Expedition Whydah: The Story of the World's First Excavation of a Pirate Treasure Ship and the Man Who Found Her – A Spellbinding Quest into Golden

Expedition Whydah: The Story of the World's First Excavation of a Pirate Treasure Ship and the Man Who Found Her – A Spellbinding Quest into Golden

A Captivating Account of the Golden Age of Piracy, the Search for Sunken Treasure, and the Business of Underwater Exploration Bored by his successful life and obsessed with a boyhood dream of lost pirate treasure, Barry Clifford began a quest for legendary pirate Black Sam Bellamy's ship Whydah, which had supposedly wrecked off the coast of Cape Cod more than two centuries ago. Ignoring claims that he was a fool and a dreamer, Clifford pressed on, until he unbelievable found the Whydah ...and then the real story begins in a spellbinding story that will capture your imagination. "An adventurer, enchanted since his youth by pirate Black Sam Bellamy's role in the "Whydah shipwreck, realizes his destiny is to find the "Whydah and its treasure. ...The real-life story is full of entertaining detail: pirate history, nautical, lore, the dangerous work of sea salvage."--"Boston Magazine"Readers drawn into the dangerous straits of this quest will find themselves exhilarated as the pirate ship at last yields up her secrets."--"National Geographic Adventure Magazine"Teems with a wealth of insight into life on the high seas as Clifford reveals all you would ever want to know about Bellamy's adventures...Clifford's search for the "Whydah makes for an entertaining tale: that of a likable rogue moving ever closer to uncovering the history of a long gone, a time when pirates roamed the eastern seaboard proud and free."--"Boston Herald A Captivating Account of the Golden Age of Piracy, the Search for Sunken Treasure, and the Business of Underwater Exploration Bored by his successful life and obsessed with a boyhood dream of lost pirate treasure, Barry Clifford began a quest for legendary pirate Black Sam Bellamy's ship Whydah, which had supposedly wrecked off the coast of Cape Cod more than two centuries ago. Ignoring claims that he was a fool and a dreamer, Clifford pressed on, until he unbelievable found the Whydah ...and then the real story begins in a spellbinding story that will capture your imagination. Barry Clifford is an undersea explorer who discovered and excavated the Whydah, the first pirate shipwreck ever authenticated, off the coast of Cape Cod. He established the Expedition Whydah Sea Lab and Learning Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he also owns and operates a pirate museum. Paul Perry is an internationally bestselling author who has co-written nine books on near-death experiences. Expedition Whydah The Story of the World's First Excavation of a Pirate Treasure Ship and the Man Who Found Her By Clifford, Barry Perennial Copyright © 2004 Barry Clifford All right reserved. ISBN: 0060929715 Chapter One The Stuff of Daysdreams I spent much of my childhood following my uncle Bill around Cape Cod. He was a child at heart and didn't mind having me as a constant companion. My mother said that he had money and smarts, but I liked him because he never acted as though he had too much of either. Bill was a Cape native who made a living doing a bit of everything, from fishing to carpentry, and I learned a lot iust by being with him. The times I enjoyed most, though, were spent talking in the fishing shack. Uncle Bill's fishing shack was an escape from reality. It was a weathered wood structure that leaned from the weight of the honeysuckle vines that had been growing over it for nearly twenty years. Inside were boxes of tools, a couple of chairs, and a pile of ancient fishing net that gave off heat as it rotted away to nothing in the hot sun. It was there, as I lay on the rotting net and listened in awe to the stories he told, that I first heard the tale of Black Sam Bellamy and Maria Hallett. I was maybe nine years old when he first told me the story. Bill was standing at the wooden bench working on an engine part when he asked if I had ever heard of Sam Bellamy, the pirate. "No," I said, turning my full attention to Bill. "Did you know that Cape Cod was teeming with pirates in the 1700s?" he asked. Visions of treasure chests being hauled ashore by swarthy and dangerous men flashed through my mind. I wanted to hear more. "It's true," he said, looking at me matter-of-factly. "In the 1700s there was hardly anybody living on the Cape, just a few hearty souls who, for one reason or another, didn't want to live in Boston or any of the other big cities. It was a perfect place for pirates and all other types of misfits and outcasts to live." Uncle Bill lit up an unfiltered Camel cigarette and filled the room with a white cloud of smoke that looked like salt haze. He thought a moment and then sat down in one of the creaky chairs. He said nothing until I was leaning forward with anticipation. "The legend of Black Sam Bellamy and his lover Maria Hallett is a dark version of the Romeo and Juliet story," he said. "It is a story that has captivated people for hundreds of years because it is about love, pirates, a shipwreck, and buried treasure. Best of all, it's true." Bill took another d