Treasure Wreck: The Fortunes and Fate of the Pirate Ship Whydah

The Whydah, heavily loaded with booty from a year's worth of piracy, sank very close to the shore of Cape Cod in a storm in 1717. What had brought the ship to that area is not certain, but it may have been the love of Captain Samuel ""Black'' Bellamy for Maria Hallett, a local beauty by whom he had already fathered a child. In any event, that is the legend. The existence of the wreck was known, but it was not until 1984 that it was found by Barry Clifford. The tale of the discovery as related here is not particularly exciting. What is exceptionally well done, however, is Vanderbilt's re-creation of early 18th century Cape Cod, the lives of pirates, the capture of the Whydah's survivors and their ordeals in Boston, not the least of which was incessant haranguing by Rev. Cotton Mather. Illustrations. (May 23)