All language subtitles for Expedition.Unknown.S14E05

This is the only
confirmed pirate treasure
ever discovered.

[man]
The first heist they made
was 30,000 pieces of 8,

and they took over 50 ships.

Right.

And you know
where the main wreck is?

Your team is excavating?

You want to see
what's out there?

I would love to see
what's out there.

Everybody hang on.

I thought this was
supposed to be easy.

This is what we call
Black Bellamy's Curse.

-Yeah?
-Yeah, the closer you get,
the further you are.

Sounds about right.

Permission to come aboard?

Hey, Brandon, suit up!

Wait. There are coins sticking
out of this everywhere.

-And is this gold?
-[man]
That's part of a gold bar.

-Look out! Look out! Look out!
-Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Yes. Look at that.

That's $10,000 worth of
gold right there.

Hey, Barry,
I think we got a white shark.

It's starting to
head into the area.

Diver one, diver two.

Welcome to Boston,
my hometown,

not to mention the home of
the American Revolution,

the Red Sox, Dunkin Donuts,

and, surprisingly, pirates.

Now, every kid who grows up
here learns that Boston

was once the largest
and wealthiest city
in the colonies.

But what I do
not remember learning

is that in the spring of 1717,

the waters of the Bay State
were visited by none other

than Captain
"Black Sam" Bellamy.

Bellamy and his motley crew
sail through New England,

transporting the largest
stolen fortune

in the golden age of piracy.

Bellamy was an English sailor
turned swashbuckler,

famous for capturing
more than 50 ships

through the threat of force,

but even more famous
for not actually using it.

His pirate fleet terrifies
enemies into surrender.

But Bellamy shows mercy
to those he captures.

He also offers equal shares
of the profits to his crew,

which even
includes freed slaves.

This earns Sam
another nickname,

"The Prince of Pirates."

It's a great story.
But is it true?

Was Bellamy antihero
or villain?

Model leader
or incorrigible scoundrel?

And then
there's the real mystery,

the lost location of
his incredible stolen fortune,

which Bellamy
took to a watery grave.

It happens aboard
the mighty Whydah Gally,

a lethally-armed
former slave ship,

loaded with more than
£20,000 of gold and silver,

along with massive gems,
ornate jewelry,

weapons,
and some decent Spanish wine.

In short, it's an eye-patch-
popping-sum of money

amounting to hundreds
of millions of dollars today.

Unfortunately for Bellamy,
he'll never get to enjoy it.

That's because,
while navigating
about 50 miles east of here

along the edge of Cape Cod,

the Whydah
sails into an eerie fog.

The Whydah is caught
in a savage nor'easter,

where gale force winds
and 40-foot waves

throw her
into the rocky shoals.

The gally is dashed to pieces,

and more than 180 men,
Bellamy among them,

are lost to the sea,

while the Whydah's
treasure is strewn

across the sandbars
of Cape Cod.

For more than 250 years,

the Bellamy story was
a local curiosity,

his treasure seemingly
lost forever,

that is until someone
decided to find it.

Welcome to Boston's
magnificent Public Library.

-[man shushes]
-Sorry!

Within the archives
of this historic institution

is something you rarely find
outside the world of fiction,

an actual pirate map.

This long-forgotten document
was originally drawn

by cartographer
Captain Cyprian Southack,

who was dispatched to Cape Cod
shortly after the wreck

to recover Bellamy's treasure.

And while
he didn't find the loot,

he did locate something else.

Here, just off the
east coast of Cape Cod,

he made a note,

"The pirate ship Whydah lost."

The map got filed away
and forgotten
until the early '80s,

when underwater explorer
Barry Clifford rediscovered it

and used it to locate
the remains
of the infamous wreck.

But despite almost four
decades of excavation,

just a mere fraction of the
Whydah's legendary treasure
has been recovered.

Now Clifford's team
is following
a newly-found debris trail

that may lead
to the stern castle,

the rear section of the ship,

which has never been found.

This is a place that could
contain unimaginable riches.

And who knows?
Perhaps even the remains
of Bellamy himself.

There's pirate treasure
to be found,

and for once,
we know exactly where it is.

