Archaeologists discover remains of six ships belonging to the real ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’
The discovery comes after the team secured the first official authorization to dive in the restricted area of Nassau Harbor.
An international team co-led by a marine archaeologist has uncovered the first known shipwrecks in the Bahamas linked to the real pirates who once sailed the Caribbean Sea.
Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, served as a haven where pirates such as Blackbeard and Calico Jack Rackham hid from authorities, planned their next raids, and divided their loot. Now, in 2026, a group of scientists has obtained the first official permit to dive within the restricted waters of Nassau Harbor, where they have discovered six shipwrecks dating to the “Golden Age of Piracy.”
“These finds are the tip of the iceberg”
Among the finds are the remains of several vessels, heavy iron cannons, thousands of ceramic fragments, and glass bottles. The team also recovered rigging equipment, bricks from a ship’s galley, and 143 tobacco pipes decorated with a unicorn, a horse, a crown, and the Royal Coat of Arms of England.
“These finds are the tip of the iceberg,” British marine archaeologist and project co-director Sean Kingsley told The Guardian. “I was shocked at the unexpected survival of a wooden hull – ships were the key tool of pirate terror, after all. There could very well be dozens more shipwrecks in and around the harbor.”
“Signs of pirate mischief"
Historical records indicate that pirates often burned captured vessels after stealing their cargo in order to conceal evidence of their crimes. The research team also discovered a charred wooden hull.
“Burning ships to the waterline was an infamous tactic to hide felony from authorities,” expedition co-director Michael Pateman, the Bahamas’ ambassador for history, culture, and museology, told The Guardian. “The Nassau hull shows all the signs of pirate mischief.”
Kingsley explained of the vessel in which the tobacco pipes were found that “the ship was likely English and sailed for Nassau just after the pirate menace had been crushed. The survival of the wreck, heavily smashed by coastal development, is a miracle. The trader’s cargo of wine in glass bottles and fancy smoking pipes sheds rare light on Nassau becoming a normal port of trade, bouncing back from the pirate anarchy.”
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