American Notes Massachusetts

Samuel ("Black") Bellamy, beard down to his chest and black hair to his shoulders, looked every bit the pirate that he was. In the winter of 1716-17 near Cuba, Bellamy seized the Whydah, an English slave galley named for a West African port. He turned it into a carrier for tons of silver and gold but $ never lived to enjoy his hoard. The Whydah broke up in a storm off Cape Cod, its crew drunk on pirated wine, its cargo lost, its very existence doubted.

Not by Barry Clifford. A high school teacher turned treasure hunter, Clifford, 40, found the wreck in 1982. He was convinced that it was the Whydah, but officials of the Massachusetts board of underwater archaeological resources wanted proof. Last week they had it. After Clifford brought up the vessel's 18-in. bronze bell, the corrosion was chipped away, and the ship's name was uncovered. Clifford had made history: the Whydah is the only sunken pirate ship ever found. The glory of that discovery is Clifford's. But a fourth of the value of the ship's treasure that could be worth up to $400 million will be appropriated by Massachusetts if it is ever sold.