Next stop, Cape Cod.

After a quick stop
at Dunkin's.

Always caffeinate
before an adventure.

The past is all around us.

Oh, this is crazy.

A world of mystery...

-This is a plane. Ha ha!
-Yeah.

...danger...

We are about to be underwater.

Wow!

...and adventure.

It's just straight down!

[exclaiming]

I travel to the far corners
of the Earth

to uncover where legends end

and history begins.

Let's punch it.

I'm Josh Gates, and this is
Expedition Unknown.

My search for the Whydah's
treasure feels personal.

After all,
this is an adventure
in my own backyard.

So I head south of Boston

on the way to New England's
summer playground.

All right, well,
we are on the road,

and we are about to cross over
the famous Sagamore Bridge,

which connects
mainland Massachusetts

with the peninsula
of Cape Cod.

Cape Cod is Massachusetts
distilled down to its essence.

Equal parts quaint,
touristy and posh.

Oh, and the oysters
are wicked good.

But it's not all smooth
sailing around here.

The waters off the Cape
are notoriously violent
during storms,

and over the last few decades,

the great white population
here has exploded,

'causing some beaches
to close to swimmers
in the summer.

For more on this issue,
see a little film called Jaws.

But as I pull
into the town of Yarmouth,

I'm focused on another
ocean predator. Pirates.

Which are well documented
in a remarkable local museum.

Inside, I'm greeted by
a replica of
the pirate ship Whydah

and even a working lab,

which is here to conserve
the jaw-dropping
and ever-expanding collection

of artifacts from
the wreck of Bellamy's ship.

But the biggest prize,

the ship's stern castle,
has yet to be found.

Amidst the booty I meet,
the man who found it,

explorer Barry Clifford
and his son, Brandon.

Let's go back to the beginning
of this journey.

The Whydah was obviously
an incredible prize
for Black Sam Bellamy.

Why was it
an incredible prize for you?

Why did you
want to find this ship?

Well, it was a legend
that I grew up with as a kid,

and my uncles used to sit
around the old fish house

and tell yarns of
the old days.

-Yeah.
-And my Uncle Bill,

who my other uncles
referred to as "Uncle Bull"...

-[laughs] The storyteller.
-...would tell the story

of Sam Bellamy

and all the treasure
that was lost on the Whydah.

[Josh] Bellamy was born
in Devon, England, in 1689.

The story goes
that in his mid-20s,

after sailing
for the British Navy,

young Bellamy
finds himself on the Cape

and head over heels
with a young beauty

named Maria Goody Hallet.

Her father, though,
won't allow his daughter

to marry a penniless seafarer,

so Bellamy sets out
to make something of himself.

And that something
turns out to be a pirate.

Learning from the likes
of Benjamin Hornigold

and Edward Teach,
AKA "Blackbeard,"

Bellamy begins
an extraordinarily
profitable reign,

pillaging ships
in the Caribbean.

But Bellamy shuns violence,

with no record of him ever
killing any of his victims.

Through sheer intimidation,

he manages to assemble
a fleet of captured vessels,

including a massive slave
galley known as the Whydah.

The Whydah
is state of the art,

the rocket ship of her day.

With a 300-ton hull and
28 cannons on a hair trigger,

she's still faster than
anything else on the water.

Yet Bellamy takes her
without a shot,

liberates
the poor souls aboard,

and loads her
with the combined treasure

from dozens of ships,

a fortune in gold,
silver, jewels and textiles.

It is thought that
he is returning home
to his true love,

Goody Hallet,

and, who knows,
maybe a wealthy retirement,

when, on April 26th, 1717,

the Whydah is
driven into Cape Cod's

unforgiving eastern cliffs.

The ship is dashed to pieces,

and the Atlantic
consumes Bellamy,

his crew and his fortune.

It is Shakespearean.

It's incredible,
an incredible story.

How could you not-- any kid
not be interested in that?

And I imagine
the same is true for you.

You must have been just a kid

when he went looking
for the Whydah.

So this was a story
you heard as well as a kid.

Yeah, my whole life,
I grew up with it.

It's always been there.

And in terms
of finding the wreck,

you did have
something of a leg up

in that you found
this old map that I just saw.

