The Unknown Survivor

Part Three

The Wild Man of Cape Cod

For years after Bellamy's pirate ship was wrecked at Wellfleet, by false pilotage on the part of one [of] his captives, a strange-looking man used to travel up and don the cape, who was believed to be one of the few survivors of that night of storm, and of the hanging that others underwent after getting ashore. The prates had money when the ship struck; it was found in the pockets of a hundred drowned who were cast on the beach, as well as among the sands of the cape, for coin was gathered there long after.

They supposed the stranger had his share, or more, and that he secreted quantity of specie near his cabin. After his death gold was found under his clothing in a girdle. He was often received at the houses of the fishermen, both because the people were hospitable and because they feared harm if the refused to feed or shelter him; but if his company grew wearisome he was exorcised by reading aloud a portion of the Bible. When he heard the holy words he invariably departed.

And it was said that fiends came to him at night, for in his room whether he appeared to sleep or wake, there were groans and blasphemy, uncanny words and sounds that stirred the hair of listeners on their scalps. The unhappy creature cried to be delivered of the murders he had committed.

For some time he was missed from his haunts, and it was thought he had secured a ship and set to sea again; but a traveler on the sands, while passing his cabin in the small hours, had heard a more than usual commotion, and could distinguish the voice of the wild man raised in frantic appeal to somebody, or something; still, knowing it was his habit to cry out so, and having misgivings about approaching the house, the traveler only hurried past

A few neighbors went to the lonely cabin and looked through the windows, which, as well as the doors, were locked on the inside. The wild man lay still and white on the floor, with the furniture upset and pieces of gold clutched in his fingers and scattered about him. There were marks of claws about his neck.

Narrative taken from Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, Vol. 1., Charles M Skinner, JB Lippincott Company, 1896, pps. 309-310.

A Tall Ship, A Star, and Plunder

Hello! Last summer I made my first professional sale to an anthology of pirate fiction stories. Well, the book is now available in print or in an ebook format!

The title is: A Tall Ship, A Star, and Plunder, and is edited by Robert Krog. The title of my story is "Rosa and the Pirate."

Please keep in mind when reading that the authors were asked to keep the stories suitable for families.

So if you enjoy pirate stories and want to read a whole bookful, please go and buy the anthology!

 

The Unknown Survivor

Part Two

 

Here I wish to continue to share stories from Cape Cod folklore concerning the possibility that there was a third survivor of the wreck of the Whydah Galley in April of 1717.

 

This story is from: A Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions With Occasional Notes (Vol. IV). [Timothy Alden (Seymour, etc]. 1814.

 

[p. 22] One of the Most remarkable shipwrecks on Cape Cod, in former times, was that of the WHIDO, carrying twenty-three guns and on hundred and thirty men, commanded by Samuel Bellamy, a noted pirate. This happened on the 26 of April, 1717, on the outer shore of Wellfleet.

Bellamy had taken a number of vessels, on the coast. Seven of his men were put on board one of these, who soon became intoxicated, went in to a sound sleep, and when they awoke, found themselves, very unexpectedly, in Cape Cod harbour. Five of them escaped from the master of the vessel, who brought them in, and Captain Cyprian Southack, by order of the government of Massachusetts, was sent in search of them.

The Whido, soon after, was overtaken by a violent storm and was dashed to pieces near the table land of Wellfleet, where every one, except two, perished in the waves.

 

Captain Southack arrived at Wellfleet just after the sea had forced its way across the Cape and made such a channel that he passed through in a whale boat! This channel was soon closed, and has, ever since, been kept so, by the attention of the inhabitants or, it is probable, twenty or thirty miles of the extremity of this wonderful arm of land would, long before this time, have been washed away.

Captain Southack found and buried the bodies of one hundred and two pirates, which after the storm, lay along the shore, of those captured, and six were tried by a special court of admiralty, convicted, and executed at Boston.

From the clearness of the water and the whiteness of the sandy bottom, objects are seen from a great depth in the region, where Bellamy's crew perished. Even to this day, the great caboose of the Whido is sometime discovered as the loose sand, in which it is imbedded, is shifted from place to place by the agitations of the sea.

Some of the coppers, made in the region of William and Mary, and specimens of cob dollars, belonging to the pirate ship, are, occasionally, still found on the beach.

 

For many years after this shipwreck, a man, of a very singular and frightful aspect, used, every spring and autumn, to be seen traveling on the Cape, who was supposed to have been one of Bellamy's crew. The presumption is that he went to some place where money had been secreted by the pirates to get such a supply as his exigencies required. When he died many pieces of gold were found in a girdle which he constantly wore. Aged people relate that this man frequently spent the night in private houses, and that, whenever, the Bible or any religious book was read, or any family devotion performed, he invariably left the room. This is not improbable. It is also stated that, during the night, it would seem as if he had in his chamber a legion from the lower world; for much conversation was often overheard which was boisterous, profane, blasphemous, and quarrelsome in the extreme. This is the representation. The probability is, that his sleep was disturbed by a recollection of the murderous scenes in which he had been engaged, and that he, involuntarily vented such exclamations as, with the aid of an imagination awake to wonders from the invisible regions, gave rise, in those days, to the current opinion that his bed chamber was the resort of infernals.

 

John Julian's words

They came unexpectedly, unannounced. There was a group of them. The prisoners could hear their footsteps and the rattle of chains as they came.

They did not stand on ceremony. There was no wasted motion or unnecessary talk as they opened the cage and converged on one of them.

 

While some of them took up guard-like positions to prevent the others from interfering, three of them grabbed John by the arms and hauled him to his feet.

 

“What are you doing? Where are you taking me?” he hollered. He tried to fight them off, but he was weak from months on a bread and water diet and confinement. Plus they were grown men. He was but an adolescent.

There was ugly laughter in response to his questions.

 

“You're being sold, Indian,” one of them replied, as he caught up John's arms and tied them behind his back.

 

“No! No! I am a man! I am free! I am a man!” John protested, his voice rising in pitch as his desperation grew.

 

He tried to fight, tried to kick and maneuver his body out of their grasp. The men cursed and hit him with the chains.

 

But it was no use. On the other side of the cage his friends shouted and protested, but they too were too weak to fight effectively and were easily beaten back with sticks and more chains.

 

The three men got a firm grip on John, forcing him forward while he continued trying to kick and throw them off. They had to go through the door one at a time, and John nearly succeeded in breaking their grip. Something thudded over the back of his head, and he knew no more.

 

Sometime later, he didn't know exactly how much, he found himself in another cage, but now he was chained down. There were a few others in the cage, all with black or darker skin like him.

 

In the distance he heard voices and shouting. Periodically men would come to the cage and take someone out. They would not return.

 

When they came for John he tried to struggle again, but they were simply too many and too strong for him.

 

He was taken into another room. This one was crowded with mostly men. He was led to a clear area.

 

He continued to struggle, and so one of the men finally shoved his stick under John's chin to force him to hold his head up while pinioning his arms behind him. Some remarks were made about a lively young Indian male, and a few bids were shouted out.