Archaeologists at the Whydah Pirate Museum in West Yarmouth, on Monday, gently extracted a 300 year old femur from a concretion that is on display at the museum. That bone was then handed over to specialists from the University of New Haven for DNA testing. The researchers hope to extract DNA from the bone to see if it belonged to the infamous pirate, Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy.
If the team from the University of New Haven can extract DNA from the 300 year old bone, it will then be compared with DNA from a living Bellamy descendant in the United Kingdom.
The Whydah sank in 1717. The wreck was discovered in 1984 by explorer Barry Clifford and his team. Most of its treasure is thought to remain on the ocean floor.
]Bellamy and his crew of pirates robbed 54 ships before the Whydah capsized in a Nor’easter off the coast of Wellfleet.
Listen to the news conference below.
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