On a trip to Chicago, it is practically a requirement to stop off at the city’s largest and best-known museum: the Field Museum. The Field regularly hosts several exhibits, which in the past have ranged on subject from Pompeii to dinosaurs. While planning my recent trip to Chicago, I made sure to check out the Field Museum’s Web site to see what kind of goodies were in store for me. Imagine my excitement when I saw that the museum’s newest exhibit was all about pirates!

Real Pirates, which opened at the Field Museum on Feb. 28, traces the story of the Whydah, a slave ship that became a pirate ship after being captured by the formidable Captain Sam Bellamy, an 18th century pirate known as “Black Sam.” The exhibit features real pirate treasure along with a host of other pirate artifacts found in the wreckage of the Whydah. After a massive treasure hunt and excavation effort by underwater explorer Barry Clifford, these artifacts offer an interesting view on what pirate life was really like.  

The exhibit begins where the story of the Whydah begins: during the slave trade. The ship was one of the most advanced of its time and made several trips along the Atlantic slave trade route exchanging goods and human cargo. The exhibit goes into more depth than I expected for it to on the slave trade, displaying many artifacts and documents, such as human bills of lading.

After Black Sam captured the Whydah in 1717, the ship turned from slave ship to pirate ship and was said to be the prized boat in the infamous pirate’s extensive fleet. From sailor knot tying techniques to a life-size replica of the stern (that’s the back) of the Whydah, this section is definitely the highlight of the exhibit. Meet Black Sam’s crew, which includes a Native American man named John Julian to a boy no older than 11 named John King.

In this section, artifacts that were painstakingly extracted from the briny sea are on display. Everything from pirate forks, to pirate treasure, to pirate belt buckles, to pirate—well, you catch my drift. The end of the exhibit documents the amazing process of how all of the artifacts, which were thought to be lost to the sea forever, were discovered, recovered and restored.

I would HIGHLY recommend this exhibit for people of all ages. The children at the exhibit seemed to love the interactive parts, where they could touch real pirate treasure, as well as learning cool pirate facts. Even the young-at-heart seemed to love learning about the days of swashbuckling and scallywags.