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The Whydah Pirates Speak, Volume 2
This is my second collection of non-fiction articles about the pirates of the Whydah Galley. Sail with Sam Bellamy and relive the adventures and the dangers of life as a pirate in the Golden Age of Piracy.
128 pages, Paperback
Published May 26, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 21, 2019
This book is a collection of articles originally appearing on the Pirates and Privateers website (www.cindyvallar.com). All of the material deals with men who were part of pirate Samuel Bellamy’s crew, including two men that survived the Whydah’s destruction and several others that also wrecked in a captured prize.
As this book is the second volume in a series about the Whydah pirates, you would hope to see all new material. Unfortunately, there’s a limited amount of new information presented and much of it deals with the pirate Oliver Levasseur and his career after parting with Bellamy. Although the chapters are new, many cover the same stories that appeared in Laura’s first book. Once again, the details of John Julian and John King becoming pirates are given, as is the entire testimony of the pirates’ trials.
There are also repetitions of the text within this book. Thomas South was a carpenter forced to join Bellamy’s crew. In trying to have him released, South’s captain was told the pirates “would shoot him before they would let him go.” (33) The same quote is also found in a new chapter just three pages later.
Another example occurs in the chapter on Levasseur when describing his trial in 1730, thirteen years after the Whydah sank. His punishment included having him “make amends in front of the main door of the church of this parish, naked in a shirt, a rope around his neck and holding in his hand a burning torch . . . and there to declare with loud and intelligible voice, that maliciously and recklessly he made for several years the job of piracy of which he repents.” This lengthy quote is found on page 111 and again in the next paragraph on page 112.
Shortly after being chosen as pirate captain, Bellamy and crew went to La Blanquilla, a small island north of Venezuela. When they were ready to leave, Nelson says, Bellamy and Williams decided to “head back towards the Leeward Islands and the Windward Passage.” (37) This is confusing. Being close to Venezuela means the entire Caribbean Sea is to the north. The Windward Islands are close by to the east; the Leeward Islands are north of the Windward Islands. But the “Windward Passage” is between Cuba and Hispaniola, over 800 miles from the nearest Leeward Island.
As it turned out, they stopped in Spanish Town, on Virgin Gorda, and took shelter from a storm at St. Croix. After this, they did head to the Windward Passage and capture the Whydah, in February 1717.
Some tales offer contradictory versions of the same subject. Bellamy joined Paulsgrave Williams to search for wrecked Spanish treasure. On page 43 it says, “Historians agree that it was probably Williams who had the money to finance the trip.” But on page 65 it says Bellamy “managed to persuade . . . Williams . . . to join him.”
There are even differences in the stories of the wreck. In the first version, after capturing the Whydah, the pirates head north to America and are caught in a storm off Cape Cod. But another story about Bellamy says they first sailed to Maine, where they performed maintenance and built a fort, before sailing south from Maine and wrecking in the storm.
Supporting the text are footnotes, a bibliography, and an index. The last is useful for searching for people and vessels, but no geographic locations are included.
If you missed Nelson’s first volume or are interested in learning about Sam Bellamy, the Whydah, or Barry Clifford’s recovery of pirate treasure, you are encouraged to read this book as an introduction to the full tale and the treasure still waiting to be recovered. More information can be found by reading Barry Clifford’s Expedition Whydah: The Story of the World’s First Excavation of a Pirate Treasure Ship and the Man Who Found Her or A.T. Vanderbilt’s Treasure Wreck: The Fortunes and Fate of the Pirate Ship Whydah.
As this book is the second volume in a series about the Whydah pirates, you would hope to see all new material. Unfortunately, there’s a limited amount of new information presented and much of it deals with the pirate Oliver Levasseur and his career after parting with Bellamy. Although the chapters are new, many cover the same stories that appeared in Laura’s first book. Once again, the details of John Julian and John King becoming pirates are given, as is the entire testimony of the pirates’ trials.
