Did pirates bury their treasure? Did pirates really make maps where “X marks the spot?
Dear Cecil: Everyone is familiar with the idea of buried pirate treasure, and maps where “X marks the spot.” But is there any evidence of such a practice? Were there ever any pirate treasure maps as described? — Jimmy Breck-McKye, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom With Talk Like a Pirate Day still fresh in memory and Halloween coming up, now seems a reasonable time to clear some pirate questions off the books. Next week we’ll discuss other piratical behavior; today we’ll stick to Jimmy’s concerns. Did pirates ever bury treasure? It’d be strange if not – everyone else was doing it. For much of human history, if you had some covetable stuff you hoped to hang onto, couldn’t or didn’t want to put it in a bank or the equivalent, and owned a shovel, burial was Plan A. (That’s why, for instance, rural Britons still find pots of long-buried Roman coins.) Those who’d obtained their valuables under sketchy circumstances – say, while holding a cutlass to the previous owner’s throat – were only more
