Whydah Pirate Museum-in Massachusetts

I toured the museum once at its initial location in Provincetown. This was maybe the very early 90s?? I was very interested in how they have to work so carefully with the items that have been submerged in salt water for so long to be sure that they are not destroyed when removed from that environment.

My feelings about the attraction and ship were very mixed beyond that, though. I mean, yes, it was a pirate ship for part of its history, but it was also used to transport enslaved persons.

Now I have not been to their current location, but the original small version of the museum had a section of the museum that focused on its earliest history as a slave ship. They had that in the first part of the museum, which made sense, since that was it's earliest history, then it progressed into the section on it being a pirate ship, it sinking, and it being found. And that all is perfectly logical. BUT, by the time you rounded the last bend in this very small place you landed in the gift shop, where of course, everything was focused on the pirate ship part of its history.

And that didn't sit as well with me. It's like, okay museum's over, let's pretend this ship was always a pirate ship (as if pirate ships are good, right? ) so you can all buy t-shirts with the ship on them.