Kenneth J. Kinkor (January 26, 1954 – June 7, 2013) was an American

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

. Kinkor graduated from Loras College, Iowa, in 1976, majoring in history and political science, and pursued post-graduate studies in Iowa and Illinois. He moved to Massachusetts in 1986 and joined Historic Shipwrecks Inc., the company of underwater explorer Barry Clifford who had discovered the wreck of "Black Sam" Bellamy's pirate vessel ''

Whydah Gally ''Whydah Gally'' (commonly known simply as the ''Whydah'') was a fully rigged galley ship that was originally built as a passenger, cargo, and slave ship. On the return leg of her maiden voyage of the triangle trade, ''Whydah Gally'' was capt ...

'' off

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

. Kinkor would spend the next 27 years as Project Historian, researching the history of ''Whydah'' and other pirate, privateering, and historic wrecks. He would also make national television appearances on National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel and History Channel as an expert in piracy. Kinkor was the compiler and editor of the ''Whydah Sourcebook'' containing a vast collection of 17th and 18th century archival records concerning the history of the British slave ship Whydah Galley, its capture by the crew of pirate

Samuel Bellamy Captain Samuel Bellamy ( c. 23 February, 1689 – 26 April 1717), later known as "Black Sam" Bellamy, was an English sailor, turned pirate, who operated in the early 18th century. He is best known as the wealthiest pirate in recorded history, an ...

, its demise at Cape Cod, and the court trial and testimonies of the surviving crew. Kinkor also wrote the foreword of New England author Edward Rowe Snow's historic work ''Storms and Shipwrecks of New England'', and was co-author with Barry Clifford of the National Geographic Society's exhibition catalog book ''Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship'' and a special ''NAT GEO KIDS'' children's hardback edition of the same title. Kinkor died on June 7, 2013, at the age of 59.

References

Whydah Pirate Museum
management and staff 1954 births 2013 deaths American historians {{US-historian-stub