Dimensions
148 x 204 x 18mm
His generation's Jacques Cousteau - Barry Clifford tells the dramatic tale of the dawn of the Golden Age of Piracy and a maritime disaster that changed history - interwoven with the author's contemporary account of recovering centuries-old pirate ships.
Alternating between the dramatic account of a maritime calamity in 1678 - the majority of the French Fleet in the Caribbean sank, just 100 miles off the coast of Venezuela - and Barry Clifford's expedition to document the wrecks, 'The Lost Fleet' brings to life a period in maritime history that had a profound effect on the shape of America.
The book follows the fabled lives of the early buccaneers - Chevalier de Grammont, Laurens de Graff, Nicholas Van Hoorn, Thomas Paine, and Jean Comte D'Estrees - who were enlisted by the French and the English to wreak havoc on the Spanish settlements along the Spanish Main.
Chronicling the pirates' lives and their ships, their alliances and their battles both on land and at sea, the book delivers a stunning portrait of the "Golden Age of Piracy" rich with historical detail and romantic drama.
The contemporary story traces Barry Clifford's perilous exploration of the wrecks, following a remarkably accurate map drawn by Jean Comte D'Estrees, the Captain of the French fleet at the time of the disaster. Among the shipwrecks, Clifford found the remains of two pirate ships that had been working with the French. Three hundred years later, these extraordinary discoveries bring to life the last great wave of piracy.
