The Whydah Wreck-Slaves, Pirates, Ghosts, Gold Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The Wydah was a fully rigged galley ship built to haul passengers, cargo, and slaves. It was commissioned in 1715 by Sir Humphrey Morice to ply the Triangle Trade. Ships generally took textiles and goods from Europe and traded them for slaves going to Americas. In the Americas, they traded the slaves, most often, for what agricultural products going back to Europe?

Answer: Sugar, tobacco, and cotton

A 'normal' triangle trade trip took anywhere from five to twelve weeks. Sugar, often in the form of molasses, would be loaded up in the Americas and sent to Europe to be sold or made into rum. The sale of the rum or sugar in Europe went to purchase manufactured goods. Those goods were then shipped to Africa where they traded for slaves.

The slaves were then sent to the Americas to work on the sugar plantations. And so the circle began again.

2. The Whydah started out from England to West Africa where it loaded up almost five hundred slaves. The trip, for the slaves leaving their home, was a horrific experience. The cramped conditions, illness, and shackles took their toll. Typically, what percentage of the slaves died during the journey?

Answer: 20%

One of every five slaves died during the journey to the Americas. Slaves were taken on board in Africa, stripped until naked, and examined. Men were then packed below decks in areas sometimes only eighteen inches tall. They were often shackled in place. Women and children were above board in separate quarters but subject to violence and sexual abuse.

The extreme heat, lack of any sanitation, and foul air gave way to sicknesses. Fevers, diarrhea, and smallpox swept through the population. Those who were too sick to eat were force fed by captors.

The slaves that did not survive were simply tossed overboard.

3. The Whydah dropped off the slaves in the Americas and picked up gold, sugar, and rum to take back to England. The ship, captained by Lawrence Prince, was attacked near Cuba as it headed back. Which of these pirates, so named because he did not wear wigs but kept his long black hair tied back, was responsible for the capture?

Answer: "Black Sam" Bellamy

Samuel Bellamy captured 53 ships in his short career. This made him the wealthiest pirate in recorded history. He referred to himself as the Robin Hood of the sea. He took up sailing in his early teens. In 1716, he left Cape Cod to work for a treasure seeking expedition along the Florida coast.

He and his crew found no treasure but took up piracy. He always led two ships at a time and was known for being a dashing man dressed in a long black coat carrying four dueling pistols. He was an excellent captain and sailor and was revered by his men.

His greatest find came in 1717 when he captured the Whydah in a three-day chase. Known for his generosity, he traded one of his emptier ships to the captain of the Whydah, with no harm, and set sail with his bounty.

4. By early April of 1717, the Whydah held a wide mixture of crew members and spoils from over fifty different pirate raids. The captain and crew also added an additional thirty cannon as ballast. What is ballast used for?

Answer: To improve a ship's stability

Ballast is material used to provide stability to vehicles or structures. A compartment within a boat or ship called a ballast tank holds water to perform this function as well. Typically, ballast remains below the water level in the vessel in order to counter the weight above. Ballast can be moved as needed.

This is not always an easy task, as the cannon the Whydah held were later recovered and weighed between 800 and 1500 pounds each!

5. The Whydah was heading to Maine during the journey in April of 1717, but veered off course. Nobody knows why, but some say it was navigational error and others say it was the captain wanting to see family members. Either way, a storm hit just before the ship reached Cape Cod. What state would that be found?

Answer: Massachusetts

Cape Cod is a geographic cape separated from the mainland by Cape Cod Canal. It was one of the first places settled by the English in North America. The cape developed as a large fishing and whaling center. The coast near it has been labeled an "ocean graveyard" as the fifty mile stretch has over 3,000 shipwrecks.

This is due to the dangerous shoals in the area. Lighthouses now dot the cape and it has become a summer getaway for many people in the area.

6. Many people think that "Black Sam" Bellamy of the Whydah turned toward Cape Cod (specifically the village of Wellfleet) in order to visit his girlfriend. This lady, Maria Hallett, was left behind as he searched for treasure. What Bellamy did not realize is that she was with child and was shunned by her peers after he left. As insanity set in during her predicament, what was she called?