There are also repetitions of the text within this book. Thomas South was a carpenter forced to join Bellamy’s crew. In trying to have him released, South’s captain was told the pirates “would shoot him before they would let him go.” (33) The same quote is also found in a new chapter just three pages later.
Another example occurs in the chapter on Levasseur when describing his trial in 1730, thirteen years after the Whydah sank. His punishment included having him “make amends in front of the main door of the church of this parish, naked in a shirt, a rope around his neck and holding in his hand a burning torch . . . and there to declare with loud and intelligible voice, that maliciously and recklessly he made for several years the job of piracy of which he repents.” This lengthy quote is found on page 111 and again in the next paragraph on page 112.
Shortly after being chosen as pirate captain, Bellamy and crew went to La Blanquilla, a small island north of Venezuela. When they were ready to leave, Nelson says, Bellamy and Williams decided to “head back towards the Leeward Islands and the Windward Passage.” (37) This is confusing. Being close to Venezuela means the entire Caribbean Sea is to the north. The Windward Islands are close by to the east; the Leeward Islands are north of the Windward Islands. But the “Windward Passage” is between Cuba and Hispaniola, over 800 miles from the nearest Leeward Island.
As it turned out, they stopped in Spanish Town, on Virgin Gorda, and took shelter from a storm at St. Croix. After this, they did head to the Windward Passage and capture the Whydah, in February 1717.
Some tales offer contradictory versions of the same subject. Bellamy joined Paulsgrave Williams to search for wrecked Spanish treasure. On page 43 it says, “Historians agree that it was probably Williams who had the money to finance the trip.” But on page 65 it says Bellamy “managed to persuade . . . Williams . . . to join him.”
There are even differences in the stories of the wreck. In the first version, after capturing the Whydah, the pirates head north to America and are caught in a storm off Cape Cod. But another story about Bellamy says they first sailed to Maine, where they performed maintenance and built a fort, before sailing south from Maine and wrecking in the storm.
Supporting the text are footnotes, a bibliography, and an index. The last is useful for searching for people and vessels, but no geographic locations are included.
If you missed Nelson’s first volume or are interested in learning about Sam Bellamy, the Whydah, or Barry Clifford’s recovery of pirate treasure, you are encouraged to read this book as an introduction to the full tale and the treasure still waiting to be recovered. More information can be found by reading Barry Clifford’s Expedition Whydah: The Story of the World’s First Excavation of a Pirate Treasure Ship and the Man Who Found Her or A.T. Vanderbilt’s Treasure Wreck: The Fortunes and Fate of the Pirate Ship Whydah.
December 12, 2019
As I wrote for the first volume, I am interested in pirate history and though this was a bit dry at times, it was interesting overall. It is not your swashbuckling stories so I admit, it was not what I expected but since I do enjoy historical facts, I did enjoy a lot of this.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
January 19, 2020
Pirates of some sort have roamed the seven seas for as long as humankind can remember, but who remembers the tales of Sam Bellamy and the band of the Whydahs? This book, volume 2 continues where the first left off and gives us all the sordid details of the pirating and plundering as well as trading this group of pirates did along the northern American Coast. There are so many interesting details in here, for example, that some towns willingly embraced the pirates in order to get better prices on their trade goods or that Hollywood decidedly got the depiction of pirate life wrong. No swashbuckling and swinging in to save the ladies. Rather, it was a poor life more often than not that had little comforts but great company.
A well written account of the golden age of piracy that any fan of pirates will live to read. Even if you are only moderately interested in the topic, there is enough here for you to discover that will make the book worth it.
A well written account of the golden age of piracy that any fan of pirates will live to read. Even if you are only moderately interested in the topic, there is enough here for you to discover that will make the book worth it.
October 14, 2019
Reads just like a historical document.
An interesting volume on the history of the men of the pirate ship the Whydah. Reads just like an ancient historical document. If you are interested in pirate history from this time period, you are in for a treat!
An interesting volume on the history of the men of the pirate ship the Whydah. Reads just like an ancient historical document. If you are interested in pirate history from this time period, you are in for a treat!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews