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Barry Clifford
Barry Clifford
	Clifford c. 2009
Born	May 30, 1945 (age 79); Hyannis, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	Maritime archaeologist

Barry Clifford (born May 30, 1945) is an American underwater archaeological explorer.

Around 1982, Clifford began discovering the remains of the Whydah Gally,^[1] a former slave ship captured by pirate Samuel Bellamy which sunk in 1717, during the Golden Age of Piracy. In 1988, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that 100% of the Whydah rightfully belonged to Clifford ^[1] Clifford opened his Whydah Pirate Museum in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts. A smaller selection of artifacts was previously on an international touring exhibition through a National Geographic/Premier Exhibitions joint venture, called Real Pirates. In 2022, a permanent museum named Real Pirates was opened in Salem, Massachusetts displaying more artifacts from the shipwreck.^[2]

Biography

Early life

Born in 1945 on Cape Cod, Barry Clifford graduated from Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, Maine before earning a bachelor's degree in History and Sociology from Western Colorado University in Gunnison, Colorado, and received graduate training at Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.^{[citation needed]}

Career

In 1999 and 2000, Clifford and his project team completed three expeditions to Île Sainte-Marie off the coast of Madagascar, as a Discovery Channel Expedition Adventure initiative and tentatively identified the pirate ship Adventure Galley (flagship of William Kidd) and another pirate ship which could be the Fiery Dragon (commanded by the pirate Christopher Condent, also known as William Condon).^{[citation needed]}

On 13 May 2014, it was reported by The Independent^{[citation needed]} that a team led by Clifford believed they had found the wreck of the Santa María, flagship of Christopher Columbus. In the following October an UNESCO expert team published a report concluding that the wreck could not be Columbus's vessel, citing among other evidence bronze fasteners which were not in use in Columbus' era, and an entry in Columbus' diary which they said was inconsistent with the location of the wreck.^[3] The report was heavily challenged by Clifford saying "It was highly political" and "They conducted a prejudiced and nonscientific investigation of the site."^[3]

In May 2015, Clifford found a 50-kilogram (110 lb) silver ingot in a wreck off the coast of Île Sainte-Marie in Madagascar that he believes was part of Captain Kidd's treasure.^[4]^[5] This was subsequently found to be composed primarily of lead, and the claim of it being connected to Captain Kidd were dismissed by UNESCO: "However, what had been identified as the Adventure Galley of the pirate Captain Kidd has been found by the experts... to be a broken part of the Sainte-Marie port constructions.";^[6] Clifford himself has vehemently challenged UNESCO charges as being false and biased.

He is also a Fellow of The Explorers Club.^[7]

Works

Clifford has authored articles and books on his explorations; including The Pirate Prince (Prentice Hall/Simon & Schuster, New York, 1993), Expedition Whydah (HarperCollins, New York, 1999), The Lost Fleet (HarperCollins, New York, 2000), Return to Treasure Island (HarperCollins, New York, 2003), They Lived to Tell the Tale (The Explorers’ Club 2007) Real Pirates: The Untold Story... (The National Geographic Society, 2007), and a 2007 National Geographic children's book of the same name.

His work has been the subject of television documentaries and features as well; including Black Bellamy's Treasure (PBS), Search for Pirate Gold (Nova), Sea-Raiders (Turner Broadcasting), The Hunt for Amazing Treasures (NBC) concerning his discovery of a treasure-filled cannon from the Whydah, Lost Treasure of King Charles I (Discovery Channel), Sea Tales (A&E), Pirates of The Whydah (National Geographic), The Lost Fleet (Discovery Channel/BBC-One), Quest for Captain Kidd (Discovery Channel), Quest for Columbus (Discovery Channel), and The Pirate Code (National Geographic). In 2008 the National Geographic Channel aired a two-hour documentary about the ongoing excavation of the wreck of the Whydah Gally, featuring in-depth interviews with Clifford. It was subsequently released on DVD.

A 2002–03 action-adventure television series entitled Adventure Inc. produced by Gale Anne Hurd was "inspired by the real life exploits of explorer Barry Clifford." Clifford is also credited as a consultant for that show.

He is a Fellow of the Explorers Club, a 2005 recipient of the Lowell Thomas Award for underwater archaeology, and an Honorary Member of the Boston Marine Society. In 2006, he was named "Explorer-in-Residence" by the American Museum of Natural History in New York.