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Explore images from the exhibit. |
When the Whydah sank in 1717, nearly four and a half tons of silver and gold coins, gold dust, and jewelry went beneath the sea with it, according to testimony from survivors.
Captained by Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy, the Whydah sailed for only a year as a pirate ship until a raging storm off the coast of Massachusetts sank the vessel. But before it was the flagship of a pirate flotilla, the Whydah sailed two voyages as a merchant galley, following the course of the “triangular trade.” Triangular trade brought manufactured English goods to Africa, captured Africans to the New World and colonial commodities (sugar, indigo, cotton) back to England, where they would be processed into manufactured goods.
Given the large number of ships sunken in the same vicinity as the Whydah, many doubted it could ever be reliably located. But, after fifteen years of exploration and survey, the team of Expedition Whydah—headed by Cape Cod native Barry Clifford—finally found a cannon that experts agreed might come from a pirate ship. Observers remained skeptical. But when the ship’s bell—engraved with “The Whydah Galley 1716”—was recovered in 1985, most agreed that the Whydah had been found.
Recovery operations continue, despite the currents, temperature, and shifting sands that make underwater archaeology at the Whydah site very difficult.
Explore images from the exhibit (above, right) and learn more about how the Whydah crew might have lived.
Related nationalgeographic.com resources:
Pirates @ nationalgeographic.com
Silver Bank @ nationalgeographic.com
Whydah @ nationalgeographic.com
