1800s: Captain Kidd, a privateer, hired by the British to protect their ships, is accused of piracy and is hanged. He is said to have captured a ship with a British captain and a boatload of jewels. No treasure is ever uncovered.

1900s: The International Maritime Bureau praises Indian government officials and several ships' crews for helping to recover a hijacked ship (an act of piracy) loaded with aluminum ingot.

2000s: The term piracy is often used when software, music, or movies are copied illegally.

1800s: Rumor has it that $300 million worth of treasure, stolen from mines in Lima, Peru, is buried on the island of Cocos off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.  August Gissler buys half of the island and spends nineteen years searching for the missing goods but never finds any of it.

1900s: In 1988, the treasure of the S...