Diving for buried pirate treasure energizes Barry Clifford. Coins, jewelry, swords—he’s brought dozens of artifacts up from ocean floor. Last month he gave a gift to the president of Madagascar: a heavy silver ingot found off the coast of Sainte Marie Island.
Clifford believes the Madagascar find once belonged to 17th-century pirate Captain Kidd.
Clifford calls himself “an underwater Sherlock Holmes.” His critics call him a “treasure hunter.”
Marine archaeologists believe Clifford isn’t careful when he investigates sites and doesn’t preserve his finds correctly. They’re also critical of some of Clifford’s claims. Now a team from the United Nations is checking Clifford’s claim about Captain Kidd.
Even some of Clifford’s supporters think he occasionally exaggerates. “Sometimes he gets ahead of himself,” says a scientist who has worked with Clifford. But another says, “People who criticize him haven’t come to see his work.”
It’s unlikely the Madagascar silver bar ever belonged to Captain Kidd . . . but what if it did?
