Whydah slave ship

The Whydah collection, therefore, represents an unprecedented cultural cross-section of material from the 18th century. Her work has also appeared in Artsy , the Columbia Journal , and elsewhere. A bell previously recovered from the wreck of the Whydah pirate ship Whydah Pirate Museum via Facebook Archaeologists in Cape Cod have recovered six skeletons from the ruins of the Whydah , a British pirate ship that sank during a storm with men —and a trove of treasures—on board.

With elements reminiscent of Shakespeare, Hawthorne, Cooper, Irving, Longfellow and Sir Walter Scott, it is especially compelling when the historical evidence for the basic core of the story is considered. Whydah Pirate Museum. Skip to main content Skip to footer The First Identified Pirate Shipwreck Off the coast of Cape Cod, The Whydah was the first pirate shipwreck to be positively identified, and, nearly a quarter of a century later, remains the only pirate shipwreck whose identity is unquestionably authenticated.

A Centuries-Long Legacy In Pirate History In addition to her tremendous archaeological importance, the story of the Whydah is a vehicle that links a number of important historical events and personalities in a fresh and insightful way. Gold coins recovered from the Whydah Gally by Barry Clifford and his team. Enter local underwater explorer Barry Clifford.

For Clifford, the hunt for the Whydah proved too intriguing to resist. Fascinated by the tale since childhood, he was convinced it could be found. In March , Yankee published a profile of Clifford that probed his determination to discover the wreck. In the three decades since the discovery, Clifford and his team have recovered more than , artifacts from the ship, including coins, canons, handmade weapons, and even a leg bone. Together, they tell a fascinating story about what the average early 18th-century pirate wore and how he fought.

In the summer of , the explorer opened the Whydah Pirate Museum in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts — the only museum in the world to feature authenticated pirate ship treasure. For the next four years, his business and marriage suffered as he single-mindedly studied old records, consulted with experienced treasure hunters, mapped the area with special metal detecting equipment, and recovered pieces of iron that he believed might have been from the ship.

Clifford secured permits from the state to conduct underwater archeology, and crisscrossed the country raising money for an underwater dig. In November of , he "staked his claim" to the site in U. District Court, seeking the right to keep any treasure he might uncover. His request was granted; now he had to find the wreck.

Many people believed the story of the Whydah was only a legend; others were sure that the treasure had long ago been stripped from the wreck, or that the remains were too deep and too scattered ever to be recovered. Clifford persisted, studying documents that referred to the original site of the wreck, using old maps to take into account how the shoreline had shifted, and employing special metal-detecting equipment to pinpoint his search.

Finally, he anchored his foot boat over the spot where he believed the wreck lay. With two huge cylinders powerful enough to blow the sand on the ocean floor into foot craters, he found what he was looking for. Over the next two summers, Clifford and his team recovered millions of dollars worth of coins, artifacts, and gold dust. Clifford claimed this was just the beginning, but he still had no proof the loot came from the Whydah. Finally, divers brought up a bell; after archaeologists worked to gently clean encrusted material from the bell's surface, the fateful words appeared — "The Whydah Gally Clifford and his team continued to bring up treasure from the wreck, but they still faced a huge challenge.

The state of Massachusetts went to court, claiming joint ownership of the Whydah and the right to regulate the salvage operation. Clifford's lawyers argued that his federal permit superseded the state's claim. The dispute was not resolved until ; Clifford won the case, and the treasure was legally his. Clifford has mapped the site, conserved hundreds of thousands of artifacts recovered from the wreck, and displays about of them in a small traveling exhibit; the rest are stored at the Expedition Whydah Sea-Lab and Learning Center in Provincetown.