1 Pirate Ship Whydah Gally Sunk by Atlantic Storm It was 1717 Pirate captain Samuel Black Sam Bellamy sailed the seas in search of ships to rob The captain called himself the Robin Hood of the Sea He stole from rich merchants He then shared the booty with his pirates Bellamy’s crew included people who had once been enslaved Black sailors worked alongside white shipmates as equals Bellamy was not a black man He The ship’s bell from the Whydah Gally is in the Houston Museum of Natural Science got his nickname Black Sam for his long dark hair He refused to powder it like other captains did In February 1717 Black Sam spotted a ship on the Caribbean Sea He thought it could be perfect for his pirate fleet The ship was huge It was also very fast Bellamy decided to go after it The ship Black Sam chased was the Whydah Gally It was a slave ship After three days Bellamy captured the Whydah Gally He took over the
Gold coins discovered off the coast of New England where the Whydah Gally sank treasure-filled vessel and steered toward New England Black Sam’s good fortune would run out In April 1717 a fierce Atlantic storm sank the Whydah Gally THINK ABOUT IT Many pirates started off working on merchant ships As seamen they were often treated badly Would you become a pirate if you thought you’d be treated better than a regular seaman Millions in gold ivory and goods fell to the ocean floor Bellamy and all but two crew members died 139 million Black Sam Bellamy’s riches in 2018 dollars Black Sam called himself the Robin Hood of the Sea The pirate captain captured the slave ship Whydah Gally A powerful storm sank the ship in April 1717
2 Giant Whale Rams Sinks Whaleship Essex A 19th century wood engraving of the whale attack On November 20 1820 a giant sperm whale smashed into the whaleship Essex The impact tore a hole in the ship Water gushed in The whale rammed the ship a second time The Essex capsized Crew members had set sail from Nantucket in the US State of Massachusetts Nantucket and nearby New Bedford were favored ports for sperm whale hunting Hundreds of ships left each year Whale blubber and oil were brought back for use in candles and other goods After the Essex capsized 20 crew members escaped onto three small boats They were thousands of miles from land They lay under the blazing sun Before long they ran out of
85 Length in feet 26 m of the sperm whale that attacked the whaleship Essex The ship sank after the whale rammed it a second time Five crew members were rescued after living for months on small boats The shipwreck inspired the famous novel Moby Dick WHY WOULD A WHALE ATTACK A SHIP Whales rarely go after ships However it happens Scientists wonder why There are at least two theories One theory says whales remember being harpooned or seeing their young attacked The other says whales think hammering sounds from a ship are the clicks of rival males Whales might strike in anger or self-defense food They turned to cannibalism to survive After months at sea seamen on two of the boats were saved by passing ships In all five sailors survived One crew member wrote a book about the sinking His tale inspired Herman Melville to write the famous novel Moby Dick A 1954 model of the whaleship Essex