-Yes.
-Where was that map
when you found it?

It was at the Harvard Map Room
and, um, John Kennedy Jr.,

who was my dive assistant
on Martha's Vineyard,

and John got us in there
somehow.

Somehow. He may have had
a couple of strings
he could pull

to get you into the
Harvard archives, probably.

They wouldn't let me
mow the lawn there.

But you got into the archives.

And when you
first saw that map,

where you just giddy?

Yeah, it was
"Pirate ship Whydah lost"
right on the map.

You know, X marks the spot.

What year did you first
identify the wreck?

-Well, in '85, we found
a massive concretion.
-Okay.

And something was coming
out of the side of it.

Would you like to see it?

-I would love to see it.
-Let's go.

Please.

[Josh] Concretions occur
when minerals

build up around sunken relics
over centuries,

hiding treasures inside blocks
of natural cement.

This is what we found.

-[Josh] The bell.
-The ship's bell.

The ship's bell.

It's right on there,

"The Whydah Gally, 1716."

This makes it indisputable.

It's the only
fully-confirmed pirate ship

that's ever been discovered.

And that means the treasure...

And the treasure here...

is the only confirmed pirate
treasure in the world.

Period.
Right here at this museum.

[Josh] The museum is filled
floor to ceiling

with recovered artifacts,

including a pirate pistol

and a fragile silk ribbon
said to have been a gift

from Goody Hallet to
Black Sam himself.

And then there are the coins,
thousands of them,

including silver
Spanish 8 Reales,

popularly
known as pieces of 8.

Yet with all
the treasure they found,

the Cliffords
haven't sold a single piece,

keeping the entire
collection together

as a historical record
of the Whydah.

But since Bellamy
looted over 50 ships,

this is a mere fraction
of what's still out there,

including...

A casket
of East Indian jewels.

-That'd be nice.
-A hen-egged-sized ruby.

A hen-egg-sized ruby?

-I mean... Amazing.
-One of the rumors, yes.

[Josh] The rear of the ship,
known as the stern castle,

contained the most
valuable treasures,

including
the personal possessions
of Black Sam Bellamy,

but it has yet to be found.

Now the Cliffords
have been using sonar

and following
a newly-discovered
debris trail like a rainbow,

one that hopefully leads
to a pot of gold.

You guys are out there
excavating right now?

You want to see
what's out there?

I would love to see
what's out there.

Turn your pockets inside out.
Let's go.

I promise
I won't take anything.

Come on, let's go.

The next morning,
Barry goes ahead

to prepare
the team's research vessel,

while Brandon and I
board a support boat

for a ride to
the wreck of the Whydah

and hopefully
untold treasures.

The trip is far
from a straight line, though.

It's like navigating
through a maze of sand bars.

[Brandon] It really is.

It's like you make
a little bit of an error,

you're going to be
up on the sand bank.

To get to the Whydah,
Brandon has to navigate

the unique back streets
of Cape Cod,

winding channels
that lead to the open ocean.

That's a little sketchy.

These breakers are rolling in

from the untamed waters
of the Atlantic.

Everybody hold on.

These heavy waves disguise the
very same rocks and shoals,

which, 300 years ago,

turned the Whydah into nothing
more than a debris trail.

Now, we may be next.

Everybody hang on.

Okay. Just keep
a hand on something.

[Josh] I'm crashing through
the rough breakers
of the Atlantic Ocean

off Cape Cod
with Brandon Clifford

as we make our way
to the wreck

of the pirate ship Whydah.

We're hoping to locate her
missing stern castle,

which once held treasure
worth untold millions.

That is,
if we can survive these
dangerously choppy waters.

Up and over.

There we go.

All right, we're out.

I thought this
was supposed to be easy.

And this is what we call
Black Bellamy's Curse.

-Yeah?
-Yeah. The closer you get,
the further you are.

That sounds about right.

The ocean calms down

as we approach the Cliffords'
main research vessel.

Permission to come aboard?

[Brandon]
Permission to come aboard.

[Josh]
This is the Vast Explorer,

currently anchored above
where Barry believes

Black Sam Bellamy's
stern castle might be waiting.

