I've been making steady progress on my fleet of cardboard ships, looking forward to using them for some games in the future. As I've been building my knowledge, skills and technique, I'm getting closer to building the ships that are most difficult, or at least the ones I care more about how they look and am most excited about.
My favorite pirate is Sam Bellamy, naturally. I've got cardboard versions of his early ships, the sloop Marianne and the Sultana Gally, mostly assembled and ready to prime. Now I get to turn to the ships I set out to build all along: 2 versions of the Whydah Gally. I hope to build one version of the Whydah as originally launched, and a second to represent the conversions that Bellamy and his men made when they turned her into a pirate ship.
I've read a few books and done a lot of internet research, but still have a few questions I'm hoping someone may have some answers to. First, I'll share what I've learned, and list the questions after.
The Whydah Gally was an English slave ship built in 1715. It was a 3-masted ship-rigged galley, 300 tons, 110 ft (34 m)., or 100' from bow to stern, its tallest mast 120' from the deck to the top. Armed with 18 six-pound mounted cannons and room for 10 more, this well-armed ship was also fast, capable of 13 knots. The hull could carry 500-700 slaves.
In 1715, Captain Larence Prince sailed the Whydah to Africa and took on human captives whom they sold as slaves in Jamaica for sugar, indigo, and dyes.
In late February of 1716, Prince and crew had been at sea for a year when they turned north to begin their journey home. That is when Sam Bellamy and his small fleet, including the Sultana and the Marianne, fell upon the Whydah and captured her without much of a fight.
Bellamy and his men made extensive conversions to suit their purposes. They cleared the top deck off the pilot's cabin, removed the slave barricade, and got rid of other features that made her top heavy. They added ten cannons, bringing the total to 28. 120 men crewed her. They stored their extensive treasure down the gunlock with the men, left without any guard.
I've seen a handful of engravings and paintings, and photos of models. Most of these can be found at the Whydah Museum's website, unfortunately I haven't been able to visit it in person.
I have not been able to find any plans, diagrams, or charts for the Whydah, and am having a hard time distinguishing on the photos of other models if they are intended to represent the ship before or after conversion. Some of my specific questions:
-Is the "pilot's cabin" typically housed in the forecastle?
-Where on the deck would the slave barricade be located?
-Has anyone ever heard of a figurehead on the Whydah Galley?
-Anyone seen plans or particularly good images I may have missed?
Lastly, I'm also interested in modeling Woods Rogers' flagship on his voyage to take over Nassau, the 460 ton-ship Delicia. A showdown between Rogers' fleet and Bellamy's over Nassau Harbor, as some alternative history game, is tempting me.