Mower County transcript., 1890-04-30
STORIES OF PIRATES.
Depredations Perpetrated by These
Highwaymen of the Seas
Along the American Coast Early This
Century-Wreck of tho Whido-Capt-
ure and Execution of Crew That
Attacked Brig Mexican.

was asked bluff old sea captain of
the North shore few days ago.
'Oh, yes, good many in my day."
was the reply, land some of the stories
they told were enough to make the blood
run cold in your veins. Once in awhile
there was an amusing incident, how
ever.
81 remember one old fellow named
Swan, who was about when l was boy,
who was said to have been captured five
times in as many ships by the same
pirate. He was probably one of the
homeliest men that ever lived, so was
easily recognized. Finally, the last
time he was caught the pirate rushed
up to him and yelled:
'You ugly, cross-eyed son of a sea-
cook, are you here? Well, I'll let you
60 just this once, but if I ever catch
you again I'll cut you up into inch
pieces
"Swan was so frightened that he never
went to sea again."
It seems almost incredible that less
than sixty years ago the capture of mer-
chant vessels at sea by pirates was Of
to conceive the dread and terror inspired
in the minds of seamen by the mere
mention of the name.
For more than century and half
New England merchant vessels had been
plundered from time to time and their
crews maltreated and murdered. The
coast itself had given unwilling shelter
to many of the most noted desperadoes,
and many suspicious-looking craft had
sailed into the harbors under cover of
darkness, and then before morning broke
as mysteriously disappeared.
Captain Kidd, although dead, was an
awe-inspiring tradition. Quelch and his
piratical crew had been pursued the en-
tire length of the shore, from Marble
head to the Isle of Shoals, and when
captured confined in the Jail at Salem
and taken to Boston for trial and execu-
ton.
These were pre-revolutionary events.
But what of that? Was not the house
still standing in Marblehead in which
one of the pirates found refuge, and did
not the ever-shifting sands of Cape Cod
furnish indisputable evidence of the
wreck of the Whido, commanded by the
noted Sam Bellamy, one of the most
desperate pirates of his day? The story
Of that shipwreck is worth relating
even now.
The Whiao, carrying % guns and 100
paen, had captured several vesse Is off
the coast of Massachusetts,. Bellamy
placed seven of his men on board one of
the 'prizes, intending to turn her into a
pirate craft. The men Immediately be-
gan a carousal, which ended in all
hands becoming stupidity drunk, and
falling into sound sleep. While in
this condition they were discovered by
the master of passing vessel, AMI when
they awoke they found themselves un-
expectedly in Cape Cod harbor.
Five of the pirates succeeded in af-
fecting an escape, and Captain Cyprian
Southwick was sent in search of them.
The Whido soon after was overtaken by
violent storm, and was dashed to
pieces on the table land of Wellfeet,
every person on board the ill-fated ship,
with two exceptions, perishing in the
waves The sea was so violent that it
forced its way across the cape, and
made channel so wide that Captain
Southwick, who arrived soon after, was
enabled to row through it in whale
boat. The bodies of 102 pirates, thrown
along the shore by the storm, were
picked up and buried. OF those capt
ured, six were tried by special court
of admiralty, convicted and executed in
Boston.
From the clearness of the water and
the whiteness of the sandy bottom OBJ
jects are seen at great depth in the
region where Bellamy's crew perished.
For more than century after the ship
wreck the great caboose of the Whido
was sometimes discovered, as the loose
sand in which it was embedded was
shipped from place to place by the
agitation of the sea. +:
But the seafaring men of New En-
Rland had little need, at the beginning
of the present century, to recur to ira
ditions of remote events of the past.
The pirates were an eyer-present reali-
ty. Ships sailing to the West or East
Indies, the coast OF Africa or South
America. wherever and whenever
bound, were in constant danger Of be-
! i, 4nroo,+o1 ona m ntnred Rpnhrts