The Whydah, the most successful pirate ship of recent years, laden with treasures from Cuba, the Antilles, Haiti, and Virginia, is caught in a nor'easter off Cape Cod. Its captain, Black Sam Bellamy, ever-fearless, knows the ship is doomed. Through the wind, he tries desperately to point it towards a beach. None is found. The lightning illuminates only cliffs—closer by the second. Bellamy's stomach condenses tighter and tighter in fear until the ship is crushed between the waves and the cliffs. The Whydah's disparate crew of English, Dutch, French, blacks, and native Americans is tossed into the blender of saltwater, sails, rigging, wood, rocks, and sand. 160 men—damned.
I close the book, look out the window—pines, clouds, blue. I grab my mug, realizing I let my coffee go cold, like the cruel black seas three hundred years ago. Time to wrap some presents for the family.