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Wreck of the Whydah Gally

When
1717
Where
Windward Passage; Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Episodes
2

In late February 1717, Samuel Bellamy captured the slave ship Whydah Gally in the Windward Passage. On 26 April 1717, the vessel wrecked in a storm off Wellfleet, Massachusetts, killing Bellamy and most of the crew.

Episodes

  1. February 1717 · Windward PassageCapture of the Whydah Gally

    Bellamy's pirates attacked and captured the slave ship Whydah Gally in the Windward Passage in late February 1717.

  2. 26 April 1717 · Wellfleet, MassachusettsWreck off Wellfleet

    The Whydah Gally wrecked in a violent storm off Cape Cod on 26 April 1717, killing Bellamy and most of the crew.

Background and detail

Background. The Whydah Gally was a 300-ton English slave ship built in 1715. After completing the second leg of the Atlantic slave trade, she was loaded with gold, ivory, and other goods. In late February 1717, she was navigating the Windward Passage between Cuba and Hispaniola.

Capture. Pirates led by Samuel Bellamy attacked the Whydah Gally in the Windward Passage. Bellamy took the vessel as his flagship, beginning a new role in the Golden Age of Piracy. He sailed the ship up the coast of colonial America, capturing other vessels along the way.

Wreck. On 26 April 1717, the Whydah Gally encountered a violent nor'easter storm off Cape Cod. The ship was driven onto sand bar shoals in 16 feet of water, approximately 500 feet from the coast of what is now Wellfleet, Massachusetts.

People involved

Sources

  1. Whydah Gally Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-09
  2. Samuel Bellamy Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-20

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.