He is thought to be the richest pirate that ever lived – amassing a hoard of treasure worth hundreds of millions in today’s money, before he was lost at sea along with his ship.

Captain “Black Sam” Bellamy and his crew were aboard the Whydah Gally when it encountered one of the most violent storms ever recorded off New England in 1717, and sank, killing most on board and depositing its treasure on the ocean floor.

The wreck, along with the treasure, was found off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1984. In the years since, archaeologists have continued to search the site and now believe they may have found the infamous captain himself.

The remains were publicly displayed for the first time in Massachusetts on Monday and DNA extracted from the corpse will be compared with that of an English descendant.