Henry Avery was once one of the most feared men on the high seas. The English pirate robbed so many ships in the late 1600s that he became known as the Pirate King.
In one of Avery’s biggest raids, he and his crew captured a ship near India. They stole gold, silver, and jewels that would be worth millions of dollars today. Then they fled thousands of miles to the Bahamas, a cluster of islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
But officials were searching for Avery. He had his ship, the Fancy, set on fire. Then he disappeared with his treasure. Avery and his ship were never seen again.
More than 300 years later, divers are exploring the waters Avery once sailed. But instead of searching for treasure, they’re looking for clues. In late 2025, researchers discovered six shipwrecks near Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. One may be the remains of the Fancy.
What will these discoveries reveal about pirates?
Henry Avery was an English pirate in the late 1600s. He was one of the most feared men on the high seas. He robbed so many ships that he was known as the Pirate King.
In one of Avery’s biggest raids, his crew took over a ship near India. They stole gold, silver, and jewels. The treasure would be worth millions of dollars today. Then they fled thousands of miles to the Bahamas. That’s a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
But officials were looking for Avery. On a dark night, he set his ship on fire. It was called the Fancy. Then he left with his treasure. Avery and his ship were never seen again.
More than 300 years later, divers are exploring the waters Avery once sailed. But they’re not looking for treasure. They’re looking for clues. In late 2025, researchers found six shipwrecks near Nassau. That’s the capital of the Bahamas. One may be the remains of the Fancy.
What will these discoveries tell us about pirates?