Buried Treasure is a light-hearted look at some of the most feared men and women who sailed the seas. The book lifts the lid or 'blows the gaff' on pirate lore and sayings, setting the record straight on the lives and ways of pirates, and revealing the meanings behind, and uses of, common maritime sayings.

Published to coincide with a major new exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Buried Treasure lift s the lid or ‘blows the gaff ’ on pirate lore and sayings, sett ing the record straight on the lives and ways of pirates, and revealing the meanings behind and uses of common maritime sayings. This book is a light-hearted and informative look at some of the most feared men and women who sailed the seas, and the popular cultural representations that sprang up around them in literature and in fi lm. Sections include: • Talk like a pirate: from scutt lebutt to cackle fruit and sawbones to old salt, the language of piracy is explored and explained. • Myth-busting pirate facts: did you know that pirates shared any treasure captured fairly among the crew, or that Bartholomew Roberts oft en celebrated captures with a cup of tea? What happened to pirates when they were caught? And did their victims really ‘walk the plank’? • Pirate profi les: meet some of the most fearsome and feared pirate f i gures, from Black Bart to Blackbeard, Anne Bonny to Mary Read. • Global piracy: pirate activity was not confi ned to any specifi c region – pirates operated in many diff erent regions of the world.