Whydah Gally

Model of Whydah Gally
History
Great Britain
Name	Whydah Gally
Namesake	The African slave port Ouidah
Owner	Sir Humphry Morice
Operator	Private vessel
Laid down	1715, London
Launched	1716, London
Homeport	London
Fate	Captured by pirates
Commander:	Captain Lawrence Prince
Chased by pirates:	Late Feb, 1717 Windward Passage
Surrendered / Captured:	three days later, near the lower Bahamas
History
Pirate
Name	Whydah Gally
Owner	Crew of Captain/Commodore Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy
Acquired	late February, 1717
Homeport	Blanco Islet, B.V.I. (later re-named Bellamy Cay) Caribbean Sea
Fate	ran aground, capsized
Status	Ruins under perpetual recovery and conservation; private ownership and exclusive dive rights
Commander:	Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy
Wrecked:	late night of 26 April 1717, Billingsgate, Cape Cod, Massachusetts Bay Colony 41°53′31″N 69°57′34″W / 41.892°N 69.9594°W / 41.892; -69.9594
Discovered:	1984, by Barry Clifford
Authenticated:	1985, by discovery of the ship's inscribed bell and a brass placard, both inscribed with ship's name
General characteristics
Type	Galley
Tons burthen	300 tons BM
Length	110 ft (34 m)
Propulsion	Sail & oar
Sail plan	fully rigged, 3 masts
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement	150 men at launch; went down with 145 men & 1 boy (incl. 6 prisoners)
Armament	At launch: 18 active guns Pirate upgrade: 28 active guns Recovered: More than 65, recovery ongoing
Notes	Whydah was the flagship of a 5-ship fleet which included the Marianne, Mary Anne, Anne, and Fisher

Whydah Gally^[1] /ˈhwɪdə ˈɡæli, ˈhwɪdˌɔː/ (commonly known simply as the Whydah) was a fully rigged ship that was originally built as a passenger, cargo, and slave ship. On the return leg of her maiden voyage of the triangle trade, Whydah Gally was captured by the pirate Captain Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy, beginning a new role in the Golden Age of Piracy.

Bellamy sailed Whydah Gally up the coast of colonial America, capturing other ships as he went along. On 26 April 1717, Whydah Gally was caught in a violent storm and wrecked off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Only two of Whydah Gally's crew survived, along with seven others who were on a sloop captured by Bellamy earlier that day. Six of the nine survivors were hanged, two who had been forced into piracy were freed, and one Indian crewman was sold into slavery.

Whydah Gally and her treasure of captured pirate gold eluded discovery for over 260 years until 1984, when the wreck was found off the coast of Cape Cod, buried under 10–50 ft (3–15 m) of sand, in depths ranging from 16–30 ft (5–9 m) deep, spread for four miles, parallel to the Cape's easternmost coast. With the discovery of the ship's bell in 1985 and a small brass placard in 2013, both inscribed with the ship's name and maiden voyage date, Whydah Gally is the only fully authenticated Golden Age pirate shipwreck ever discovered.^[2]