396 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



written upon the adventures of Captain Kidd, his fate, and his 

 money. The most remarkable of these is the " Gold-Bug" of 

 Edgar A. Poe, which details the incidents of an imaginary effort 

 made to recover the treasure the corsair had entombed. 



WRECK CF THE PIRATE-SHIP WHIDAH 



Piracy did not disappear with Kidd. The coasts of the Caro- 

 linas were for a long time infested with freebooters, though at 

 various times some fifty of them were hung in Charleston. In 

 1717, the famous and dreaded privateer Whidah was wrecked 

 upon the shores of Cape Cod. This vessel carried twenty-three 

 guns, one hundred and thirty men, and was commanded by 

 Samuel Bellamy. The dead bodies of all but six floated ashore : 

 these six were taken alive and executed. This was a severe loss 

 to the pirates. But the decisive blow against them was not struck 

 till 1723. The British man-of-war Greyhound captured a craft 

 with twenty-five men and carried them into Rhode Island. 

 They were tried, found guilty, and hung, at Newport, in July* 

 This was the end of piracy in the American waters. 