Welcome to the nest explorer.

Happy to be here.
This is a pretty incredible
ship you've got here.

Tell me about this vessel.

This vessel was designed for
the heart of our operation,

which is to dig down

and find artifacts from
the Whydah.

Right. And people need
to understand,

this ship is not
just sitting on the bottom.

It's under
10 to 30 feet of sand.

-Right.
-So how do we get down
to the Whydah?

We have a deflector on
the on the stern.

[Josh] The Vast Explorer
is outfitted

with a massive
propwash deflector,

which directs the force

generated by the ship's
propellers downward,

gently pushing
decades of built-up sand

away from the ocean floor

without damaging
any artifacts.

The ship is dialed into place
by satellite tracking

and stabilized
by large anchors.

So are we in the spot here?

We have seven anchors out
right now.

And we have a GPS here.
And with that,

we're able to maneuver
our way exactly

over where we want to dust.

Okay, well,
let's see what's down there.

-All right.
-Let's do it.

Using powerful hydraulics,

Barry and the team lower
the deflector into place

in front of
the ship's propellers,

then spin up the engines.

[Barry]
Okay. I'm gonna give it
a little bit more juice here.

[Josh] Thanks to seven
anchors, we don't move,

but the sand beneath us does.

An underwater camera
positioned below the boat

shows us the
action on the bottom.

So we've got this drop camera

that's pointed
straight down here,

and the hope is what?

That we see
a hard bottom here?

Yeah. We're pretty close.

[Josh] We watch on the monitor
as hundreds of years of sand

is blown from the sea floor.

We got it.
We got hard bottom.

-Here we go. We're on it.
-All right.

We're in it.

Hey, Brandon, suit up!

Let's do it.

Before we can get
in the water, though,

there's the not-so-small
matter of the sharks.

That's because the increased
seal population off Cape Cod

has led to a massive increase
in the number of great whites.

Nearly 800 of them have been
cataloged here
over the last decade.

So Matt, from the Clifford's
team, sends up a drone

to make sure we can dive
without becoming dinner.

Once we get the all clear,

we suit up
and cautiously splash in.

[Brandon speaking]

[Josh speaking]

We follow a shot line
from the boat,

making our way
to the pit in the sand

created by the prop deflector.

And while it isn't deep,

I quickly learn that
there are other challenges.

What's the visibility like?

It comes and goes
with the tide.

[Josh] Mung is a fine brown
algae that can take over

entire sections of
the ocean off the Cape.

You might say this
is a-mung the worst visibility

I've ever experienced.

And it's not doing
wonders for my confidence

in spotting
great white sharks.

[Brandon speaking]

[Josh] The deflector up top

has created
a depression in the sand,

which we hope
has revealed a cache

of historic treasures
from the Whydah.

We swim down inside,

scanning as we go
with a metal detector.

We bag the spoon
and keep moving into the pit.

At the bottom,
we see that we've exposed

a layer hidden
deep beneath the sand.

[Josh speaking]

Using a metal-detecting probe,
I'm able to prod the bottom

to search for anything
buried just below the sand.

[Brandon speaking]

[Josh]
A double-struck piece of 8

is an amazing find,
rare and potentially valuable.

But more importantly,
it's a clear sign

that we're on top of some
Whydah treasure,

possibly even the stern castle
we're looking for.

[Brandon speaking]

[Josh speaking]

At the time
this coin was struck,

the Salem witch trials
were happening

right up the road
from Cape Cod.

And here's a fun fact.

Cotton Mather,
the man who prosecuted
these so-called witches,

would later try and convict
the only two men

that survived
the wreck of the Whydah,

hanging them on a dock at
the entrance of Boston Harbor

as a warning
to ships passing by.

As for us, we keep searching
and finding.

[Brandon speaking]

[Josh speaking]

[Josh] High in the Andes,

Potosi, Bolivia,
sits on a mountain of silver.

In the colonial era,

it was one of
the largest mints for Spain
in the New World.

And they would
ship pure silver coins

back home
through the Caribbean

in treasure fleets,

which became
rich targets for pirates.

While we're
rolling in the money,

40 feet above us, the team
keeps their eyes on the water.

