Whydah wreck site

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.

A 12,square-foot memorial to the old ship, it also includes a life-size replica of the original Whydah Gally. Whydah Pirate Museum. Just received a coin the Whydah Gally to add to my pirate collection.

What a fantastic story to be told. Click here to cancel reply. Name required. Email will not be published required. For example, the more than fifteen thousand coins recovered thus far represent the numismatically most diverse assemblage of shipwreck treasure coins ever found.

The unique and historically priceless collection of Akan gold jewelry is not only the earliest datable such gold in the entire world, but appear to be the only examples that have survived from the period c. Even artifacts of European origin have been recovered that have cast new light on the material culture of this period. 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.

Given the tragic drama of the Whydah shipwreck itself, and the fact that the Whydah was a pirate ship carrying an enormous cargo of treasure, ensured her place in American folklore. 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. According to Marie Szaniszlo of the Boston Herald , the team unearthed one complete skeleton and portions of five other sets of remains.

Some of the bones had been broken, likely when the ship capsized, crushing its passengers. Discovered embedded in a concretion, the anonymous pirate died with a pistol in his hand and metal—likely gold—stashed in his pocket, Clifford told the Times. The only authenticated pirate wreck in the world, the Whydah boasts a storied history. The bodies of crew members eventually washed up on the beach, but another 43—including Bellamy—seemingly went down with the ship.