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 Like all ship's companies of the day, pirate crews included not only sailors from all over Europe and North America, but also Native Americans, Africans, and men of African descent for whom the pirate life offered an alternative to slavery.
When twelve of the Whydah's original slaver crew elected to join Sam Bellamy, they became part of a multi-ethnic brotherhood of pirates in his flotilla. Just consider the diversity represented by three of the Whydah's crew members:
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Hendrick Quintor, a free black man of Dutch and African descent, "went on the account" when the Spanish brigantine he was aboard was captured by French pirates. He was one of 30 seamen of African descent on board the Whydah, along with about 20 more black pirates on the other ships in Sam Bellamy's flotilla.
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John Julian, a 16-year-old Miskito Indian from Nicaragua or Belize, became the Whydah's pilot and used his considerable navigational skills to guide it in and out of difficult waterways.
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John King was a child no older than 11 and the youngest known pirate of the "Golden Age." He was so determined to join Bellamy's crew when they captured the ship he was aboard that he actually declared he would kill himself—and even threatened his mother—if he couldnt join the pirates!
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Solidarity among Sailors
Sam Bellamy's crew called themselves "Robin Hood's Men" because they were united in a common enterprise that cut across the usual boundaries of nationality and religion. Unlike regular sailors, pirates controlled their own destiny, electing their own officers, estabilishing their ship's course, and sharing the loot.
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Continue through Life Aboard the Whydah: Becoming a Pirate. >>
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