And thank God for that.

Oh. Hey, Barry,
we got a white shark here.

It's starting to head
into the area.

Topside.

Diver one, diver two,
come back.

We've got to pull you
to the surface.

We've got a shark sighting
up here.

Guys, we've got to pull you
to the surface.

We've got a shark sighting
up here.

[Josh]
The murky waters off Cape Cod

are called "the graveyard
of the Atlantic."

It was true 300 years ago
for the pirate
Black Sam Bellamy,

and it's possibly true
today as well.

It turns out
we're in the water

with a great white shark.

-We have a shark?
-[Matt] Yeah, we got
a shark in the water.

Get out! Get out! Get out!

[Josh]
Is it close to the boat?

Yes, there's sharks.

[Josh]
I don't think I've ever gotten
out of the water this quickly.

We scrambled back on board

so that
my production team and I

can see what we just escaped.

There's a shark?

Oh, look at that.

That's between us
and the beach.

-[Matt] Yup.
-That is a great white?

Yeah, that looks like
a 12-footer.

A good-size shark.

Definitely.

[Josh] I mean, how...
How do you work here

with this
in the water with you?

Just try not to
think about it too much.

That's the approach?

Yeah, yeah. It's nice
when Matt's not around,

so then we don't really know.

Matt, I appreciate
you being here.

-For the record.
-No problem.

[Brandon]
It looks pretty well fed.

Yeah, I'm pretty well fed,
too, Brandon.

I can still go out
for dessert.

After a while,
the shark is gone.

Probably.

Honestly, it would take
a ship full of treasure

to get me back
in the water-- Oh, wait.

Okay.
Time to get back to work.

After all, we're in
a target-rich area here

that has already produced
several historic finds.

We waste no time
returning to the area

where we found the coins,

hoping we're on
a significant debris trail.

Over the years, Brandon
and the team's archeologists

have painstakingly
mapped the location

of every find
aboard the Whydah.

[Josh] To do that,
they use a grid

which we can methodically
search square by square.

[Josh] A pistol was clearly
a personal item,

something no pirate
would willingly part with.

And in this case,
it appears they didn't.

[Josh] These bracelets,
called Manilas,

were not only decorative,

but used as currency
in West Africa,

where they were traded
for human lives.

They would likely have been
brought aboard the Whydah

in its former incarnation
as a slave ship

before it was captured
and repurposed by Bellamy.

[Brandon]

[Josh] We keep scanning
the grid, and in no time
we have another find.

[detector beeping]

[Brandon]

[Josh]

[Brandon]

[Josh] While they often
look like rocks,

mineral conglomerates contain
more than meets the eye.

[Brandon]

[detector beeping]

[Josh]

[Brandon]

[Barry] Yeah, we got
weather coming.
Um, it's time to get back.

So we'll send the basket down,
just be careful bagging it

and we'll bring it
to the surface.

[Josh]

[Barry]

[Josh]

[Brandon]

[Josh]

We return to the deck
of the Vast,

but there's no time
to celebrate our finds,

a storm is moving towards us.

And surprisingly,
our boat isn't moving away.

-[crew member] One hole.
-[Josh] The crew
seems concerned.

[crew member]
One hole for the--

[bleep] loosen up on the bows,
so we loosen these up
and then we can unclip 'em.

So, talk to me. Where we at?
What's happened here?

-Our generator just let go.
-Okay.

[Barry] And with weather
coming in,

we have to be able
to get the deflector up

because we can't
get out of here
in an emergency.

[Josh] So, the deflector's
in the down position,

the Vast can't navigate
with that, right?

-'Cause the props are being
blocked by the deflector?
-Yep, yep.

-So if a storm hits
in this position, that's bad?
-Bad.

[Josh] Can the deflector
be winched up manually?

Yes. We're gonna
try to do that now.

We have to get
the hell out of here.

[Josh] The crew
frantically tries
to raise the deflector,

using the emergency generator
to power the winch and drag it
up against its will.

Okay, Barry, hit the winch.

[crew member] Go, go,
go, go, go, go, go.

[Barry] Watch your hands.

Look out, look out, look out.

