The location of the pirate ship Whydah Gally, captained by the famous "Black Sam" Bellamy, which wrecked off the coast of in Cape Cod on April 26, 1717, killing Bellamy and all but 2 of his 145 men, and taking over 4.5 short tons (4.1 tonnes) of gold, silver, and other pirate treasure down with it. Hearing of the shipwreck, then-governor Samuel Shute dispatched Captain Cyprian Southack, a local salvager and cartographer, to recover "Money, Bullion, Treasure, Goods and Merchandizes taken out of the said Ship."
By May 3, when Southack reached the location of the wreck, he found that a part of the ship was still visible breaching the water's surface and much of the ship's wreckage were scattered along more than four miles (6 km) of shoreline. He created this map (Whydah-map.jpg) of the wreck site, and reported that he had buried 102 of the Whydah crew and captives that had washed ashore. They had not found any significant treasure, but he wrote, "The riches and the guns would be buried in the sand."