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By Katie Zezima | New York Times News Service
August 8, 2007
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PROVINCETOWN, Mass. - As pirate treasure goes,
it does not look like much.
About the size of a small car, the mass of fused
black metal is spotted with rust and studded with
barnacles. It smells like low tide, and at one point
Tuesday morning a crab scurried from under it.
But to Barry Clifford, an underwater explorer, and
the two dozen or so people gathered here to see
it raised from the ocean after 290 years, the object
is a treasure, a tangible piece of pirate lore.
Clifford has spent about 25 years looking for and
salvaging the remains of the Whydah, a pirate
ship sailed by Samuel Bellamy, who was known as
Black Sam. The ship sank off the coast of Wellfleet,
Mass., during a storm in April 1717.
The mass, about 12,000 pounds, is thought to be
part of the wreck and to contain at least seven iron
cannons. Clifford and his team plucked it from below
30 feet of sand last week.
The cannons twisted together and probably preserved
artifacts. The exact contents will be determined through
X-rays in the next few weeks, but Clifford expects the
concretion, as the mass is called, to contain coins,
weapons and perhaps bone, as others have.
Clifford said the mass may prove to be the best clue
yet as to the location of more than 5 tons of gold and
silver the ship supposedly carried.
He said his crews would continue to comb the ocean
floor. His discoveries are documented by the National
Geographic Society, which is sponsoring a touring
exhibition of the Whydah's artifacts based at the
Cincinnati Museum Center. Others are displayed at
Clifford's museum in Provincetown.
Although the gold and silver may still lie somewhere
below, Clifford believes he has already hauled riches
from the sea.
"It's history, and people are learning," Clifford said.
"Every artifact that's brought up is a treasure."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-piratesaug08,0,6885017.story
August 8, 2007
Article Tools
E-mail Print Single page view Reprints text size:
PROVINCETOWN, Mass. - As pirate treasure goes,
it does not look like much.
About the size of a small car, the mass of fused
black metal is spotted with rust and studded with
barnacles. It smells like low tide, and at one point
Tuesday morning a crab scurried from under it.
But to Barry Clifford, an underwater explorer, and
the two dozen or so people gathered here to see
it raised from the ocean after 290 years, the object
is a treasure, a tangible piece of pirate lore.
Clifford has spent about 25 years looking for and
salvaging the remains of the Whydah, a pirate
ship sailed by Samuel Bellamy, who was known as
Black Sam. The ship sank off the coast of Wellfleet,
Mass., during a storm in April 1717.
The mass, about 12,000 pounds, is thought to be
part of the wreck and to contain at least seven iron
cannons. Clifford and his team plucked it from below
30 feet of sand last week.
The cannons twisted together and probably preserved
artifacts. The exact contents will be determined through
X-rays in the next few weeks, but Clifford expects the
concretion, as the mass is called, to contain coins,
weapons and perhaps bone, as others have.
Clifford said the mass may prove to be the best clue
yet as to the location of more than 5 tons of gold and
silver the ship supposedly carried.
He said his crews would continue to comb the ocean
floor. His discoveries are documented by the National
Geographic Society, which is sponsoring a touring
exhibition of the Whydah's artifacts based at the
Cincinnati Museum Center. Others are displayed at
Clifford's museum in Provincetown.
Although the gold and silver may still lie somewhere
below, Clifford believes he has already hauled riches
from the sea.
"It's history, and people are learning," Clifford said.
"Every artifact that's brought up is a treasure."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-piratesaug08,0,6885017.story