[thunder rumbling]

Out of the way, I can't see.

[crew member] Now, now.

Keep going.

[Josh] Above the wreck
of the Whydah,

flagship of the pirate
Black Sam Bellamy,

we've recovered
incredible artifacts
and intriguing concretions.

But a storm
is now bearing down on us

and we can't move
out of the way.

-Hold.
-[Barry] That's it.

[Josh] The emergency generator
has raised the deflector,
but only halfway.

-[Barry] It's not
going anywhere. It's stuck.
-It's not going?

[Josh] If we're going
to escape this storm,
it has to be fully up,

so the crew moves on
to an old-fashioned plan B.

They tie ropes
to the deflector

and then pull.

Come on.
All right. Come up on it.

-Come up on it. Come up.
-[Barry] Come on. Heave.

[thunder rumbling]

[crew member singing]
♪♪ Oh-we-oh, we-oh-oh♪

Hold! That's it.

[Josh] The deflector is up,

so we raise the seven anchors
holding us in place,

before racing
the storm to port.

After a soggy ride,
we finally make it
past the breakers

and into the calm waters
of the channel.

Once safely back in port,
we dry off and bring our finds
to the Clifford's lab,

where archaeologist
Andrew Barker

will preserve and catalog

everything we've
pulled up today.

Fortunately, we have had
a successful dive

and we've brought you
a couple concretions stacks.

Excellent.

So looks like we have
a lot of concretions here.

How many would you say
there are that have yet
to be fully investigated?

Uh, hundreds.
Give or take. Yeah.

-Hundreds? Okay.
-[Andrew] Yeah.

So people might be
looking at this saying,

"Why are these artifacts
back in the water?"

[Andrew] We have to keep them
in the water until we can
properly conserve them.

So the process involves
slowly leeching the salt
out of the concretions, first.

That's step number one.

And then, and only then,
can we clean them up further.

How long
will some of these items
sit in water?

Uh, it all depends on the size
and what's inside.

But it can be weeks,
months, even years.

For large objects like canons,
they've gotta stay
in the water for years.

-Years? Wow.
-[Andrew] Years. Yeah.

This is kind of
maddening, right?

Because it's so exciting
out on the ocean to make
these discovers.

-You find something
and you feel like "We did it!"
-Yeah.

And you still can't tell
what it is, right?

I mean, they come back here
and these things
are still a mystery.

Total mystery.

So you have to wait
for this whole process
to take place

before you can see
what's inside of them?

Actually, there is a way
that we can see
inside of them.

-Now?
-[Brandon] Now.

By using X-ray.

X-ray.

The concretions
we just discovered

need to soak for a long time
before being examined.

But Brandon
has a very special find

from the same area we explored
that's ready for a close-up.

An extreme close-up.

[Brandon] This is a really
exciting concretion
for us to scan.

-[Josh] Okay.
-Let's take a look at it.

[Josh] Okay.

So what makes this
so exciting?

Wait. I can see
what makes this special.
There are coins?

[Brandon] Those are coins.

There's literally coins--

Wait. There are coins
sticking out of this
everywhere.

And is this gold?

[Andrew] That is gold.
That's part of a gold bar.

And you can see right here
where it's been broken.

[Josh] That is insane.

And these holes?

-[Andrew] Pistol barrels.
-[Brandon] Pistol barrels.

-[Josh] Two pistol barrels?
-[Andrew] Yeah.

[Josh] So the iron
has rotted away,

and we're left
with the barrels?

[Andrew] Exactly.
It's a cast of the barrels.

And one of the reasons
we know they were pistols,

aside from the size and shape,

is the fact that
they were still loaded.

There was still
a lead shot inside

even though
the barrel is gone.

[Josh] That's crazy.

But it hasn't
been X-rayed yet?

Correct. It has not
been X-rayed.

[Josh] Okay. Should we see
what's inside of it?

-[Andrew] Absolutely.
-Let's do it. Come on.

The man who's going to make
this 300-year-old chunk
of minerals say cheese

is X-ray tech Bruno Cores.

We just need to back up
six feet away and...

-[Josh] Six feet?
-Six feet.

