Writer, explorer, and deep-sea diver Barry Clifford's new book is The Lost Fleet: The Discovery of a Sunken Armada from the Golden Age of Piracy (William Morrow). The lost fleet was a group of French ships that sank in 1678 on the reef of Las Aves island, 100 miles off the Venezuelan coast. The fleet, as well as a small pirate army, was shipwrecked. The event launched "the golden age of piracy" that plagued maritimers for 50 years.
Clifford researched the disaster and was part of the team that located the armada. Clifford's previous book was Expedition Whydah. His explorations have been the subject of documentaries by the BBC, the National Geographic Society and PBS.
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