Treasure Pirates of the Whydah Barry Clifford's Incredible Hunt for
Sunken Treasure Ships
By: John Shepler
Sam Bellamy was coming home, a successful man at last. He
looked to the shore, and in the churning blackness he could see
in his mind's eye the face of the woman he loved, his sweet Maria
Hallett. Soon he would run his fingers through her long straw
colored hair and gaze into her eyes which were as deep and blue
as a freshwater pond. He longed to see her smile again, to see
the pride well up in her as he laid out his cache of gold and
silver at the Great Island Tavern on Cape Cod. Surely she would
be impressed by the wealth that would allow them to retire, still
in their youthful twenties. Perhaps she would even be honored
by the title he'd acquired...Black Sam Bellamy, captain of the
pirate ship Whydah.
But it was not to be. The flagship Whydah, a former slave
ship and merchant vessel, was tossed more and more violently
on the seas as Bellamy steered nearer and nearer to the Cape.
Was it bad luck, bad judgment born of youthful passion, or the
hand of providence that pulled him into the worst storm of the
18th Century to hit Cape Cod? The blue skies and playful waters
they'd enjoyed just a few days earlier had turned into a maelstrom
bearing down on Bellamy and his fleet of captured ships. Sam
Bellamy knew the danger of ocean storms near the Cape, but never
counted on facing off with a nor'easter as powerful as the one
that had him fatally in its grip. There would be no joyous welcome
home, no lover's tearful reunion, no triumphal return of the
outcast from polite society now an envied man of fortune. As
the hull of the Whydah slammed into the sandbar, its timbers
cracked and the cold ocean poured into its hold. Its prized cargo
of Spanish gold doubloons, silver pieces of eight and ancient
African Akan jewelry were now being claimed in the name of a
new master. The sea would crush the Whydah and her crew within
sight and sound of shore. All that treasure would be pulled into
the sandy depths and hidden from human scavengers for all time...or
would it?
Barry Clifford grew up hearing the legend of the Whydah. His
uncle Bill would recount the tale again and again with the passion
of a man telling a ghost story to a wide eyed boy who soaked
it all in. But was it true? Did those star-crossed lovers of
1717 really walk the cobblestones of New England and pledge their
love to each other? Did Sam Bellamy run off to Florida in search
of sunken treasure to support the woman who carried his child,
and then frustrated that the wrecks had already been plundered,
go "on the account" as a buccaneer who forced other
ships to surrender their valuables at the point of a cutlass?
Was he successful in raiding 50 vessels, freeing their slaves
to join his forces as equal partners, and then working his way
back to within sight of his home in good health and high spirits
with all that captured booty? Did Maria Hallett comb the shoreline
on that April morning, turning over bodies of drowned sailors,
perhaps even finding her lover so nearly returned to her? What
of the Whydah? If Uncle Bill had it right, the Whydah would still
be there, perhaps a only few hundred yards from shore and hidden
in the fine sands of the Atlantic. Barry became obsessed. The
story was true. The Whydah was waiting. In high school he declared
he would find it, prove the legend and reclaim the treasure.
Thirty years later, he is still doing so.
Barry Clifford set out to discover the first wreck
of a pirate ship. That he did. He tells it all in his book, "Expedition
Whydah." It's supposed to be the story of how one determined
man drove himself to near bankruptcy convinced that he was within
a few more yards and a few more days of exposing pirate gold
under the sea. We can cheer the climactic discovery, as Barry's
down to his last dollar and his recovery ship is on its last
tank of fuel when they blow away the sand and find the bottom
strewn with silver and gold coins, encrusted cannon and the artifacts
of daily life aboard a sailing ship of the mid-1700's. But there's
something else. It's also the story of a man's journey of discovering
himself.
Barry Clifford may have had "gold fever" in his
teenage exuberance. Perhaps he wanted nothing more than the satisfaction
of the find and the wealth that would be his when the treasure
was found and sold to the highest bidder. But three decades later,
he finds himself not as the raider of the Whydah, but as its
archivist and protector. In the end, he's found 100,000 artifacts
but sold none of them. He's paid the archeologists to map the
wreck and preserve the remains, which have even included pieces
of wood from the ship, her cannon and ship's bell, and encrusted
bones of at least one sailor pinned beneath the wreckage. He's
opened a museum, formed a preservation society that invites anyone
interested to join, and delved deep into the history of pirates
and their daily lives.
History, as we commonly know it from movies and treasure yarns,
has it wrong. Oh, the pirates of the "Golden Age" from
1680 to 1730 were hardly saints, and certainly they operated
outside the laws of their lands. But they had a written code
of ethics that almost all signed up to. They rarely engaged in
violent sea battles, generally just pulling aside other vessels
and making their demands known. The hapless victims almost never
walked the plank. They were given the option of joining the pirates
as equals or getting sent off again, minus their
cargo and perhaps on a lesser ship. Slaves, and the Whydah was
a slaver before being appropriated by Bellamy, were routinely
given their freedom and offered the chance to sail under the
black flag with the skull of possible death and crossed bones
of resurrection to a new life. All captured treasure was scrupulously
divided equally among the crew, with the captain and officers
getting just a marginally larger share. These officers were elected
by majority rule, and the captain had no special powers except
in time of battle. For many sailors at the bottom rung of society
and brutalized in the service of king and country, it really
was a better life than what else they had to pick from.
