The Sunken Pirate Ship: The Whydah Gally
Wikimedia CommonsA model of the Whydah Gally and its presumed design, based on records and witness accounts.
The Whydah Gally was originally built as a passenger, cargo, and slave ship, but instead became a bonafide pirate ship when it was captured by notorious pirate Captain Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy off the coast of Jamaica during the Golden Age of Piracy.
Bellamy commandeered a minimum of 53 ships in a little over a year. He was the wealthiest pirate of his kind in history and unfortunately, died at the young age of 28. Bellamy was aboard the Whydah Gally when it was hit by a storm on April 26, 1717, and sank, taking its captain with it.
Nine survivors of the shipwreck were captured and tried in Boston for piracy and they were ultimately sentenced to death by hanging.
Wikimedia CommonsThe Whydah Gally’s bell was retrieved in 1985 and confirmed to be Bellamy’s due to its inscription: “THE WHYDAH GALLY 1716.”
But it wasn’t just Bellamy and 143 crew members that sank to the depths of Wellfleet, Massachusetts, in Cape Cod that night in 1717. The Whydah Gally was also carrying a plethora of gold and silver.
Wikimedia CommonsActual pirate treasure in the form of silver coins, recovered from the wreckage in 1985.
The Whydah Gally was rediscovered 260 years later by the use of an old map that had documented where the boat sank. It was common for local Cape Codders to plunder sunken ships for treasure and so extensive maps of their destruction were created throughout the 18th century. Modern divers found a bell within the wreckage in 1985 inscribed with “The Whydah Gally 1716,” proving that the sunken ship once belonged to Bellamy.
The Whydah Gally is thus largely believed to be the first pirate ship ever positively identified.
Since its rediscovery, over 200,000 individual pieces have been recovered from the sunken ship, including gold and silver coins.
