The 1650s to the 1730s marked the golden age of piracy, when fearsome pirates like Blackbeard ruled the waves, seeking not only treasure but also large, fast ships to carry it.

The Whydah was just such a ship, built to ply the Triangular Trade route, which it did until one of the greediest pirates of all, Black Sam Bellamy, commandeered it. Filling the ship to capacity with treasure, Bellamy hoped to retire with his bounty - but in 1717 the ship sank in a storm off Cape Cod.

For more than two hundred years, the wreck of the Whydah eluded treasure seekers, until it was finally discovered in 1984 by marine archaeologists. The artifacts brought up from the ocean floor around the Whydah, the only sunken pirate ship ever found, are priceless, both in value and in the picture they reveal of life in that much-mythologized era. Back matter includes source notes, a bibliography, and an index.