Ahoy maties! Join SFDI on February 7th and learn about the Whydah Galley ship from Bill Golden, the founder of the Real Pirates Salem Museum in Salem MA. Bill will be speaking to us on Zoom.

The Whydah Gally transported passengers, cargo, and slaves, but became a pirate ship when it was captured by Captain Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy, who captured 53 other ships, as well. In 1717, the ship wrecked in a storm and sank in the waters of Cape Cod, MA. The Whydah, along with its golden treasure, was discovered in 1982 when the wreck was found, and this discovery, later confirmed by artifacts like the ship's bell and a placard, makes the Whydah the only fully authenticated Golden Age pirate shipwreck. You can visit the museum at realpiratessalem.com.

ABOUT BILL GOLDEN

Mr. Golden has significant experience in law, domestic and international business, politics, government and academia. He has also run the Boston Marathon, run the Bulls in Pamplona and is an avid scuba diver.

As an attorney who co-founded the law firm of Baker, Braverman and Barbadoro P.C. and currently serves as Of Counsel to the firm, Mr. Golden has represented businesses, municipalities and individuals in litigation, administrative proceedings, contracting, regulatory compliance, government relations, alternative dispute resolution and general business matters. In addition, Mr. Golden has been responsible for all legal matters as managing member in two limited liability companies. Mr. Golden has also served as city solicitor, special assistant district attorney and special town counsel.

As a businessman, Mr. Golden has founded and co-managed a law firm and founded and managed an international consulting company that represented such clients as Chase Manhattan’s Global Power Division, Westinghouse, General Dynamics and other US based companies in Asia, the Mideast and Europe. Mr. Golden has also co-owned and co-managed two renewable energy companies, including a geothermal management services company based in Nevada and a renewable energy development company in Oregon.

As a government official, Mr. Golden has served at every level of government from the White House to city hall and has significant experience in organizing and structuring government institutions. While working for the White House, Mr. Golden served as staff on the President’s Advisory Council on Executive Organization and assisted in the passage of Reorganization Plans 3 and 4 that created respectively the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Mr. Golden later worked in the Office of the Administrator of the EPA and created and co-managed an employment program that hired 500 EPA interns. Mr. Golden currently manages the Boston Harbor Regional Storm Surge Working Group.

As City Solicitor for the City of Quincy, MA, Mr. Golden filed the lawsuit that secured the first court mandated clean up schedule for Boston Harbor and the creation of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. As a three term Massachusetts State Senator, Senator Golden co-authored and led the passage of legislation that provided referendum based reform of County government, mandated the reporting of hate crime statistics, provided fire fighters with cancer presumption rights, established an elderly homestead exemption, created the Special Senate Committee on Long Range Policy Planning, established two Areas of Critical Environmental Concern and created the UMass Boston Urban Harbors Institute.

Mr. Golden has served on United States federal advisory councils, including the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council and a small business foreign trade council.

Mr. Golden is currently an adjunct full professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences SUNY Stony Brook and has served as a member of the Board of Trustees for Hebron Academy, The Lewis School of Princeton and Winchendon Academy.

Mr. Golden co-founded Save the Harbor, Save the Bay and the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MassPIRG) and served on the Board of Directors of the Courageous Sailing Center.

Mr. Golden has received numerous awards, including The United States EPA Silver Medal for proposing and co-managing EPA’s first employee recruitment program; The New England Aquarium David B. Stone Award for the Boston Harbor Clean Up; The Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights Award for “Chief Sponsor of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act and for Outstanding Leadership in the Field of Civil Rights and Legislative Reform”; and the National Lighthouse Museum Modern Light Keeper Award for the preservation of two United States Coast Guard Lightships.

For twenty years, Mr. Golden and his wife Kristen have owned and preserved the historic Nantucket Lightship WLV 612 and have operated the 612 as a commercial charter vessel. Mr. and Mrs. Golden also own and have preserved the Nantucket Lightship WLV 613.

Mr. Golden is also the Director and Co-owner of Real Pirates Salem LLC, a museum featuring the history and artifacts of the Whydah wreck, “the world's only fully authenticated pirate treasure ever discovered - including coins, jewelry, and weapons - retrieved from the wreck, and last touched by the hands of pirates more than 300 years ago.” (From the museum's website).

Mr. Golden has been awarded degrees from Yale University (BA), Harvard University (MPA) and Boston University School of Law (JD).

Mr. Golden lives in Salem Massachusetts and is married with three children and three grandchildren.