ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING!
Ahoy there, sea dogs and other reprobates! Those of you with the eyesight of the wandering albatross will have noticed that for a good many moons, our stout vessel has not appeared in your spyglass. And, mayhap, you have wondered at it.
But, as you know, the mind of our Captain is never at rest. He is always working on schemes, ventures, and stratagems, both with and without the rest of the crew. And so, about three months back, we reassembled and made our vessel shipshape for …
A NEW VOYAGE!
All of the crew have been working like dogs on the Captain’s latest enterprise. And now we are all aboard, to bring you …
THE RICHEST ROGUES AFLOAT!
We are telling the story of the Whydah Gally, the slave ship which Black Sam Bellamy captured on her maiden voyage. He went on to plunder no less than fifty three vessels, and with that booty stowed in his hold, turned for home – and for his true love, Maria Hallett, whom he hoped to marry.
Alas! For the vanity of mortal hopes! On the night of 26th April in the year of Our Lord seventeen hundred and seventeen, a tempest of the most hellish proportions brewed off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts Colony. Weighed down as she was, the Whydah went down in the storm, together with all her cargo and all hands, save two whom the Lord’s grace plucked from the raging waters. Neither of these two was Sam Bellamy, and so he perished, and all his hopes with him.
Our Captain has hand-picked the finest crew, including noted sea-dogs The Hoy Shanty Crew, to bring you this epic tale of treasure, booty, adventure and thwarted love. And, mayhap, the vanity of man and the righteous judgement of the Lord on all wicked slave traders. But I leave that to the consciences of my readers.
For those more learned among you, I have heard say that an enterprising gentleman named Mr Barry Clifford, Esq., having explored the depths of the ocean, has discovered the wrecked Whydah, and salvaged some of her goods. These he has generously put on display for the enjoyment and edification of all persons, at the Whydah Pirate Museum in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts.
In the meantime …
PREPARE TO BE BOARDED!
Further bulletins will follow.
Mother Cutbeard.