Return to Treasure Island and the Search for Captain Kidd [Hardcover]

Barry Clifford (Author), Paul Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2003

When history's most famous pirate, Captain Kidd, was hanged in 1701, he left behind a trail of treasure and treachery that stretched halfway around the world. For undersea explorer Barry Clifford, the biggest prize of all would be to find the Adventure Galley, Kidd's legendary pirate ship. In the world of pirate archaeology, it was the Holy Grail.

With the help of the Discovery Channel, Clifford fields an expedition that includes some of America's top experts in shipwreck recovery. Their goal is to find, identify, and possibly excavate the remains of history's most famous pirate ship. The search takes them to the exotic nation of Madagascar and a tiny island off its rocky coast known to historians as the model for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. There, amid pirate graveyards, broken porcelain intended for a European royal family, and native rituals that include blood sacrifice, Clifford and his crew find far more than they bargained for. The island's murky harbor is filled with sunken pirate ships, making it difficult to single out the Adventure Galley, and the shores are teeming with people who want the expedition stopped. The team races to find the ship before dark forces expel it from the island -- forces motivated by the same resentment and greed that caused Kidd's downfall.

Return to Treasure Island and the Search for Captain Kidd weaves together two exciting stories: the saga of Captain William Kidd, one of history's most baffling and mysterious figures, and Barry Clifford's obsessive quest to find perhaps the most notorious pirate ship of all time. The result is a tale of treasure and adventure that ends in death -- both Kidd's and, three hundred years later, that of a rival archaeologist who attempts to stop Clifford's expedition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The legendary Kidd (1654-1701) was a mass of intriguing contradictions. Initially a respectable husband and New York City entrepreneur, he succumbed to a lust for wealth and became a murderous, dictatorial pirate. Archeologist Clifford and co-writer Perry present a robust and chilling account of Kidd's barbaric exploits. The pirate material unfolds in alternating chapters with Clifford's search for the pirate's ship, Adventure Galley, an expedition funded by the Discovery Channel. Clifford describes his hunt meticulously, although his tale is overshadowed by the colorful portrait of a nefarious rogue who killed an innocent native on one of the Maldive Islands to establish authority and punished his crew so brutally they turned to mutiny. Stories about Discovery's tight schedules and frustrating efforts to procure excavation permits offer an in-depth view of obstacles expedition leaders and archeologists face, but Clifford's contemporary yarn gains emotional charge and tension when he deals with Dick Swete, a rival scientist with a longtime grudge, who struggles to deter Clifford. Swete, a descendant of pirate William Rogers, appears as a paranoid equivalent of Kidd and his fellow plunderers. The text's spare clarity brings alive the sea and Madagascar's Ile Sainte-Marie, a place where men could "buy clothing, weapons, drugs, alcohol, and women." Clifford finds his elusive ship, a far happier ending than Kidd found in his amazing saga's final phase, when he was hanged for his crimes and left to dangle in a London public square to warn those contemplating the pirate's life. 50 b&w photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Clifford is searching for lost pirate treasure again, this time in Madagascar, at Ile Sainte Marie, an island that was a haven for pirates in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The object of the search is the sunken ship of the infamous Captain Kidd. Clifford and coauthor Perry alternate between history and narrative. Over the course of the book, they tell how Kidd, a wealthy and respected man in New York's social and political circles, who was royally commissioned as a pirate hunter, later became the most wanted outlaw of his time. In addition, Clifford tells of his own expeditions to the site of the wreck, giving the reader a lesson in the basic techniques of underwater archaeology, recounting the pirate lore of the present-day inhabitants, mapping a network of underground tunnels used by pirates to hide treasure, and visiting the legendary pirate cemetery on the island. If all this sounds like a fascinating adventure story, that's because it is. Young and old readers alike will find a terrific pirate tale and fodder for the imagination. Gavin Quinn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (October 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060185090
• ISBN-13: 978-0060185091
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,292,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #55 in Books > History > Africa > Madagascar

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Should be titled "In Search of Permits", November 9, 2003

By 

Brad Rucker (Allen, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Return to Treasure Island and the Search for Captain Kidd (Hardcover)

Clifford does a good job of alternating between the story of Captain Kidd and his own search for Kidd's flagship. But far too much of the book is dedicated to a long, boring rendition of Clifford's dealings with the local authorities, his rival ship hunter and the resulting phone calls and meetings required to secure permits for the excavation of the ship. Over 90 percent of the modern portion of the book reads like: "Then I called the President's daughter. Then she called me back. Then we met with the minister of the Interior. He told us to come back the next day. So I rode a bike around the island. The next day we called the President's daughter again...." The politics is simply filler so that he wouldn't be selling a 50 page book. To summarize -- there are many books that are a better use of your time.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Adventure - Then and Now!, December 22, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Return to Treasure Island and the Search for Captain Kidd (Hardcover)

This is like getting two books in one! Part of the book tells the fascinating story of Captain Kidd and the other part, the story of Barry Clifford's expediton to Madagascar to recover Kidd's flagship, the Adventure Galley.

With the pictures and all, this book is better than TV.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Anticlimactic, June 21, 2008

By 

David Stapleton (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Return to Treasure Island and the Search for Captain Kidd (Hardcover)

This is Barry Clifford's narrative of his trip(s) to Ile Saint-Marie off the coast of Madagascar in search of William Kidd's Adventure Galley. It is pretty standard Clifford style based upon his other books. The author jumps back and forth, alternating present day with historical reference in an engaging fashion. The dual narrative maintains a nice sense of suspense, pulling the reader along.

The historical elements are well represented with discussion of Kidd and Culliford. The author takes time to support the link to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island from the title. However, the reader soon finds the present day trials and tribulations eclipse the historical and lead to an unsatisfying conclusion that I can only describe as anticlimactic.

The book is not a bad read, nor void of merit, but, ultimately, one has to ask whether this particular set of expeditions truly deserved to be written up in book format. Clifford's other book, The Lost Fleet and Expedition Whydah would be better places to start you appreciation of Clifford's work. And, Richard Zacks' Pirate Hunter is a better history of William Kidd's adventures.
P-)