Thanks to Barry Clifford, we now know more about the real
lives of the pirates who operated off the shores of New England
and often met tragic fates in the unpredictable waters near Cape
Cod. Their legacy becomes part of the written history of those
times, their artifacts preserved for future generations. It took
a special man to persevere for 30 years to recover the story
of Black Sam Bellamy, Maria Hallett and the pirates of the Whydah,
and then to protect the find. Perhaps that's why they picked
him to share it with after these 280 some years.
Books of Interest:
Expedition Whydah; The Story of the World's First Excavation
of a Pirate Treasure Ship and the Man Who Found Her by Barry
Clifford, Paul Perry. Two great stories in one big book. Business,
adventure, and ghosts: from a writer's point of view, this book
has everything. Which means, of course, that it has everything
from a reader's point of view, too. This is a story of obsession,
that of a modern day explorer named Barry Clifford and an 18th-century
pirate named 'Black' Sam Bellamy. Bellamy crashed his pirate
ship, the Whydah, on the sandy shores of Cape Cod in April of
1717. At least 146 pirates were killed in that crash, along with
the booty from 50 ships. Such a crash would have been a heyday
for the residents of the impoverished Cape had they been able
to reach the capsized vessel. Unfortunately for them, the storm
prevented any kind of salvage, and they could only watch in frustration
as the ship filled with treasure sank into the voracious sands
of the Cape. Shortly it disappeared and people forgot exactly
where it had sunk. Eventually it became a legend, like so many
other 'lost gold' legends around the world....Enter Barry Clifford.
It is 266 years later and he is telling Walter Cronkite the story
of 'Black' Sam Bellamy at a Thanksgiving get together at writer
William Styron's house. 'Why don't you look for the Whydah?'
asks Cronkite. And Barry does. Through an exciting process of
discovery, he finds the Whydah.
Then the adventure begins, as modern day pirates try to jump
his claim and jealous archaeologist try to keep him from bringing
up artifacts and treasure.Barry is a human monument to perserverance.
Over the years he and his colorful crew have brought up over
100,000 artifacts, including gold, silver and the ethereal jewelry
of African tribesmen who were hauled as slaves to the New World
by the former Captain of Whydah, a slave runner named 'Prince.'What
will you get out of this book besides a good read? You'll get
an understanding of what 'obsession' and 'pursuit of excellence'
means. The cost of finding this legendary pirate ship - the only
one in the world to be excavated - has been a high one for Barry.
But the reward has been a large one, too. He refuses to sell
any of the thousands of artifacts that he has retrieved from
this dangerous archaeological site. Instead he is keeping the
collection together to contribute to our knowledge of a mysterious
subculture, one that contributed to the formation of our nation.
- Paul Perry (paulperry@worldnet.att.net), the Author
Treasure Island (Scribner Illustrated Classics) by:
Robert Louis Stevenson. The classic adventure of pirate treasure
with Long John Silver, his loquacious parrot and gang of thieves.
It's fun reading for children and a nice escape for adults. This
edition is beautifully illustrated by N. C. Wyeth, with even
a map of Treasure Island itself.
The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie: An African-American's
Spiritual Journey to Uncover a Sunken Slave Ship's Past by
Michael H. Cottman, Designed by Lenny Henderson. In telling
the story of the salvage of the only verifiable slave ship ever
discovered, this gripping book takes the historical abstraction
of the African slave trade and charges it with the immediacy
of warm flesh and cold iron. 16-page photo insert.
Slave Ship: The Story of the Henrietta Marie by George
Sullivan. In an especially good book for students, George Sullivan
provides a history of the slave trade, talks about how the Henrietta
Marie was discovered, and discusses the details of salvaging
treasures that have been under water for hundreds of years. There
are many maps, pictures and illustrations to bring the story
to life.
Spirit Dive, An African-American's Journey to Uncover a
Sunken Slave Ship's Past by Michael H. Cottman. A powerful
and compelling testament of one man's attempt to make sense of
the history of his ancestors, chronicling his journey while confronting
questions with no answers and striving for reconciliation with
his homeland's past and his own country's future.
International Talk Like A Pirate Day - Official Facebook page for this special holiday when we celebrate the haaaaaard life of the pirates on September 19th.
Barry Clifford set out to discover the first wreck
of a pirate ship. That he did. He tells it all in his book, "Expedition
Whydah." It's supposed to be the story of how one determined
man drove himself to near bankruptcy convinced that he was within
a few more yards and a few more days of exposing pirate gold
under the sea. We can cheer the climactic discovery, as Barry's
down to his last dollar and his recovery ship is on its last
tank of fuel when they blow away the sand and find the bottom
strewn with silver and gold coins, encrusted cannon and the artifacts
of daily life aboard a sailing ship of the mid-1700's. But there's
something else. It's also the story of a man's journey of discovering
himself.
