Pirate Ship’s $12-Million Booty Is Archeological Bounty

Pirates wore their pistols around their necks, not in their belts, say historians who are uncovering trivia as well as loot from the only pirate ship known to modern-day researchers.

“It’s like studying the Mafia almost, or any other countercultural group. They’re not exactly approved of by society, and they’re at odds with society, so society doesn’t learn a great deal about their activities,” said Kenneth Kinkor, who was studying pirates at Illinois State University last year when the man who discovered the Whydah hired him as a historical consultant.

Barry Clifford, 41, a former high school teacher whose boyhood memories of Whydah lore triggered a quest for the vessel, discovered what he thought was the Whydah four years ago off Cape Cod. His suspicions were confirmed last year when divers found a bell bearing the ship’s name.

$12 Million in Gold

The Whydah was an English slave ship on its maiden voyage from Africa in 1716 when it was seized by pirate Samuel (Black) Bellamy in the Caribbean. Bellamy and his band plundered dozens of other ships before the 110-foot galley went down in 1717 in a storm, killing the captain and most of the estimated 140 crew members.

Clifford, who started Maritime Explorations Inc., said he has already pulled up more than $12 million worth of gold, silver, pewter plates, brass buttons and cannons. He estimated that there is up to $400 million more unrecovered treasure.

The recovered items already have greatly provided much insight, historians said.

“This wreck is going to finally cut the fluff away from what fiction tells us about piracy. It is a major archeological find,” said James Bradley, a historical archeologist and director of the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archeological Resources.

Pistols found tied in pairs by silken scarfs showed that the pirates apparently slung the weapons around their necks when boarding other vessels instead of tucking them in their belts, Kinkor said Monday.

‘Basic Neutron Bomb’

A cannon had been plugged with wood to keep the powder dry. Inside was a three-pound cannonball and two bags filled with shot the size of gum balls.

Such a blast would cut down crew and rigging but leave the ship’s hull largely intact. Kinkor called it “your basic, primitive, neutron bomb. Knock out the crew and the rigging, but save the ship for your own future use.”

Also found in the wreckage was a large amount of tiny lead shot, about the diameter of a pencil lead. Kinkor said the shot probably was fired from blunderbusses to control unruly slaves because the shot would not kill or cause permanent injury.

Clifford said he is fascinated by the interracial makeup of the Whydah pirates, many of whom were unemployed European sailors. Nine countries were represented aboard the crew. Documents show that 50 of the 102 bodies that washed ashore were black.

“This was a whole subculture that was buried intact,” he said.