Cape Cod - Index

Cape Cod - travel_guide_2008 - Index

“On the Whydah, there were people from
all walks of life, each having an equal share
of the profits and an equal say in decisions,
no matter what their background,
race, religion or color.” — Barry Clifford
Right: Underwater explorer Barry Clifford holds some of the treasures recovered from the
wreck site of the Whydah. PHOTO BY BILL CURTSINGER ©2007 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Below: The Sun King Pistol; this pistol with its brass serpentine side plate was recovered
from the wreck site of the sunken ship Whydah. The artifact will be part of the new
National Geographic exhibition. PHOTO BY KENNETH GARRETT ©2007 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
of research, and some of the “unique” items Barry is talking about are quite frankly
worth their weight in gold, in a historical context. For instance, Clifford has in his
possession a ceramic plate bearing the earliest ever recorded symbol of the
Freemasons—the compass and square—dating to 1717. Also, a find he considers to
be one of his greatest yet is that of a captain’s stove called a “caboose.”
Clifford gives credit to 19th-century author Henry David Thoreau for leading
him to it. In his book, Cape Cod, published in 1865, Thoreau recounts a chance
meeting while visiting the beaches of the outer Cape. The stranger told him, “ . . .
the violence of the seas moves the sands on the outer bar, so that at times the iron
caboose of the ship at low ebbs has been seen.” More than a century later, Clifford
is able to produce the very artifact that served as the topic of conversation between
two passing strangers in the 1800s.
“As we continue to bring these amazing pieces to our labs,” Clifford says, “it’s
becoming clearer to me that this shipwreck wasn’t just a typical pirate ship, but
because many of its crew were Freemasons, it appears that this ship was a
political wreck.”
These findings have significantly added to the growing chest of pirate lore and
have shed some much-needed light on the day-to-day structure and activities
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