Western alumnus Barry Clifford’s hunt for pirate treasure

Barry Clifford (middle), John Beyer (left) and Rob McClung (right) sit in front of artifacts salvaged from the Whydah in 1984. McClung was a Crested Butte Marshal at the time, and Clifford’s Western roommate. (Courtesy Barry Clifford)[/caption] Barry and his son Brandan with the Whydah’s bell. (Photo courtesy of Barry Clifford)[/caption]

Barry Clifford is an underwater archaeologist, renowned treasure hunter —  and a 1969 graduate of Western Colorado University. When not diving off the coast of Cape Cod, excavating artifacts from a pirate shipwreck, he might be found in the Gunnison Valley, visiting his two grown children, and meandering shops on Main Street.

During a recent video interview from his Massachusetts home, Clifford proudly showed off artifacts of his historic discovery. A wooden model ship stood against his wall. The words “Whydah Gally,” ran across its stern, and a flag waved atop its mainmast. The flag's black background was highlighted by piercing white markings: a skull and crossbones.

In 1717, the Whydah wrecked off the coast of Massachusetts. Her captain, a pirate named “Black Sam” Bellamy, ran aground during a nor’easter hurricane, leaving behind a fortune in pirate treasure. The wreck rested in a sandy grave for 267 years — until a swashbuckling Western Colorado University graduate discovered the Whydah shipwreck in 1984. But his passion to uncover history began 20 years earlier, in the Gunnison Valley.

“Every Cape-Codder grew up hearing the story of the Whydah,” Clifford said. “I knew there was a pirate shipwreck out there — but my interest began in history classes at Western. Professor [Duane] Vandenbusch encouraged me to look for ghost towns near Crested Butte. We discovered an old mining town. There was still a piano sitting in the room, and shoes left on the floor. It was just like it was in the 1800’s, and that’s how my love of exploration began.”

Whydah’s story which enchanted Clifford, begins 300 years ago with Captain Bellamy: the raven-haired, “prince of pirates.”

In the early 18th century, Nassau, Bahamas was infested by a colony of buccaneers. Led by Blackbeard and Anne Bonny, the pirates rebelled against European monarchies. For 10 years they haunted the Caribbean islands, looting merchant ships and growing exceedingly rich.

Among these scallywags was a young sailor named Sam Bellamy. His gateway to piracy began in the colony of Massachusetts as a deckhand in the Royal Navy. In 1715, Bellamy fell in love with Maria Hallett. However, her father was unwilling to let a poor deckhand take her hand in marriage. In an attempt to get rich, impress her father, and marry the girl, Bellamy chose the pirate’s life and sailed to Nassau.

Two years later, Bellamy had become the most fearsome pirate in the Caribbean. He had plundered 53 ships from England, France and Spain and led a crew of 150 pirates. His flagship, the Whydah, was originally a 300-ton slaver, designed to transport human captives across the Atlantic. Bellamy transformed her into a formidable warship carrying over 60 cannon and capable of reaching speeds up to 13 knots. Most importantly, Bellamy had amassed a fortune in gold and silver — more than enough to impress his sweetheart’s father.

The Whydah sailed up the Atlantic coast for Cape Cod and the home of Hallett. However, just as Bellamy reached Massachusetts, the skies darkened and the oceans started to churn. A hurricane swept through the Cape, launching the Whydah into a coastal sandbar. Its stern ran aground and the ship split in two, capsizing along the shore. Only two sailors survived the shipwreck. Bellamy was not one of them. He was lost in the coastal sands, never to see his beloved Maria again.

The wreckage sat under shifting sands for 300 years — until Clifford moved back east following his graduation from Western. Working along the Cape, he spent free time exploring the coast for shipwrecks. Even in the early years, Bellamy’s ship was the sole objective on his mind. For Clifford, discovering the Whydah meant uncovering a childhood story, and a treasure he dreamt about through college.

He discovered the General Benedict Arnold that sank off Plymouth in 1778 just seven years after graduation. That same year he uncovered the Agnes Manning wreck. His success in underwater archaeology led to a friendship with the late John F. Kennedy Jr. who was also an avid diver. The two created a partnership and researched the ultimate prize: the Whydah.

By 1982, news of Clifford’s achievements had spread to Colorado. His former Western roommates Rob McClung and Trip Wheeler joined the hunt for Bellamy’s ship. The Crested Butte boys moved to the Cape, and the reunited classmates set out scanning the coastline with electronic sensing gear.

“At the time, nobody believed us,” Clifford said. “All these experts thought we were crazy. But those early years were a wild time. We were living every boy’s dream, looking for buried treasure.”

The team located a hot-spot of magnetized material below the sand in 1984. They began diving on the site, blowing away sediment and digging deeper into the ocean floor. Soon they retrieved a cannon ball and a small coin dated 1684 — however, the wreck could not be identified. Concrete evidence appeared a year later. A ship's bell, covered in concretions, bore the words “The Whydah Gally.”

Barry Clifford had discovered the first pirate shipwreck in history.

Following the breakthrough, Clifford began salvaging and preserving artifacts — a task that continues to this day. By 2022, Expedition Whydah had excavated over 200,000 artifacts from the wreckage, including gold and silver coins, over 60 cannons, cutlasses, pistols and a pirate’s leg bone. Clifford’s achievement is displayed at the Whydah Pirate Museum, in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, however he reminisces often on the early days in the Gunnison Country.

“I have some great, great memories of that school and that valley,” he said. “It was such an incredible place to spend my college years. I want to put a small display together for Western one of these days — just to bring in some treasure and artifacts for a small exhibit. I have a lot of great memories from Gunnison. I just love it there.”

(Alex McCrindle can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or alex@gunnisontimes.com.)