Isoroku295

mmm... Black Beard.. huh......

Knarly Dan

You make a great case, Richard Stanbery.

And this thread has been an educational and entertaining read. Thanks for generating it.

Richard Stanbery

Yes Indeed, the salt water is just dripping off this thread. I just hope we can find a breakthrough in some of the technical areas and fine points of research.

And so, now I focus a little attention to some known BB connections. Sam Bellamy was an old shipmate of BB. And the pirate ship Wydah was wrecked off New England, her hold full of 4 1/2 tons of treasure so far identified in recent excavations. How much more there was is unknown.

And BB was also interested in New England for some reason. His taking of the Great Allan (Christopher Taylor) is one case in particular. You see, I dont think it was an accident that he was able to intercept her. I ponder that BB had some especial ties to New England, either for or against the merchants there. What that interest is remains unseen.

But why was Wydah so laden with treasure when she was wrecked there> Why did BB take such special vengence on Great Allen? What was going on there that may have had ties to Captain Kidd and Oak Island? What was really going on?

Does anybody have any clues as to who the owners of Great Allen were in Boston?

Odd that the revolution started there a few years later, isnt it? Just a coincidence?

And, for that matter, who was this Great Allan that the ship was named for anyway?

Hmm, Me thinks here is more than meets the eye...And ye can lay to that!

Richard Stanbery

Ah, here is a little more on the pirate ship Wydah. She was loaded with a great deal of hard treasure, such as coins, bullion, gems, etc. The usual take for Carribean pirates was the less glorious stuffs, such as tobacco, indigo, sugar, cocoa, etc. Yet Wydah had 4 1/2 tons plus of hard treasure on board when she went down. Why?


And this related to BB as he had been a shipmate of Capt Bellamy of the Wydah, and BB seems to have taken a special interest in the Great Allan of Boston. I think that this mystery is a ball of yarn that will unravel if we pick it in the right spot. To understand why Wydah was laden as she was, in the place where she was, is to put a piece to the puzzle in its proper place.

And then BB will make more sense in all of this.

corndog36

I don't see where you are going with this. The Wyduh's treasure was stored in 180 bags, presumably to be shared out among the crew in typical pirate fashion.

I don't see any special vengeance taken on the Great Allen, the crew was released unharmed. It sounds like a typical capture of a merchantman in the Caribbean.

Where does Captain Kidd come into this? He was a New Yorker, and not really a pirate.

The revolution started 50 years later, I don't think Wyduh's trip to Boston had anything to do with it.

Viperlord

I've been remiss in not posting, great thread Richard! Blackbeard's a fascinating figure.

Richard Stanbery

This is one of those topics that gets deeper and more intrguing the farther you delve into it. For, it was reported from Captain Bostoc (a former captive of BB) to Governor William Hamilton, that Teach had captured an exceptional fine cup, from the Captain of the Great Allen. And one also sees this cup referred to as a chalice. But that is just a myth.

As to Wydah, why was she going North with that much treasure? She should have been going South to a safe place to divide it up. To the North was Bellamys woman, Maria Hallett. She had already given birth to one of Bellamys children, that died soon after.

Maria was probably about 15 or 16, and her parents didnt think Bellamy was good enough to marry thier daughter. And that is damned odd thinking for the puritanical New Englanders of the day. She had already bore him a child, after all.

Anyway, Bellamy was headed back to Maria, when they fell under the power of a storm and the Wydah went down. But, what was Bellamys plan?

He could..
A...go ashore and live incognito with Maria in New England. or
B...Get Maria and take her away some place.

What do you think he was going to do? I think he was going to swallow the anchor and stay with Maria in New England, in some society that would be friendly to ex-pirates. And what, or who, might that have been? The Boston society wasnt going to stand for that. But apparently Bellamy had a plan of some sorts. What it was, I dont know.

There was an Irishman who had sailed with both BB and Bellamy, I have seen in reports, and he actually survived his piracy days and lived out his years and a respectable citizen.

And so, Wydah and Bellamy...what a tragic tale of the sea.

All of this leads to one possibility. And that is that the folks who knew about the Oak Island money pit may have been the same group that Bellamy had intended to live out his days with Maria among.

But as to the Chalice of BB, and what may have been in Sam Bellamys head, and what either of them knew of Oak Island? It was the Irishman, who had been a ships officer, that would be on the know of this. Richard Noland (born in Dublin) who knew probably everything. And so, the spotlight turns to the Irishman. He survived all of it, BTW. Perhaps he left us some clues?

The Irishman knows all.

Knarly Dan

Sounds like the makings of a great historical novel.

Or movie.

Richard Stanbery

Makes you wonder why Hollywood is making remakes of remakes, when there is so much original and untouched stuff out there. I think the Wydah story would make a good movie. I like your thinking on that.

Knarly Dan

Actually I have wondered about that, more than once. Tons of interesting historical plots ready to go, so to speak. Costs that were once prohibitive, such as securing locales, large casts, one or more replica ships - much of that can be reduced with CG.

Instead Hollywood does remakes of movies like Red Dawn.