A drawing of the Whyda, the pirate ship that John King is believed to have been
sailing on when he died. (Expedition Whydah Sea-Lab & Learning Center)
Posted on 06/03/2006 12:25:26 PM PDT by Pharmboy
A drawing of the Whyda, the pirate ship that John King is believed to have been
sailing on when he died. (Expedition Whydah Sea-Lab & Learning Center)
The silk stocking, shoe and fibula believed to be John King's, found in the
wreckage off Wellfleet. (Expedition Whydah Sea-Lab & Learning Center)
He was a boy, no more than 11, when pirates captured the ship he and his mother were sailing on in the Caribbean. As he watched the pirates haul off the ship's cargo of sugar and tobacco, John King made a decision: He would leave his mother and join the pirate crew, led by Captain Sam Bellamy.
Now, 290 years later, King's remains -- his fibula, silk stocking, and shoe -- have been identified among the wreck of Bellamy's ship, the Whydah, 1,500 feet off the coast of Wellfleet. While teenage pirates were common in the 18th century, King is considered to be the youngest ever identified.
Researchers excavating the Whydah used 18th century Caribbean court records and modern forensics to make the determination.
Their find opened a window onto the strange and brief life of a young boy swept up in a lost world of ocean piracy.
``It's a whole touchstone to a period in history which is often misunderstood or it's been twisted around by all these novels," said Ken Kinkor, a historian at the Expedition Whydah Sea-Lab and Learning Center in Provincetown, which made the discovery. ``Even though we find treasures, the best treasures aren't always gold or silver. It's the knowledge we get from the past."
King's tale ranges through the Caribbean, to the coast of Venezuela, finally to his watery grave off Wellfleet. It involves high-seas plundering, an appearance by the Puritan clergyman Cotton Mather, and a public hanging in Boston.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
YARRRRRRRR! Ping.
LOL! I don't remember the link, but I do remember my pirate name: Dirty Morgan RACK-em!
If the boy were alive today, he'd be hailed as an urban hero. Like Tookie Williams.
Arrgh?
One of them used to dress as a boy before she went to sea, but I think that was to keep her master (she was an indentured servant) from bothering her.
Illustration is by Trina Schart Hyman BTW. Not a bad illustrator at all. Did a great "St. George and the Dragon".
lost world? tell that to the somalis and vietnamese.
A pretty interesting article for the Boston Globe. Thanks for posting it. It's too bad so many people aren't interested in history anymore. I guess it's one of those "Me, me, me" things.
Wrong Pirate, It was Capt. Ned of the Raging Queen. You're confused.
"``Even though we find treasures, the best treasures aren't always gold or silver. It's the knowledge we get from the past."
To heck with the "history", i'll take the gold or silver!
You wanna shiver me timbers?
The Short RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington Ping List--for subjects of more limited appeal and/or limited to Northeast region (Freepmail me to get ON or OFF the Short List)
Here tis:
http://www.stupidstuff.org/main/piratename.htm
I'm Eric, The Enforcer!
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