Pirate skeletons found in 1717 shipwreck off coast of Cape Cod (Whydah wreck)

[MiddenMonster]

Short but interesting article. One quote caused the puke to edge upward though:

"This shipwreck is very sacred ground. We know a third of the crew was of African origin and the fact they had robbed the Whydah, which was a slave ship, presents them in a whole new light. Their benevolent captain, the legendary Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy and crew were experimenting in democracy long before the so-called civilized societies had considered such a thing."

Yeah, if you leave out the Greeks, Romans, Oliver Cromwell, etc. I guess you can never virtue signal too much these days.

Pirate skeletons found in 1717 shipwreck off coast of Cape Cod

 

[Salvor6]

Thanks for the update.

 

[BillA]

5 stars for ignorance,
many pirate captains were elected - and removed the same way

 

[SlateBeltDigger]

Wow...that's interesting. Also nice to see someone using the Steal Your Face logo.

 

[releventchair]

I dunno.
Them old bones been resting well enough , I'd leave them be to the sea.
They laid to rest in a certain context. And can stay out of traffics way well enough if respected as a resting place.
If I was tasked with molesting the site , a communal grave within the site would suffice for me.

 

[MiddenMonster]

I dunno.
Them old bones been resting well enough , I'd leave them be to the sea.
They laid to rest in a certain context. And can stay out of traffics way well enough if respected as a resting place.
If I was tasked with molesting the site , a communal grave within the site would suffice for me.

Well, good luck with that. I was wondering why a NYT guy was even on the team so I looked him up. Turns out he's a hack author and screenwriter, so it smells like he swung a deal to be with them as a way to get material for a book. And given what he has written and the pull quote I posted above the book is going to be how horrible the world was, except for this Robin Hood of a captain and his former slaves who rose up and shone the light of democracy on the world for the first time.

Wow...that's interesting. Also nice to see someone using the Steal Your Face logo.

Thanks. It goes good with pirate stories, too!

 

[Boatlode]

“We hope that modern, cutting-edge technology will help us identify these pirates and reunite them with any descendants who could be out there”

Who would claim them? I wouldn't want anybody to know I had a pirate in my family.

 

[BillA]

“We hope that modern, cutting-edge technology will help us identify these pirates and reunite them with any descendants who could be out there”

Who would claim them? I wouldn't want anybody to know I had a pirate in my family.

interesting, none of us selected our ancestors - what does denial accomplish?
I'm from a pack of dogs, I try not to bark
we seek to improve (well, some of us)

 

[MiddenMonster]

Who would claim them? I wouldn't want anybody to know I had a pirate in my family.

interesting, none of us selected our ancestors - what does denial accomplish?

@BillA is spot on when it comes to our ancestors. All of us have ancestors who were slaves, and all of us have ancestors who owned slaves. All of us have ancestors who were eaten by cannibals, and all of us have ancestors who were cannibals. Personally, I like to think that one of my ancestors invented stone tools, but was later killed by another of my ancestors who thought those new fangled stone tools would be the ruin of humanity.

 

[Boatlode]

No pirates or other criminals in my family tree.

 

[BillA]

No pirates or other criminals in my family tree.

what about politicians, or preachers?
I can go back to the first boat people and for sure there were criminals = law breakers.
I too have broken laws, but I have no children to burden.
it's the environment not the genetics

 

[MiddenMonster]

it's the environment not the genetics

Don't forget politics. Throughout history government have used laws to control and subjugate people for no other reason than they wanted to. At one time it was illegal to own a printing press in part of Europe. In recent years people have been imprisoned in Thailand for "insulting the king". In many places it was illegal for some people to be outside after a certain time. If you have ancestors in this country that helped slaves on the underground railroad--or taught them to read, they were criminals. At one time, smugglers were loved by the common man because they brought goods to people that were otherwise illegal for them to have or at a price they could afford. Sometimes, sticking with your moral convictions makes you a criminal. So in that light, if someone says they don't have any ancestors who were criminals, does it really speak well of their ancestors?

 

[BillA]

a bunch of sheep, but I am outside the fence
am amazed at the lambs going willingly to their slaughter

 

[Boatlode]

what about politicians, or preachers?

That's an odd pair of occupations to mention in the same sentence.

 

[Red_desert]

My ancestors in the coastal southeast, were the wealthy slave and land owners of Irish Roman Catholic family lines.

 

[BillA]

That's an odd pair of occupations to mention in the same sentence.

they both make a living by presenting falsehoods, I do not associate

 

[Red_desert]

So, skeletons on wrecks don't always disintegrate? I think there are old stories of bones washing up on Florida Keys.

 

[MiddenMonster]

So, skeletons on wrecks don't always disintegrate? I think there are old stories of bones washing up on Florida Keys.

Good question. Bones do stay somewhat intact for hundreds of years when buried in the ground, exposed to microbes so it's possible that the same holds true in water. But since bones are primarily made up of calcium you would think that they would decompose through chemical reactions. It looks like the pirate bones in this case were encased in a variety of materials, so maybe they were protected. I also don't think the bones that were found were full sized and complete. There may have been very little left of them.

 

[Salvor6]

Bones may last thousands of years. I found ancient manatee bones that are thousands of years old.

 

[enrada]

The bones were preserved in rum!!!