Whydah gally

According to the Boston Globe , an investigative team from the museum announced the discovery of six skeletons from the wreck of the ship the Whydah Gally , sunk off the coast of Massachusetts in Experts have long known of the wreck of the Whydah , which had been discovered by explorer Barry Clifford in , and which remains the only authenticated pirate wreckage found in the world.

What wasn't discovered until recently, however, were the sets of remains, which have been encased in geologic structures called concretions. These spherical rocks encase fossilized remains, preserving them in the process, as Forbes explains.

Built just two years before it was sunk, the Whydah Gally frequently just called the Whydah began its service as a slave ship, according to New England Today.

The story only gets more pirate-y from there. Reportedly, the Whydah was hijacked by a pirate known as Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy shortly after it set sail from Jamaica. Two cannons recovered by underwater explorer Barry Clifford in August , weighed pounds and 1, pounds respectively. Accounts differ as to the destination of the Whydah during its few days. Others blame the Whydah's route on navigator error. Sinking That weather turned into a violent nor'easter, a storm with gale force winds out of the east and northeast, which forced the vessel dangerously close to the breaking waves along the shoals of Cape Cod.

The ship was eventually driven aground at Wellfleet, Massachusetts. At midnight she hit a sandbar in 16 feet 5 m of water about feet m from the coast of what is now Marconi Beach. One of the two surviving members of Bellamy's crew, Thomas Davis, testified in his subsequent trial that "In a quarter of an hour after the ship struck, the Mainmast was carried by the board, and in the Morning she was beat to pieces.

Hearing of the shipwreck, then-governor Samuel Shute dispatched Captain Cyprian Southack, a local salvager and cartographer, to recover "Money, Bullion, Treasure, Goods and Merchandizes taken out of the said Ship.

On a map which he made of the wreck site, Southack reported that he had buried of the Whydah crew and captives lost in the sinking though technically they were buried by the town coroner, who surprised Southack by handing him the bill and demanding payment. Though Southack did recover some of the all but worthless items salvaged from the ship, little of this massive treasure hoard was recovered.

Southack would write in his account of his findings, that "The riches, with the guns, would be buried in the sand. Survivors Including the seven men aboard the Mary Anne, nine of Bellamy's crew survived the wrecking of the two ships. They were all captured quickly, however, and in October , six were tried as pirates in Boston.

However, possibly in part due to the intervention of the famous Puritan minister Cotton Mather, they were acquitted of all charges and spared the gallows. The other survivor of the Whydah, a Miskito Indian named John Julian, was not tried but rather is believed to have been sold into slavery after his capture. That the Whydah had eluded discovery for over years became even more surprising when the wreck was found under just 14 feet 4.

The ship's location has been the site of extensive underwater archaeology, and more than , individual pieces have since been retrieved. With that, the Whydah became the first ever pirate shipwreck with it's identity having been established and authenticated beyond a shadow of a doubt. Work on the site by Clifford's dive team continues on an annual basis. Fitted with a complement of an 18 6-pound cannons which could be increased to a total of 28 in a time of war, The Whydah represented one of the most advanced weapon systems of it's time.

Though the ship was completely destroyed in a storm, the Whydah Galley's artifacts and treasures are on display at Whydah Pirate Museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts; it remains the world's only fully authenticated pirate shipwreck ever discovered.

Anything Pirates Wiki Explore. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Whydah Galley.