Okay, guys, get...
keep moving.

Keep going. Further away.
Let's do ten feet, huh?

There's no reason
we need to stay close.

[Bruno] I'm ready.
Everybody ready?

Okay. Fire in the hole.

[machine beeping]

-That's it?
-That's it.

And there's the first shot.

-[Josh] Whoa!
-[Bruno] Whoa.

[Josh] Loaded with coins.
Look at this.

Okay. Can we do a quick
coin count here?

One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight,

nine, ten, eleven, twelve,
thirteen, fourteen,

fifteen, sixteen, seventeen,
eighteen, nineteen, twenty...

-twenty five-ish coins?
-At least.

Oh, come on.

And where's that gold bar?
Is that this piece?

The gold bar is right there.

You see how it's rounded
on one edge and broken
on those two?

[Josh] Oh, yes,
that's the gold bar.

[Andrew] Yes,
that's the gold bar.

[whispers] Wow.

[in normal voice]
That's awesome.

A photogrammetry scan
of the concretion
is also processed,

which allows the team
to digitally preserve
the artifacts

in their original positions.

It'll take many more months
of soaking to completely
dissolve this concretion.

But with everything,
this X-ray is revealing,

Brandon wants to attempt
to extract

some of its
valuable contents now
so they can be conserved.

This is a delicate process
because it's critical

to extract the objects
without damaging them.

Here to help us
is project archeologist,
Mark Agostini.

-Hey, Mark, nice to meet you.
-Great to meet you, Josh.

[Josh] So, Mark,
how do we de-concrete
this concretion?

We use pneumatic tools.

-So we're gonna
use a Dremel here.
-[Josh] Yep.

[Mark] Uh, uh, dental tools.

And when we get into
removing them,

we're gonna use
even toothpicks

'cause, obviously,
wood is not as hard
as the precious metals.

This is like historic surgery
right here.

Yeah, a surgery 300 years
in the making.

Yeah. All right.
Well, should we scrub in?

-Let's do it.
-Let's do it.

All right, Mark,
stage is yours.

Mark begins gently cutting
into the concretion

around one of the coins
protruding from inside.

We hold our breath
hoping the procedure
is successful.

-Is that loose?
-[Mark] Yep. This one's loose.

[Josh] Ooh, look at that.

[chuckles] Unbelievable.

-[Barry] Can I see it, Mark?
-[Mark] Yeah.

-Yeah, that's that looks like
a two-real.
-[Mark] Two-real, yeah.

[Josh] The two-real coin,
much like the one
we found underwater,

is in surprisingly
good condition

for having been
encased in minerals
for the past 300 years.

-They're real?
-[Mark] Carrying on.

[Josh] Mark returns
to the drill,

and in quick succession
we extract two more
silver coins.

[whispers] Look at that.

[in normal voice]
But as we get deeper
into the concretion,

we find something
very different,
but just as valuable.

That's shiny. Is that glass?

[Mark] It could be glass.
Maybe that's from
a bottle of wine or rum.

This is why you don't drink
and drive even a pirate ship.

-Looks like, uh--
-Thought it was bone.

-Is that bone? No.
-[Mark] It's a pipe fragment.

[Josh] Oh, this is...
So this is clay?

[Barry] Part of a bowl...
bowl of a pipe.

[Josh] This is part of a pipe?
Like, a personal smoking pipe?

This would be a
really common personal object
among the pirates.

This is really the most
personal thing we've seen yet.

You know,
this is something that
belonged to an individual.

They probably, you know,
really held dear, right?

This was their...
This is their daily pipe.

The pipe and glass fragments
are discoveries that weren't
visible on the X-ray,

but the team's next target
is one we've been looking
forward to

since we first saw it.

So, we're trying
to get this gold ingot,
this gold piece out now.

This is really delicate work
because this gold
is really soft.

Easy to damage.
This is high stakes here.

[Mark speaking]

-[Josh] Wait,
it does look loose.
-That's just about right

Ooh, that's gonna come out.

-[Mark] Yeah. We got it
-Yes! Look at that.

Yes! Look at that.

[Mark chuckles]

[Josh] Oh, my word.
That is pure gold.

