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Summary: A unique story with wide appeal
Review: I picked up Expedition Whydah with the intention of simply skimming it, looking at photos and drawings and the index, the way I generally approach a new book. The first chapter title caught my attention: "The Stuff of Daydreams"; and further on, the names of pirate Sam Bellamy and his lover Maria Hallett. I knew I was hooked. Five hours later that Saturday I finished the last chapter. During that time, I had travelled with salvor Barry Clifford through childhood on Cape Cod where his Uncle Bill first told him the legend of Bellamy and the wreck of the Whydah. I had gained an understanding of Clifford's ability to conceptualize and create an expedition that would require fund raising, crisis management, and crew handling before the legend became a reality. I had gained insight into the lives of Bellamy and his crew, brave, democratic yet impoverished seamen who had turned to piracy as a means of survival in the 1700's.The story will appeal to a wide reading audience, especially those who appreciate the uniqueness of the days when pirates robbed from the rich and gave back to the poor! It is painstakingly researched and gives a realistic perspective to romantics and would-be salvors who glamorize the life of treasure hunting. The photography, including underwater shots and many careful renderings of actual bounty...pieces of eight, gold jewelry, weapons, nautical instruments -add to the drama of the find.
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Summary: This book really did it for me
Review: I watched the story of the Whydah on National Geographic television and then read about it in the local paper. Finally I bought the book. It was excellent.These people are a monument to stamina, but why not? What could be more exciting than finding and retrieving treasure?
Rating: 
Summary: Are you kidding me?
Review: If you had the world's most exciting story to tell, rich with pirate lore, New England history and treasure excavation would you spend an entire chapter talking about your high school and junior college football career? Mr Clifford has excavated the world's first pirate ship and belittled the act by penning a self-promoting, opportunistic, poorly-written account of his involvement with the Wydah expedition. Though it is peppered with interesting history and unique insight about the salvage trade, the story degrades into a petty attack on crew members and endless complaints about the "interfering" academics and authorities. I started reading with a keen interest and open mind, but the story leaves you skeptical about Mr Clifford's honesty and integrity (why are there several pictures of the late JFK Jr. if he only spent one summer of the 10+ years of excavation?) I am going to read Kiesling's book to get the other side of the story.
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Summary: This is a super book!
Review: If you're like me and you thrilled to accounts of pirates and blood and thunder on the high seas when you were a kid, this book will get your pulse racing. It's not only an intriguing tale of Black Sam Bellamy, one of the most fascinating buccaneers ever to sail the Spanish Main, but a modern adventure tale about the finding of Black Sam's treasure. Treasure-hunter Barry Clifford--a tough ex-athlete with a nose for lost artifacts--and co-author Paul Perry, a member of the expedition, lived out a story that will capture the imagination of any adult trapped in the blandness of a high-tech world. Clifford became fixated on finding the Whydah, an English slave ship commandeered by a pirate crew under Bellamy that had sunk in a ferocious storm off Cape Cod in 1717. It took Clifford years of struggle to do so--raising the money to back his venture, fighting with gold-crazed partners, dealing with so many failures that it seemed the ghosts of the dead pirates were out to defeat him. The book is packed with photos and drawings, recreating for the reader not only the swashbuckling era of piracy but the life of a present-day Indiana Jones who wouldn't be stopped until he plumbed the secrets of the deep.
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Summary: I want to be like Paul
Review: In my next life, I want to be Paul Perry. Look at everything he has done: he has written a biography of Hunter Thompson, wrote "Saved by the Light" (one of the greatest stories ever told), and did all of those other books about near death experiences. And now this, a book about the only excavation of a pirate ship. This is a great book for a lot of reasons. For one, Barry Clifford is such a colorful character, kind of a real world Indiana Jones. Born on Cape Cod, he was raised with the story of Black Sam Bellamy, a pirate who feel in love with a local girl named Maria Hallett and went off the find booty in the Caribbean. He found plenty of it, and loaded it onto a captured slave ship (the Whydah) before sailing home to marry Maria. He died in a storm that also took most of his crew and tons of gold and silver to the bottom of the ocean. This story haunted Clifford through the years, until he finally decided to search for the sunken treasure ship. He found way more than he bargained for, including trouble on land as well as sea. He also made discoveries that made the entire treasure hunting foray worthwhile: gold, silver, cannons, human bones, a piece of the hull and a textbook full of valuable information about the identity and nature of pirates. This is a beautifully presented book, one that is written well and contains a wealth of photos and illustrations that are a feast for the eyes and mind of hungry readers. My question now is this: What are you going to do next, Paul?
