TREASURE CHEST - There were no banks for pirates. The ultimate offshore account was to hide treasure in a cave, or to bury it. The chest above was recovered from the sunken pirate ship Whydah, captained by Black Sam Bellamy, caught in a storm and lost with all but two of the 146 hands onboard on April 26th 1717.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, is the classic tale of pirates and treasure, based on a mix of real events, blended into a fine story including all the ingredients of life as a pirate in the Golden Age. The book is an excellent read.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Many attempts at capturing this fine yarn on film have been waged, but to our mind these efforts have, so-far, failed to live up to expectations. Even with the likes of Charlton Heston as Long John Silver. Hollywood may never stage another attempt, where the digital age offers movie goers far more thrills per second with robots and superheroes.

It is a popular myth that pirates buried their treasure, this happened only infrequently when they thought that capture was imminent, as when being chased, but that concept and the inevitable treasure map, forms the basis of many a great adventure.

What is true, is that there were hundreds of ships lost at sea, laden with treasure. Many of these have now been found and the loot recovered. Today we have professional treasure hunters financed by consortiums.

Treasure Island is the title of the 3rd John Storm ocean adventure franchise, where Henry Morgan's treasure was never discovered, and his grave was lost to the ocean when an earthquake struck Port Royal and a tsunami washed the city of sin under the waves.

This is the inspiration for a John Storm ocean awareness adventure, featuring the Elizabeth Swann, an artificially intelligent ship, powered by renewable energy.

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