Credit River - Whydah Gally Traditional Cache
Hidden : 7/9/2013
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
4.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


Credit River - Shipwreck Series

Whydah Gally
 April 26,1717



There are many shipwrecks around the world. Some very famous and others not so. Each however has it’s own story to tell. As you travel along the Credit River doing this series of caches, we have highlighted a number of these shipwrecks. During low water levels on these parts of the Credit River, you need to be careful in a canoe or kayak so as you don’t wind up in your own shipwreck. Besides the many large rocks along the way, there are also some other obstacles such as dams which should be avoided. All of the geocaches in this series have been placed while floating on inflatable tubes or boats, or on foot by walking in the water along the Credit River. Whichever way you choose to search for these caches, use caution and common sense.
More information about this series can be found here: Credit River - Shipwreck Series

Whydah Gally
The Whydah Gally (commonly known simply as the Whydah or Whidah, and rarely, written as Whidaw, or Whido) was a fully rigged galley ship that was originally built as a slave ship for the Atlantic slave trade. On the return leg of its second voyage of the triangle trade, it began a new role in the Golden Age of Piracy, when it was captured by the pirate Captain "Black Sam" Bellamy, and was refitted as his flagship. Two months later, on April 26, 1717, the ship ran aground and capsized during a strong gale force storm off of Cape Cod, taking Bellamy, 143 of his crew, and over 4.5 short tons (4.1 tonnes) of gold and silver with it, leaving only two survivors to tell its tale. The Whydah and its treasure eluded discovery for over 260 years until 1984, when the wreck was found – under just 14 feet (4.3 m) of water and 5 feet (1.5 m) of sand – becoming the first authenticated pirate shipwreck ever to be discovered.

Christened Whydah after the West African slave trading kingdom of Ouidah (pronounced WIH-dah), the vessel was configured as a heavily armed trading and transport ship for use in the Atlantic slave trade. It set out for its maiden voyage in early 1716, carrying goods from England to exchange for slaves in West Africa. After traveling down West Africa through modern-day Gambia and Senegal to Nigeria and Benin, where its namesake port was located. It left Africa with 367 captives, gold, including Akan jewellry, and ivory aboard, and traveled to the Caribbean, where it traded the 312 survivors for precious metals, sugar, indigo, rum, and medicinal ingredients, which were to then be transported back to England. Fitted with a standard complement of eighteen six-pound cannon, which could be increased to a total of twenty-eight in time of war, the Whydah represented one of the most advanced weapons systems of the time.

In late February 1717, the Whydah, under the command of Captain Lawrence Prince, was navigating the Windward Passage between Cuba and Hispaniola when it was attacked by pirates led by "Black Sam" Bellamy. At the time of the Whydah's capture, Bellamy was in possession of two vessels, the 26-gun galley Sultana and the converted 10-gun sloop Mary Anne. After a three-day chase, Prince surrendered his ship near the Bahamas with only a desultory exchange of cannon fire. Bellamy decided to take the Whydah as his new flagship; several of its crew remained with their ship and joined the pirate gang. Pirate recruitment was most effective among the unemployed, escaped bondsmen, and transported criminals, as the high seas made for an instant leveling of class distinctions. In a gesture of goodwill toward Captain Prince who had surrendered without a struggle—and who in any case may have been favorably known by reputation to the pirate crew—Bellamy gave the Sultana to Prince, along with £20 in silver and gold.

The Whydah was then fitted with 10 additional cannons by its new captain, and 150 members of Bellamy's crew were detailed to man the vessel. They cleared the top deck of the pilot's cabin, removed the slave barricade, and got rid of other features that made her top heavy. Bellamy and his crew then sailed on to the Carolinas and headed north along the eastern coastline of the American colonies, aiming for the central coast of Maine, looting or capturing additional vessels on the way. At some point during his possession of the Whydah, Bellamy loaded an additional 30+ cannons below decks, possibly as ballast. Two cannons recovered by underwater explorer Barry Clifford in August 2009 weighed 800 and 1,500 pounds (360 and 680 kg), respectively.

Accounts differ as to the destination of the Whydah during its few days. Some evidence exists to support local Cape Cod legend: the Whydah was headed for what is now Provincetown Harbor at the tip of Cape Cod, so that Bellamy could visit his love, Maria Hallett – the "Witch of Wellfleet". Others blame the Whydah's route on navigator error. In any case, on April 26, 1717, near Chatham, Massachusetts, the Whydah approached a thick, gray fog bank rolling across the water – signaling inclement weather ahead.

That weather turned into a violent nor'easter, a storm with gale force winds out of the east and northeast, which forced the vessel dangerously close to the breaking waves along the shoals of Cape Cod. The ship was eventually driven aground at Wellfleet, Massachusetts. At midnight she hit a sandbar in 16 feet (5 m) of water about 500 feet (152 m) from the coast of what is now Marconi Beach. Pummeled by 70 mph (110 km/h) winds and 30-to-40 ft (9-to-12 m) waves, the main mast snapped, pulling the ship into about 30 ft (9 m) of water, where she violently capsized. The 60+ cannon on board ripped through the overturned decks of the ship and quickly broke it apart, scattering parts of the ship over a 4-mile (6.4 km) length of coast. One of the two surviving members of Bellamy's crew, Thomas Davis, testified in his subsequent trial that "In a quarter of an hour after the ship struck, the Mainmast was carried by the board, and in the Morning she was beat to pieces." By morning, hundreds of Cape Cod's notorious wreckers (locally known as "moon-cussers") were already plundering the remains. Hearing of the shipwreck, then-governor Samuel Shute dispatched Captain Cyprian Southack, a local salvager and cartographer, to recover "Money, Bullion, Treasure, Goods and Merchandizes taken out of the said Ship." When Southack reached the wreck on May 3rd, he found that part of the ship was still visible breaching the water's surface, but that much of the ship's wreckage was scattered along more than 4 miles (6.4 km) of shoreline. On a map that he made of the wreck site, Southack reported that he had buried 102 of the 144 Whydah crew and captives lost in the sinking (though technically they were buried by the town coroner, who surprised Southack by handing him the bill and demanding payment). According to surviving members of the crew – two from the Whydah and seven from the Mary Anne, another of Bellamy's fleet which ran aground in the storm – at the time of its sinking, the ship carried from four and a half to five tons of silver, gold, gold dust, and jewelry, which had been divided equally into 180 50-pound (23 kg) sacks and stored in-between the ship's decks. Though Southack did salvage some nearly worthless items from the ship, little of the massive treasure hoard was recovered. Southack would write in his account of his findings, that, "The riches, with the guns, would be buried in the sand." With that, the exact location of the ship, its riches and its guns were lost, and came to be thought of as nothing more than legend. .






Congrats george297 on FTF!!!

Profile for thewhytes

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

ghor va prqne gerr arne jngre

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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