02/10/2023
On the evening of April 26, 1717, Captain Sam Bellamy's ship, Whydah, went down off the coast of Wellfleet in what is now Cape Cod National Seashore, losing all but a few hands. The wreck of this pirate ship has spawned many legends of its captain and onboard treasure.
But did you know the Whydah was originally built as a slave cargo ship?
The Whydah was commissioned in 1715 in London as a slave cargo ship for the Triangular Trade. The ship was named for the slaving port on the coast of West Africa that it planned to operate out of, the "Kingdom of Whydah" (known today as Ouidah). It left England in 1716 on its maiden voyage, landing at the port to collect nearly 500 enslaved people and supplies. It then sailed to the Caribbean to exchange the enslaved people for precious metals, sugar, indigo, rum, logwood, pimento, ginger, and medicinal ingredients, which were to then be transported back to England.
On the Whydah's return to England, the ship was intercepted and captured by the pirate Captain Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy. After using the ship to plunder vessels throughout the Caribbean, Bellamy sailed the ship north, up the east coast of the United States, until the Whydah and her crew met their untimely fate in a storm and sank off the coast of Cape Cod in April of 1717.
While many today romanticize the story of the Whydah and Bellamy as a pirate ship with a mysterious fortune, it's important to understand and acknowledge the origins of the ship and its impact on African American history.
More on the 1717 wreck https://www.nps.gov/articles/whydah.htm
Photo: UK National Archives
Alt Text: A map with arrows crossing the Atlantic Ocean back and forth from Europe, Africa, South America, and North America shows the routes of the Triangular Trade.
