his mentor Edward “Blackbeard” Teach. Though not from a wealthy family, the New England Historical Society says Bellamy “had good manners, dressed neatly in fancy clothes, and he always wore four ornate duelling pistols in his sash.”
Black Sam Bellamy ran his pirate operation democratically, the NEHS says. His men were slaves and sailors, but Bellamy apparently treated them equally and let them vote on important decisions. Bellamy, who called himself the Robin Hood of the sea, is said to have said of the wealthy merchants whose ships he pirated, that “They rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage.” Like an early version of Marie Kondo, Bellamy would return captured ships and cargo if they didn’t suit his purpose.
One of the six skeletons most recently found near the wreck, which scattered its contents as it went down, may even be that of Black Sam himself, the museum told HuffPost ; he was so named for the natural locks he sported at a time when the fashion was for white powdered wigs. An Englishman, he is best known as the wealthiest pirate in recorded history, and had learned the life of piracy from his mentor Edward “Blackbeard” Teach. Though not from a wealthy family, the New England Historical Society says Bellamy “had good manners, dressed neatly in fancy clothes, and he always wore four ornate duelling pistols in his sash.”
Black Sam Bellamy ran his pirate operation democratically, the NEHS says. His men were slaves and sailors, but Bellamy apparently treated them equally and let them vote on important decisions. Bellamy, who called himself the Robin Hood of the sea, is said to have said of the wealthy merchants whose ships he pirated, that “They rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage.” Like an early version of Marie Kondo, Bellamy would return captured ships and cargo if they didn’t suit his purpose.
© Whydah Pirate Museum handout A small concretion brought up earlier from the ship.
On board the Whydah the day of the storm were Bellamy and a crew of 146, one of whom was a boy of only eight to 10 years of age. Only two sailors survived. And 102 of the drowned men were buried in a mass grave. Now six more men have been located in the deep.
“We hope that modern, cutting-edge technology will help us identify these pirates and reunite them with any descendants who could be out there,” Clifford told local media including Boston TV station WHDH .
On board the Whydah the day of the storm were Bellamy and a crew of 146, one of whom was a boy of only eight to 10 years of age. Only two sailors survived. And 102 of the drowned men were buried in a mass grave. Now six more men have been located in the deep.
“We hope that modern, cutting-edge technology will help us identify these pirates and reunite them with any descendants who could be out there,” Clifford told local media including Boston TV station WHDH .
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