Pirate Shipwreck Explorer Tells Court Treasure Wasn’t Lucrative

A merger of ventures related to an 18th-century shipwreck was intended to benefit stockholders who volunteered services through decades of financial hardship, an undersea explorer testified before the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Streamlining the operations under Maritime Explorations Inc. aimed to get minority stockholders on a board of directors and reward salvage divers and others who worked to retrieve material from the wreck without pay. The merger also aimed to reduce the complications that came with running multiple companies, Barry Clifford said during trial Monday.

“It would be better for the investors,” he said. “I’ve got people who risked their ...