Whydah Galley

[bvieira]

Hello,

There are many shipwrecks from Portugal and Spain out there! I do scuba diving from time to time and manage to found some artifacts (if i had more spare time i have no doubt i would found a shipwreck) lately i have diving in a place that was a roman village that now is under water!

Some artifacts from lasts sessions:

Roman axe, nails, coins and ceramics.


Regards,

BV

[M ELEY]

Great shipwreck stuff, BV! That must have been exciting to find!


-Jim McDougall-
"It would seem the Portuguese interest in procuring natives was in a sense to preclude their use in such sacrificial horror, though the grim travesty of slavery was in actuality far from 'humanitarian'. Whatever the case, this commerce carried on with other European participants, and the Whydah ship was actually named for the slave port of Whidah on this coast.
Blackbeard's vessel, the Queen Annes Revenge was formerly a French slave vessel as well. Another shipwreck well known was the slave vessel 'Henrietta Marie'."

Exactly, Jim! Just as I go on about in my novel series, most folks don't know that most pirate ships had crews of African slaves turned sea dog. Many of the slave ships were taken by the pirates as they made the 'pirate round'. The exported goods from Africa (gold, ivory, textiles, etc) were taken by the pirates and it was up to the scalawags to decide what to do with the "Black Ivory". Many were just sold back into slavery by the rovers, but many were offered freedom (not a complete and equal freedom, mind you, but a better life than the one they were about to receive!) if they joined the crew.

Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts, Laurens DeGraff and Sam Bellamy were just some of the famous thugs from history that had African crews (many of them making up 50% or more of the total crew!!). Many of these former slaves didn't get equal treatment as the white pirates did (less of a share of treasure, no decisions in their next destination or prey, etc), but some had remarkable power.

Blackbeard's head man was a mate named Black Caesar, who was given strict orders to light the powder magazine by Teach in the event of their ship ever being taken. In 1718, off the coast of Okracoke Island,NC, Blackbeard was struck dead and his ship was taken by Lt. Maynard. Caesar dutifully rushed to the magazine, but was restrained by others in finishing his mission.

Getting back to the Whydah, which was taken by Bellamy off of West Africa, the bronze 'anklets' were to be used for trade, but never made it to the 'Coite Ivor', instead lingering in the hold until a hurricane took the ship off Wellfleet. These bronze rings represent a dark tale from history, but their presence is still an important reminder to the past.

[Jim McDougall]

Perfectly accounted Mark! just as the author you are few know this stuff like you do, and your novels are like time machines!
It is true that the numbers of pirates that were indeed Blacks are seldom realized, and it seems many formed the Gullah population of the Sea Islands and coasts of Georgia and South Carolina.

[fernando]

Mark is so correct in that, the Caribbean pirates were not all white faces. In fact we can read scholars pretending that, the first buccaneers in recorded history HAD DARK SKIN.The record in question is the journal of a French sailor who, on the coast of Hispaniola, met two men he describes as “a mulatto and a negro.”
Meanwhile i have found this interesting NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE, which includes a chart with exemplars of manilhas from various origins; in case one whishes to compare and figure out from where the Wydah lots were provenant.


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[Jim McDougall]

Now this is a great discussion, presenting some not commonly known things about piracy and its close proximity to the slave trade. Most interesting are these great images and detail which are of course from Wikipedia.....which it seems some members tend to discount as unreliable etc.
Actually this material is excellent and I appreciate it being posted!

Thank you Fernando.

[fernando]

Information may be gathered everywhere. We may find unreliable data in whatever sources ... including books. Naturaly (authors) published conclusions are more subject to doubt than period photos or testimonies; conclusions being left to oneself. As in what concerns this topic subject(s) we are hardly acquainted to those who have witnessed such saga episodes, the available resources being based on chronicles and other written material. On the other hand we have the language barrier. It is obvious that the Portuguese played a lead role in the slavery trade and consequently we find plenty written mterial in the Portuguese Web; actually more than one would expect. However posting it here would not be a feasible option, so one tends to spot useful info in english ... Wikepedia being a contingency.
What i have gathered and posted here was (also) picked from Academia, Museums, Blogs and other sources like Listverse (author Mark Oliver) as some parts extracted from Portuguese material. I have also cared, from among tons of info detected, not to post details which would slip to an area that might be susceptible to excessively widen the scope of the theme in discussion ... so to say.
In the slavery 'branch' of our conversation, personaly i don't mind accepting that, some part of my DNA mitocondrial lineage (fine terms) might be associated to North African Berbere slaves. At a certain stage, the number of slaves in Southern Portugal represented 10% of the population; in 1550, from the 100 000 Lisbon inhabitants, 10 000 were slaves; and in 1620 they still held a 6% score (acc. to Scientific researchers Luisa Pereira and Filipa M.Ribeiro, a fascinating work in my mini library on the Portuguese Genetic Patrimony.
As this discussion continues, i regret having offered my daughter the manilha that i bought at Rainer Daehnhardt's (now closed) shop; i have to see if she accepts to give it back to me ... not excluding a good tip .
The guy in the bronze plate is an European, seeking slaves to trade; not the (African) Pumbeiro (or Pombeiro, from the Kimbundo dialect "kipombo") the one that conducts slaves from the interior to the coast, to trade with European dealers, as we can see in this illustration that is surely close from reality.
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[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by fernando

Information may be gathered everywhere. We may find unreliable data in whatever sources ... including books. Naturaly (authors) published conclusions are more subject to doubt than period photos or testimonies; conclusions being left to oneself. As in what concerns this topic subject(s) we are hardly acquainted to those who have witnessed such saga episodes, the available resources being based on chronicles and other written material. On the other hand we have the language barrier. It is obvious that the Portuguese played a lead role in the slavery trade and consequently we find plenty written mterial in the Portuguese Web; actually more than one would expect. However posting it here would not be a feasible option, so one tends to spot useful info in english ... Wikepedia being a contingency.
What i have gathered and posted here was (also) picked from Academia, Museums, Blogs and other sources like Listverse (author Mark Oliver) as some parts extracted from Portuguese material. I have also cared, from among tons of info detected, not to post details which would slip to an area that might be susceptible to excessively widen the scope of the theme in discussion ... so to say.
In the slavery 'branch' of our conversation, personaly i don't mind accepting that, some part of my DNA mitocondrial lineage (fine terms) might be associated to North African Berbere slaves. At a certain stage, the number of slaves in Southern Portugal represented 10% of the population; in 1550, from the 100 000 Lisbon inhabitants, 10 000 were slaves; and in 1620 they still held a 6% score (acc. to Scientific researchers Luisa Pereira and Filipa M.Ribeiro, a fascinating work in my mini library on the Portuguese Genetic Patrimony.
As this discussion continues, i regret having offered my daughter the manilha that i bought at Rainer Daehnhardt's (now closed) shop; i have to see if she accepts to give it back to me ... not excluding a good tip .
The guy in the bronze plate is an European, seeking slaves to trade; not the (African) Pumbeiro (or Pombeiro, from the Kimbundo dialect "kipombo") the one that conducts slaves from the interior to the coast, to trade with European dealers, as we can see in this illustration that is surely close from reality.
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Very well noted and key perspective to the kind of approach all students of arms should take in research, investigation and discussion. The knowledge which can be shared and developed in such contexts is phenomenal as can be seen in many threads over the years here.