Whydah Artifact Report Survey

[corsair2k3]

Greetings,

The Whydah (Captain Sam Bellamy) is the first pirate shipwreck ever discovered and authenticated.

It was discovered in 1984 by underwater explorer Barry Clifford.

[see www.whydah.com for more information]

To date, an estimated 200,000 objects have been recovered. While most of these are coins and shot, there are many artifacts which cast light on 18th century life in general, as well as the lives of pirates in particular.

A updated edition of the project artifact catalog has been stalled for a number of years due to cost/benefit issues.

[FYI: The per-copy COST of the first edition Artifact Catalog--not including shipping--was recently quoted as in excess of USD 80.00]

It has been suggested that sale of interim reports on artifact categories and/or individual artifacts might prove both more feasible and more useful.

In order to gauge what is of most interest to re-enactors and other scholars, this thread is intended to gather information on what types of artifacts you would like to see covered, and in what order of preference.

For example:

Small Arms (#1)

Cannon

Clothing

Coins & other specie

Comments on format, and suggestions as to retail price, are also welcome.

Many Thanks in Advance!

The Corsair

[JoshuaRed]

I would rank it by:

Clothing (Including personal items, everyday items. My favorite piece in the exhibit was the shoe/legbone/stocking combo)

Small Arms

Coins & Specie

Cannon

I would gladly pay good money for a publication on this material, especially if it contained detailed macro shots and drawings/digital reconstructions of what the undamaged original item would have looked like.

[corsair2k3]

My hope is to keep the price low--and the format simple--so that we can update editions of these booklets frequently as we bring up new material.

For example, we had unusually good recovery of coins last season--and an unusually nice example of Akan gold jewelry.

[Red Maria]

I would say

Small Arms

Clothing (including buttons)

Coins & specie

Cannon would be nice but I don't have a place to put it and neighbors might object.

Corsair have any blades turned up? either sword or dagger? eatng utensils? All those I'd be interested in.

Great idea!

[corsair2k3]

We have 3 hilt/grip pieces--no actual blades.

We have one partial molding of a degraded blade--it was what's commonly known as a "hunting sword". Very cheap knuckle guard--also degraded. And a very simple small wooden grip.

Thin pieces of iron/steel fare very poorly on the site. Electrolytic damage appears to proceed more quickly than on other wreck sites--possibly due to a combination of oxygenation together average annual water temperature.

Corsair