Yellow Brick Road to Lead Divers to Shipwrecked Pirate Treasure
Undersea explorer Barry Clifford discovered the sunken Whydah ship off Cape Cod in 1984 and has since pulled up about 200,000 artifacts.
He calls this stretch of sea floor where the wreck lays the 'yellow brick road' because it is lined with pieces of gold and gold dust. He firmly believes there's more treasure, and is in hot pursuit of the loot.
Documents show that there are still 400,000 gold coins in the ship’s reserves. Clifford believes the coins spilled from the ship's stern and are buried nearby. X-rays taken on a September 13th dive showed there were coins and gold inside of masses formed by metal and seawater, and a September 1st dive produced a piece of iron with 50 coins stacked on it.
Wrecked in a storm off Cape Cod in 1717, the Whydah is the only pirate shipwreck ever found, and her treasures are still being archaeologically recovered. Divers have discovered over two hundred thousand artifacts – including sixty cannons, over ten thousand coins, 400 pieces of Akan gold jewelry.
Recent site-testing reveals that thousands of concretions and other artifacts still remain on the wreck site – an unprecedented cross-cultural collection of treasures from over fifty ships captured by pirates under command of “Black Sam” Bellamy.
Due to weather and vessel issues, Clifford’s next dive will likely be in June 2014.