While pirates have always been a source of public fascination, piracy has seen a recent surge in both news headlines and popular culture, including the newly-released film Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks. While the term pirate readily conjures up a variety of images, including peg-legs, nefarious skull and cross bone flags, and squawking parrots, pirates cannot be separated from treasure. But what do we really know about pirates? Most of our understanding comes from popular fictional characters like Long John Silver or Captain Hook. Such images, however beloved, have complicated our understanding of these already mysterious historical figures. So who were these figures and what kind of “treasures” did they leave at the bottom of the sea? Join us and Dr. Frederick Hanselmann, from Texas State University, as we discuss his work on shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico as well as the difficulties of archaeological excavation underwater.