Forget 'walking the plank.' Pirate portrayals—from Blackbeard to Captain Kidd—are more fantasy than fact. I

A gold bar and coins recovered from the Spanish galleon 'Las Maravillas' that wrecked in 1656 near the Bahamas

Prized Spanish coins, or pieces of eight, recovered from the wreck of the 'Whydah Gally'

Wooden treasure chests were typically studded with metal to reinforce them.