Shark Museum to Open at Site of Cape Cod Pirate Museum

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy plans to open a shark museum at a site on Cape Cod that is currently home to a pirate museum.

The conservancy announced Thursday it had signed a lease to take over space now occupied by the Expedition Whydah Museum in Provincetown, The Cape Cod Times reported.

Barry Clifford, who discovered the pirate ship Whydah in 1984, has had the Provincetown museum for over 20 years. He opened a larger museum in Yarmouth in 2016. He said the two museums are too close to one another. The Provincetown space is double the size of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy's Shark Center in Chatham, and Education Director Marianne Long said the organization is planning on opening a museum in the new space.

"Our plan is to create new and different exhibits for families to learn about white sharks and white shark research,'' Long said.

The Chatham facility averaged 17,500 visitors a year, but there is the potential for many more guests in Provincetown, she said. The conservancy will hold on to the Chatham facility to focus on educational outreach.

The Provincetown location also comes with a boatslip, and the conservancy plans to run ecotours in a newly purchased 24-foot vessel.