In the lab
of the Whydah Museum,

explorer Barry Clifford's team
is opening a concretion
from the fabled pirate ship

that has already produced
silver coins and now,
solid gold as well.

Barry, what do you think?
What's that weigh?

Three or four ounces.

-Three or four ounces
of pure gold?
-[Barry] Yeah.

That's $10,000 worth of gold
right there. I mean,
that's outrageous.

So let's talk about this...
this concretion,

because it's really strange,
right?

We have
all of these different coins,
these pistols,

parts of a pipe,
glass and gold ingots,

all in this
incredibly compact space.

What... what is this,
do you think?

In archaeology
we call this an assemblage,

which means
an assortment of artifacts...

-Right.
-...that are all closely
in one spot.

We are getting
organic material.

Oh, look at that.
Is that like fiber?

[Mark] Yeah, fiber.
It's definitely organic.

It might be hemp or burlap.

And so, Barry,
what does that tell you?

All of these coins
side by side,
beside a rum bottle,

beside a smoking pipe
beside a big chunk of gold.

Did they all fall
into the ocean

and happen to land
on each other?

-Right.
-No.

The math says
they were in something.

The pirates said the money
was kept in bags in chests
between decks.

So what you're saying is this
could be a pirate's share,
a pirate's bag of treasure.

This is definitely 100%
a pirate's share of treasure.

So if that's true,
that is a one of a kind.

There's nothing like it
in the world.

[Josh] We're holding
the personal belongings
of a pirate, his footlocker.

Since these bags
were likely stored
in the stern hold,

it's our first indication
that we might have been
in the vicinity

of the Whydah's fabled
stern castle.

And it isn't just
valuable monetarily.

Historically, this find
speaks volumes.

There are all of these stories
about Bellamy, as you know,

not this bloodthirsty pirate,
but this egalitarian,
kind of democratic leader.

And seeing how rich
this share is,
really backs that idea up.

-That these pirates
are doing well out there.
-Yeah.

[Josh] Even more remarkable
is that the pirate's share

also applied
to the former slaves

who were fully vested members
of Bellamy's crew.

A shocking display
of equality,
in a most unexpected place.

A third of the Whydah crew
were of African origin,

-most of whom
were former slaves.
-[Josh] Right.

This is not a story
I remember learning in school.

[Barry] Black pirates were
experimenting in democracy
with Europeans

50 years before
George Washington
began his experiment.

When you see this
as a single pirate share,

how does it make you think
of Bellamy, the man?

I have a lot of respect
for Bellamy,

and I often
go down to the cliffs
and talk to him.

-[chuckles]
-Yeah. Does he talk back?

This is talking back
right here.

This is a pirate's share
of treasure.

Pirates held these coins.

Thousands of coins and gold.

But the real treasure
of the Whydah is the story.

This is precious,
precious history
that we've uncovered here.

And Brandon
and all of our crew
have dedicated their lives

to preserving this history
and bringing it to light.

Barry, Brandon,
the whole crew,

you guys still have
a lot of work to do
out there,

-right?
-We... We do.

So what do you think?
Is Bellamy's curse
lifting here?

Um, not so fast. You know...

-We're taking it--
-One day at a time?

We're taking it one day
at a time.

Thank you so much, Barry.
What a pleasure.

-Oh, no. With the hook.
-Oh, the hook. Right.

-Sorry. Arr.
-Arr.

Hey, Mark, thank you so much.

-Brandon, thank you.
This has been awesome.
-Thank you.

A pirate's share.
How about that?

It's difficult to call
any pirate a hero.

After all, criminality
is baked right into
the job description.

But Sam Bellamy
seems to come closer

than any
I've looked at before.

His sailors tasted freedom
and equality

decades before the colony
on whose shores they perished.

The Cliffords will continue
to conserve the bounty
of the Whydah,

expanding their collection
of artifacts

into a surprisingly
human portrait of piracy.

Black Sam Bellamy
is quoted as having said,

"They vilify us,
the scoundrels do,

when there's only
this difference,

they rob the poor
under the cover of law,

and we plunder the rich
under the cover
of our own courage."

A prince of pirates, indeed.