Driving Conditions and Forecast
The Whydah Gally
Estimated Value: $400 million
The location of the wrecked Whydah Gally in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. (Wikimedia Commons)
Wrecked off Cape Cod in 1717, the Whydah Gally is the only pirate shipwreck ever found, and its treasures are still being archeologically recovered to this day. Barry Clifford and his diving team discovered the three-masted ship in 1984, which served as the flagship of "Black Sam" Bellamy, the infamous pirate captain.
The Whydah, an English slave ship, was on its maiden voyage from Africa in 1716 when it was seized by Bellamy in the Caribbean. Bellamy went on to plunder dozens of other ships before the ship went down in a violent storm.
More than 200,000 artifacts including cannons, navigational equipment, pottery and bars of precious metal have been brought to the surface. Many were skeptical Clifford had found the right pirate galleon until October 1985, when he found the ship's bell inscribed "The Whydah Gally 1716," the AP reports.
Since 2007, a selection of artifacts from the Whydah collection have been part of a national traveling exhibit named "Real Pirates," sponsored by National Geographic Society.
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