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September 25th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
But just this year, Mr Clifford learned far more treasure may be resting with
the Whydah, the only authenticated pirate ship wreck in US
waters.
Colonial-era documents discovered in April indicated the Whydah raided two
vessels in the weeks before it sank. Its haul on those raids included
400,000 coins, the records said.
A Sept 1 dive during what was supposed to be Clifford’s last trip of the
season uncovered evidence he was near those coins. That convinced Clifford
he had to make another trip before summer’s end. So Clifford and a seven-man
crew went back on a three-day trip that ended Sept. 13.
Mr Clifford headed for the “yellow brick road,” which refers to a
gold and artefact-strewn path extending between two significant sites at the
Whydah wreck – a cannon pile and a large chunk of wood Clifford thinks is
the Whydah’s stern.
The trove of coins and other treasure likely poured from the stern as the ship
broke up and the stern drifted to its rest 300 years ago, he said.
A tray holding lead shot, spoons, a metal syringe and the partially
crushed barrel of a blunderbuss salvaged from the pirate ship Whydah. (AP)
Divers searching the path on the recent trip pulled up several concretions,
which are rocky masses that form when metals, such as gold and silver,
chemically react to seawater. Diver Jon Matel said one discovery was
following another, even though divers were working in “black water,”
or zero-visibility.
Mr Matel said several feet of a fine seaweed called mung settled in the
excavated pits and it was like diving in a vat of black jelly.
“You’re going by your feel, your touch, your hands, and the ping of a
metal detector,” Matel said. “When that thing goes off, it’s a
great feeling.”
X-Rays show all the newly retrieved concretions have coins and gold inside. To
Clifford it’s more proof of high concentrations of metals and coins being
dumped en masse on that spot of sea floor.
Mr Clifford believes two examples that were pulled up on the prior trip are
particularly compelling evidence: a cannonball piled with 11 coins and a
piece of iron stacked with 50 coins.
“Did all of those coins just happen to fall on this one little piece of
iron? Or were there thousands of coins there, and this is just an example of
what’s left?” he said.
He will have to wait until next summer to try to find out. The worsening
weather and lingering boat problems after a recent lightning strike make
another visit impossible until June.
Edited by Chris Irvine
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