Consider taking your young buccaneers to see “Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship” at Chicago’s Field Museum. The Whydah is the first authenticated pirate ship found in U.S. waters.
The 8,400-squre-foot interactive touring exhibit organized by National Geographic and Arts and Exhibitions International may not be exactly what you’d think. Though it features a treasure chest filled with silver coins and other artifacts like eating utensils and weaponry, it doesn’t glamorize it in a swashbuckling Hollywood kind of way. Instead it’s a sobering, looking at the history of one ship from its days on the high seas in the 1700s to how the shipwreck was found in 1984 by underwater explorer Barry Clifford off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass.
This exhibit is a great piece of multicultural history that examines the lives of some of the crew, including Capt. Sam Bellamy; Hendrik Quintor a free man of Dutch and African descent; John Julian, an afro-amerindian born into Nicaragua’s mosquito tribe; and 11-year-old John King, the youngest known pirate aboard the ship. Built to transport slaves in what now is called the Middle Passage, the history of the Whydah brings into focus the realities of life in the Caribbean.
Though no women are featured, there is a section of the exhibit that explains that plenty of women were attracted to this lifestyle and often were more brutal than men.
“Real Pirates” continues through Oct. 25. Gold Pass tickets to Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship includes basic admission to the Museum and are priced at $23 for adults, $20 for seniors and students with ID, and $13 for children 3-11.
For information, visit www.fieldmuseum.org or call or call 866-FIELD-03.
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