In 1717, the pirate Samuel Bellamy was sailing near what is now Wellfleet when his ship, the Whydah sank off shore.

When this request was denied, Agaja attacked and quickly took over the Kingdom of Whydah leading to the displacement, slaughter, and enslavement of much of the population.

Although much of the early warfare was extremely destructive, Agaja allowed inhabitants of Whydah to return after 1933.

The pirates eventually realized the Whydah was lost, and proceeded to attack vessels in the area.

The pirates eventually realized the Whydah was lost, and proceeded to attack vessels at Matinicus Island and Pemaquid ( now Bristol ).

However, Bellamy's greatest capture was to come in the spring of 1717, when he and his crew chased down and boarded the Whydah Gally ( pronounced " WIH-duh ").

The Whydah, a 300-ton English slave ship, had just finished the second leg of the Atlantic slave trade on its second voyage and was loaded with a fortune in gold and precious trade goods.

The Whydah was swept up in a violent Nor ' easter storm off Cape Cod at midnight, and was driven onto the sand bar shoals in 16 feet of water some 500 feet from the coast of what is now Wellfleet, Massachusetts.

The Mary Anne was also wrecked that night several miles south of the Whydah, leaving six more survivors.

In 1984, Bellamy became famous again when the wreckage of his flagship Whydah was finally discovered, the first confirmed pirate ship recovered in U. S. waters in modern times.

At the time of its sinking, the Whydah was the largest pirate prize ever captured, and the treasure in its hold included huge quantities of indigo, ivory, gold, and over 30, 000 pounds sterling ( approximately 4. 5 to 5 tons ).

The Whydah Gally ( variously written as Whidah or Whidaw ) was the flagship of the pirate " Black Sam " Bellamy.

The Whydah was first launched in 1715 from London, England.

Christened Whydah after the West African slave trading kingdom of Ouidah ( pronounced WIH-dah ), the vessel was configured as a heavily-armed trading and transport ship for use in the Atlantic slave trade, carrying goods from England to exchange for slaves in West Africa.

In late February 1717, the Whydah, under the command of Captain Lawrence Prince, was navigating the Windward Passage between Cuba and Hispaniola when it was attacked by pirates led by " Black Sam " Bellamy.

The other survivor of the Whydah, a Miskito Indian named John Julian, was not tried but rather is believed to have been sold into slavery after his capture.

The wreck of the Whydah was rediscovered in 1984 by underwater explorer Barry Clifford ( relying heavily on the 1717 map that Southack drew of the wreck's location ) and has been the site of extensive underwater archaeology.

* Kingdom of Whydah, which included Ouidah but was headquartered in Savi

In 1727 the Kingdom of Whydah was captured by the forces of King Agaja of Dahomey.

Agaja then requested free movement for Dahomey traders from the coastal Kingdom of Whydah, ( modern day Ouidah ), a lucrative coastal kingdom active in the Atlantic slave trade.

During the 1720s, the slave-trading states of Whydah and Allada were taken, giving Dahomey direct access to the slave coast and trade with Europeans.

The Whydah sinks with a reputed four and a half tons of treasure on board, and all but 2 of her crew are lost, including Bellamy.

By the conquest of Whydah the Dahomeyans were brought in contact with a people of serpent worshipers, and ended by adopting from them the beliefs which they at first despised.

Fitted with a standard complement of eighteen six-pound cannon, which could be increased to a total of twenty-eight in time of war, the Whydah represented one of the most advanced weapons systems of the time.

Bellamy decided to take the Whydah as his new flagship ; several of its crew remained with their ship and joined the pirate gang.

On January 7, 2008 the National Geographic Channel aired a 2-hour documentary, Pirate Treasure Hunters, about the ongoing excavation of the wreck of the Whydah Gally, which includes detailed interviews with Barry Clifford.

By the conquest of Whydah the Dahomeyans were brought in contact with a people of serpent worshippers, and ended by adopting from them the beliefs which they at first despised.

Thanks to its domination of the coast, Oyo merchants were able to trade with Europeans at Porto Novo and Whydah.

" In the early 18th century, Kings of Dahomey ( known today as Benin ) became big players in the slave trade, waging a bitter war on their neighbours, resulting in the capture of 10, 000, including another important slave trader, the King of Whydah.

At some point during his possession of the Whydah, Bellamy loaded an additional 30 + cannons below decks, possibly as ballast.

At Whydah, the chief centre, there is a serpent temple, tenanted by some fifty snakes.

The Anne had originally been captured off the Virginia Capes in April by the pirate Samuel Bellamy in the Whydah, which wrecked in a storm on the night of April 26, 1717, off of Cape Cod.

The Anne had originally been captured off the Virginia Capes in April by the pirate Samuel Bellamy in the Whydah, which wrecked in a storm on the night of April 26, 1717, off of Cape Cod.

* Samuel Bellamy is the main subject of two non-fiction books, " The Pirate Prince " and " Expedition Whydah ," by explorer Barry Clifpraised, and a non-fiction book, " The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down ," by Colin Woodard, published by Harvest Book / Harcourt, Orlando FL, 2007.

* Samuel Bellamy is the main character of the historical novel, " Master Of The Sweet Trade: A Story of the Pirate Samuel Bellamy, Mariah Hallett, and the Whydah ," by author Elizabeth Moisan, published by iUniverse Books, Bloomington IN, 2010.

On a map he made of the wreck site Southack reported that he had buried 102 of the 144 Whydah crew and captives lost in the sinking ( though technically they were buried by the town coroner, who surprised Southack by handing him the bill and demanding payment ).

According to surviving members of the crew-two from the Whydah and seven from Bellamy's other fleet ship destroyed by the storm, the Marianne-at the time of its sinking, the ship carried nearly four and a half to five tons of silver, gold, gold dust, and jewelry, which had been divided equally into 180 fifty-pound bags and stored in chests below the ship's deck.

Among the Whydah artifacts recovered by Barry Clifford were a shoe, silk stocking and fibula bone determined to be from to a child between 8 and 11 years old, most likely belonging to John King.

* Whydah Gally, galley-style ship captained by pirate " Black Sam " Bellamy

At Whydah, the chief centre, there is a serpent temple, tenanted by some fifty snakes.

True to his reputation for generosity, Bellamy gave the Sultana to Captain Lawrence Prince of the captured Whydah, and, outfitting his new flagship as a 28-gun raiding vessel ( upgraded from its original 18 guns ), set sail northwards along the eastern coast of New England.