Whydah Gally, captured and used as a flagship by pirate Samuel Bellamy, sank during a violent storm off Cape Cod in April 1717. Bellamy and most of his crew died, while only two men survived. The wreck was identified in 1984 and yielded weapons, coins and objects associated with Atlantic piracy.

Whydah joined the pirate-ballad tradition in which wrecked vessels symbolise freedom, violence and sudden retribution. Modern poets have also drawn upon the ship's earlier role in the slave trade, complicating the romantic image of Bellamy and his multinational crew.