Blog de Puree

The story of famed pirate ship Whydah and its ill fated captain, Sam Bellamy has once again surfaced and captured our imaginations. OK, mine at least. This time, at the Cincinnati Museum Center in Ohio, from June 2007 to January 2008.

The exhibit, named Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship, features artifacts recovered from the wreck of the Whydah off the shores of Cape Cod. Filled with treasure from a successful sea-roving trip, the ship sank in a storm in 1717. Now museum visitors in Ohio can see some of that loot on display.

The exhibition is sponsored by National Geographic, whose website does a good job of creating a multimedia experience surrounding the ship, it’s crew and fate. Although it doesn’t work as well as I’d have hoped, having some dead links and incomplete pages. Regardless, it was interesting to read about different members of the crew, see photos of the ship’s artifacts, and learn about the slave trade, which was often directly and indirectly affected by piracy. Anyone looking for a factual overview of piracy should poke around the site for a bit.

I also recommend that anyone in the Cape Cod area, take a few hours to visit the Expedition Whydah Sea Lab & Learning Center in Provincetown, Mass. This is the home of the world’s only     pirate shipwreck treasure. I know nothing about this museum and welcome any comments from anyone who has visited.