On April 26, 1717, one of the worst nor’easters ever seen hit the Cape Cod coast. Unfortunately for the crew of the pirate ship, the Whydah Gally, this was exactly the time they were making their way north from the Bahamas. But let me backtrack a bit.
In 1716, Samuel Bellamy left Cape Cod to make his fortune. An ex-British Navy man, he left with a small group to seek the vast treasures of the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet, which had wrecked in a hurricane off the east coast of Florida. They didn’t find it. Samuel did, however, discover piracy, a profession that he exhibited a natural talent for.
In the summer of 1716 Samuel was on the ship the Marianne, captained by Benjamin Hornigold with his First Mate, Edward Teach (yes, the one who would go on to become the pirate Blackbeard). It seems that the pickings under Captain Hornigold were, shall we say, slim, so Samuel politely requested a vote on who should lead. Most of the crew sided with Samuel and after setting Hornigold, Teach, and his loyal men adrift, Captain Black Sam Bellamy began his career.
From mid-1716 to April 1717, Sam Bellamy successfully captured over fifty ships. His wealth and reputation grew. He became known as Black Sam due to refusal to wear the powdered wigs that were common at the time.
Samuel was said to have left behind a lover in Cape Cod, Mary (or Maria) Hallett. Life for young Mary took a turn after Samuel left. She is said to have given birth and lost a child. The good folk of Wellfleet decided that she must have killed the child. Rather than waste time and resources on a trial, they skipped straight to the flogging, imprisonment, and eventual banishment to the outskirts of town.
Black Sam knew none of this. He had become one of the richest and most successful pirates ever. His most famous capture being that of the Whydah Gally. Loaded with gold, ivory, slaves, and other treasures, Black Sam captured the Whydah Gally in the spring of 1717. Making the vessel his flagship Black Sam, trailed by two other ships, turned north and headed up the coast towards Maine.
No-one knows what his plans were. Had the crew decided to cash their share of the vast treasure in and retire, possibly in Nova Scotia? Was Black Sam returning to Cape Cod, to the young Mary Hallett as he had promised years before? Whatever the plan, he didn’t make it. The Whydah Gally was wrecked with only two of the 146-man crew surviving.
The vast treasures the Whydah Gally held were to remain at the bottom of the ocean for over 250 years. In 1984, Barry Clifford rediscovered the lost wreck. Since then, the finds, including gold, silver, jewellery and coins, have been valued at over $400 million.
The Whydah Pirate Museum in West Yarmouth officially opened its doors to the public in June 2016. The museum is home to thousands of items from the Whydah and houses the largest collection of pirate artifacts recovered from a single shipwreck anywhere in the world.
Copyright: Gary Estcourt 2024