Wrecks Of Whydah - Story Behind The Lost Pirate Treasure Ship
The 18th century was known for its everlasting stories of piracy. Names like Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, Charles Vane and Bartholomew Roberts brought fear among the hearts of the merchants. The period went on to be recognized as the Golden Age of Piracy. Though the tales of pirates were known news about the location of their treasures and ships were lost in time.
Did you know that of all the shipwrecks, only one wreck is proved to be a particular pirate ship? And we are here to discuss about that one particular ship, The Whydah Gally. Before we jump into the discovery of the wreck, it is important to know the story of the pirate vessel.
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| Model of Whydah Gally |
Whydah
was a galley, a ship which used rowing as the main mechanism. It was originally
a British slave ship. It began its maiden voyage in early 1716, captained by
Lawrence Prince. After picking up about 500 slaves from the African west coast,
it moved across the Atlantic to offload them in Jamaica. Then it started its
return voyage to England, moving through the Windward Passage, where the fate
of the ship changed.
Whydah
was captured by the pirates in February 1717 under the command of Samuel “Black
Sam” Bellamy. A fleet of two ships, a galley named Sultana and a sloop named
Marriane chased it for three days after which Prince surrendered the ship.
Bellamy was known for his kindness and was even dubbed as “Robin Hood of the
Sea”. He never killed his captives nor tortured them. He even gave Sultana to
Prince as a gesture of goodwill.
Bellamy
redesigned the ship by removing the captain’s chamber, slave chambers and added
10 cannons. After few two months of piracy, Whydah along with four other ships
navigated through the east coast of America to visit the love of Bellamy. But
it got caught up in a storm and was destroyed near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA on April
16, 1717. Out of 146 souls on the ship, only two lived to tell the tale.
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| Massachusetts Map with approximate location of the Whydah wreck (Red Cross) |
The crew
members from other ships quoted that Whydah had carried about four and a half to
five tons of riches including silver coins, gold dust and African jewelry. The
riches looted from 50 ships were equally divided into 180 sacks. Each sack was
said to weigh about 50 pounds (23 kg). Majority of the treasure, along with the
ship and its captain were lost.
Barry Clifford, a treasure hunter from Cape Cod, announced the discovery of Whydah near Wellfleet Coast in March 1984. The wreck was found 30 feet deep and 1500 feet from the shore. So far about 200,000 artifacts including coins, cannons and even a bone of a young boy were found.
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| A bell salvaged from wrecks with etchings "THE WHYDAH GALLY 1716" |
In 1985, a bell with etchings saying “THE WHYDAH GALLY 1716” was found. This gave the definitive proof that the ship was indeed the famous Whydah. In 2006, a femur bone of a boy aged 11 years was found. This matched the records of the youngest pirate, John King. Along with his bone, a black shoe and stockings were also found. In 2007, 24 cannons were found.
Recently, Barry Clifford believed that he had found where the treasure lies. Previously, a cannonball piled with gold coins and an iron bar stacked with coins was found. He and his crew also found a large metallic mass. This metallic mass was expected to contain 400,000 coins and valuable artifacts.
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| Coins obtained from the wrecks |
Whydah
Pirate Museum in Yarmouth, Massachusetts displays artifacts recovered from the
shipwreck sites.
Website: https://www.discoverpirates.com/
Address: 674 MA-28, West Yarmouth, MA 02673, United States.
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