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Summary: I want to be like Paul
Review: In my next life, I want to be Paul Perry. Look at everything he has done: he has written a biography of Hunter Thompson, wrote "Saved by the Light" (one of the greatest stories ever told), and did all of those other books about near death experiences. And now this, a book about the only excavation of a pirate ship. This is a great book for a lot of reasons. For one, Barry Clifford is such a colorful character, kind of a real world Indiana Jones. Born on Cape Cod, he was raised with the story of Black Sam Bellamy, a pirate who feel in love with a local girl named Maria Hallett and went off the find booty in the Caribbean. He found plenty of it, and loaded it onto a captured slave ship (the Whydah) before sailing home to marry Maria. He died in a storm that also took most of his crew and tons of gold and silver to the bottom of the ocean. This story haunted Clifford through the years, until he finally decided to search for the sunken treasure ship. He found way more than he bargained for, including trouble on land as well as sea. He also made discoveries that made the entire treasure hunting foray worthwhile: gold, silver, cannons, human bones, a piece of the hull and a textbook full of valuable information about the identity and nature of pirates. This is a beautifully presented book, one that is written well and contains a wealth of photos and illustrations that are a feast for the eyes and mind of hungry readers. My question now is this: What are you going to do next, Paul?
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Summary: Engrossing! Piratical!
Review: Like pirates? Like pirate history? Run right out and buy this book ASAP! I *loved* this book, and read it straight through in two sittings. It follows the trials of Barry Clifford in his decades long search for the Whydah Galley shipwreck off the coast of his Cape Cod home, and final outstanding success in his quest. The book offers *so* much engrossing information about both modern privately-funded marine archaeology (sometimes dismissively referred to as "treasure hunting" by academics) and the life of Black Sam Bellamy, Captain of the Whydah. The book is peppered with maps, photographs from the search and excavation, and careful line-drawings of the artifacts exhumed with accompanying descriptive text. This is not to say the book is without fault. At times it is painfully obvious that Clifford's skills lie in other realms than the writing world and the guiding hand of co-writer Perry is either absent or inebriated--at times the prose can be a bit amateur and elementary. I question the quality of editing that went into the work as well, since in places a topic will be "introduced" as if it were new to the reader, when in fact it had already been mentioned in an earlier chapter. And, Clifford's private-archaeology cheerleading can at times seem a bit shrill in his repeated justifications of his work in the face of extreme criticism by the academic realm [1]. And,... the book is a bit dated in its claims of "the only pirate ship ever recovered", since the discoveries (largely by teams led by Clifford) of a number of other pirate shipwrecks have happened since its publication. Despite these flaws, the book remains an engrossing read. Clifford and Perry have imbued the text with Clifford's infectious enthusiasm and passion for the life of Bellamy and the search for the Whydah. The story of the search, discovery, and excavation of the wreckage (as well as the financial and legal woes that plagued them from the beginning) is interwoven with legends and factual details about Bellamy and the Whydah crew from the exhaustive research of the Whydah team's staff historian. The book offers an interesting interpretation of the pirate crews of the era as renegade democracies, pioneering a 'rule by the people' culture in revolutionary dispute of crown rule several decades before the American Revolution (at times this verges on a sort of fannish apologist tone, which didn't bother me too much as a reader, being a fannish pirate-apologist at times myself). The book becomes a bit sensationalist toward the end when it delves into a few 'pirate ghost' encounters that Clifford and his crew experienced, but by that point I believe his dedication in relating the story and I think his dedication to the importance of legend and myth as being as integral a part of the appeal of the golden age of piracy as the cold-facts history, that it doesn't come off as corny or insincere.
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Summary: A true tale of what the human spirit can accomplish.
Review: My hat off to Barry Clifford and his crew for their strength and perseverance. Expedition Whydah is an intriguing historical glimpse at piracy. The treasures Clifford unearthed are more than pirate artifacts -- they are forgotten gifts. Barry Clifford and Paul Perry wrote a story that is both inspiring and insightful. My adventurous sons will love reading this book, as I did. Anyone who has a dream and goes for it can certainly relate. I look forward to visiting the Whydah exhibit during my visit to Washington D.C. this summer.
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Summary: One of the most interesting, exciting books I've read
Review: Searching for treasure is something I have always wanted to do, so it was great to finally find a book that could take me to the front lines of that endeavor.This book is well-written and exciting, and Barry Clifford is an amazing character whose life has been through more twists and turns than one would think he could survive.I highly recommend this with one warning, you won't be able to put it down until it's finished.
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Summary: Boston Herald: Clifford treasure pirate life
Review: The author's enthusiasm for the ancient outlaw lifestyle is contagious in his new book about his search for and discovery of Bellamy's galleon, the Whydah, which came to its dreary end in 1717 off the shores of Cape Cod after a brutal nor'easter."Expedition Whydah" teems with a wealth of insight into life on the high seas as Clifford reveals all you would ever want to know about Bellamy's adventures.In the end, Clifford's search for the Whydah makes for an entertaining tale that of a likeable rogue moving ever closer to uncovering the history of a time long gone, a time when pirates roamed the eastern seaboard proud and free.
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