Answer: Witch of Wellfleet

After Bellamy sailed away, promising to return, Marie Hallett discovered she was pregnant. She was banished from the village by her elders and lived in seclusion, awaiting her beloved's return. When Bellamy's ship wrecked, many people saw her standing on the shore above cursing the wind that caused the problem. Villagers named her the "Witch of Wellfleet" and chased her away.

It is said she either died in the swamps nearby or buried some treasure in the dunes where she and Bellamy used to frequent and then killed herself. Regardless, it is said her ghost still haunts the beach nearby still waiting for "Black Sam" to return.

7. On April 26 of 1716, the Whydah was caught in 70 mile-per-hour winds and 30-foot high seas. She and her sister ship both broke apart on sandbars and split open, spilling everything into the water. The next morning at least 100 corpses littered the beach. Cyprian Southack, a cartographer, was sent to bury the bodies, report on things, and salvage material. What does a cartographer work with?

Answer: Maps

Southack reported dead bodies, pieces of treasure, and wreckage strewn about the beaches as people raced to the scene to grab whatever they could find. Of the 146 crew aboard the Whydah, only two survived. John Julian, the ship's pilot, was half Native American and was sold as a slave to John Quincy Adam's grandfather.

The other survivor was Thomas Davis who testified about the huge treasure now on the bottom of the ocean. Southack helped bury the bodies, retrieved some guns and rings, and saved some wooden ship pieces. Best of all, though, he made a map of the shipwreck and its area.

This would be instrumental in helping find the wreckage hundreds of years later.

8. In 1865, the person who authored 'Walden Pond' wrote a book called 'Cape Cod'. In it, the author wrote about the waters in the area and included descriptions of sunken anchors and treasures. This author's book aided in a group finding the shipwreck of the Whydah over 120 years later. Who is the author?

Answer: Henry David Thoreau

In the book 'Cape Cod', Thoreau made mention of a cooking range (called a caboose) in a chapter about treasure washed ashore. He said "the violence of the seas moves the sands on the outer bar, so that the iron caboose of Bellamy's ship at low ebbs has been seen".

This account, along with other clues, helped the treasure seekers in 1984. Pieces of the caboose were seen shining like copper as the divers uncovered it and the caboose was hauled out of its watery resting place.

9. Barry Clifford found the wreck of the Whydah in 1984 by relying on word of mouth, research, and old maps. Surprisingly, it was in just fourteen feet of water and five feet of mud. One major find gave the whole thing a 'ring' of truth to the expedition. It was inscribed 'The Whydah Galley 1716'. Its finding allowed this to become the first pirate shipwreck with its identity authenticated. What was it?

Answer: Ship's bell

More than 200,000 pieces have been retrieved from the site including over 15,000 gold pieces. There have also been weapons, clothing, jewelry, and pieces of the ship itself. Each find had its location carefully logged and was stored in water filled vats to preserve it from drying.

The divers even found a bone with a small leather shoe and silk stocking attached which was determined to be that of an 11-year-old youth. This pointed to the identification of John King who was the 11-year-old cabin boy.

These findings have toured the globe as museum exhibits and the salvage operation itself was the focus of National Geographic articles and a two-hour television documentary.

10. The articles found at the Whydah wreckage site helped formulate new ideas about pirates in the 1700s. After studying the various relics, scientists have changed some theories about the 'traditional' pirate image. Which of these are true?

Answer: All of these statements are true based upon the Whydah findings

Captured pirates and captors' tales helped back up the fact that at least thirty of the pirates on the Whydah were black. These are men who preferred to sail the high seas rather than live on a plantation as a slave. Men gave up loyalties to nations so that Native Americans, English, slaves, outcasts from all reaches of life, etc. were a true subculture on the ships.

The jewelry gathered at the wreckage was that of buttons, cuff links, rings, chains, and buckles. These all showed to be of a fancy, almost dandy-like, persuasion.

This would especially stand out in a time of Puritanical tastes. Finally, the ammunition collected during the salvage was almost all bird shot and musket balls and grenades. This bore out the theory that pirates did not necessarily prefer to shoot cannons and sink ships, but to capture the enemy ships, board them, and perform close quarter combat.

Source: Author stephgm67

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor trident before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Whydah Gally history abounds with legend and fact. The shipwreck was salvaged in the 1980s and helped us learn more about the slave trade, pirate life, and 18th-century ocean voyages.

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