He moved to Massachusetts in 1986 and joined Historic Shipwrecks Inc., the company of underwater explorer Barry Clifford who had discovered the wreck of 'Black Sam' Bellamy's pirate vessel Whydah Gally off Cape Cod. Kinkor graduated from Loras College, Iowa, in 1976, majoring in history and political science, and pursued post-graduate studies in Iowa and Illinois. Kinkor (Janu– June 7, 2013) was an American pirate historian.
