Growing up on Cape Cod, explorer Barry Clifford was fascinated by the romantic tale of “Black Sam” Bellamy. Sailing to Massachusetts to rendezvous with his mistress, the pirate encountered a nor’easter that sent him, most of his crew, and tons of gold, silver and jewels to the ocean’s bottom.
The lore launched Clifford on a life of treasure-hunting — including the discovery in 1984 of the Whydah, Bellamy’s treasure-laden three-master, which sank off of Wellfleet, Mass., on April 26, 1717.
“I was looking for treasure, and I found it,” Clifford, 64, said. “More treasure than I could have ever imagined. The whole bottom was layered with it.”
A sliver of Clifford’s discovery is on display through April 4, 2010, at Nauticus, a marine science museum perched on the Norfolk waterfront. “Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship,” organized by National Geographic, includes thousands of gold and silver coins and hundreds of other displays in a 16,000-square-foot interactive exhibition.
Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship
Piracy (Wikipedia)
Ye Pirate Brethren (Pirate Forum)
The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates
Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates
- Captain Kidd's Multi-Cache Treasure (1.000)
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- The Oak Island Money Pit (0.500)
- Finding Shipwrecks Using Google Earth (0.500)
- Wreck of the British Destroyer HMS Volage Found (0.500)
- The Shipwreck of the San Pedro el Mayor (0.500)
- Odyssey Marine Exploration to enlist partners in treasure search (0.500)
- The Story of the SS Central America (0.500)
- Diamond Shipwreck Found Off Nambian Coast (0.500)
- Diving the Wreck of the Dunraven in the Red Sea (0.500)
- Trio seeks the OK to salvage priceless shipwreck (0.500)
- The Ships List (0.500)
- Civil War Wreck USS Westfield (0.500)
- Odyssey Marine Exploration Acquires Stake in Venture to Pursue Exploration of Deep-Ocean Gold and Copper Deposits (0.500)
- B.C. researchers discover gold rush ghost ship in Yukon lake (0.500)
- The 200 Million Pirate Treasure Of La Buse (0.500)
- Millions In Gold Lost In Florida Shipwreck (0.500)
- The Search For The Lost Ship Endurance (0.500)
- Odyssey Marine To Search for 70 Million In Silver (0.500)
- The Shipwreck Of The Treasure Ship La Vierge Du Bon Port (0.500)
- National Marine Sanctuary Shipwrecks (0.500)
- Admiral Zheng He's Treasure Fleet (0.500)
