Barry Clifford

Barry Clifford (born May 30, 1945) is an American underwater archaeological explorer, best known for discovering the remains of Samuel Bellamy's wrecked pirate ship ''Whydah'' [pronounced ''wih-duh''] which, together with La Louise of French pirate La Buse (Olivier Levasseur), is a fully verified and authenticated pirate shipwreck of the Golden Age of Piracy discovered in the world – as such, artifacts from the wreck provide historians with unique insights into the material, political and social culture of early 18th-century piracy.

Citing federal admiralty law in 1988, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that 100% of the ''Whydah'' rightfully belonged to Clifford, and he has kept The Whydah Collection intact without selling a single piece of the more than 200,000 recovered artifacts, which includes tens of thousands of coins, more than 60 cannon, and the "everyday" objects used by the crew. Clifford also has exclusive dive rights to the site, which is patrolled by the National Park Service and U.S. Coast Guard.

Clifford maintains a large private facility in which the majority of the ''Whydah'' artifacts are kept for conservation and examination; however, Clifford exhibits a variety of the ship's artifacts, as well as from many other shipwreck discoveries, for the public to enjoy at 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.

The Whydah Project has been called "a model of underwater archaeology" by the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources. Provided by Wikipedia