The coastal region abounds with stories of pirates, phantom ships, and lost treasures. Tales of Blackbeard and his exploits permeate the backwater and outer banks.

All good legends have some facts woven into them. Unfortunatly for us, Blackbeard was a commerce raider. According to author and historian Lindley Butler "Blackbeard stole molasses, sugar, rum, and other goods". The chance the he aquired any large amount of gold or jewels is remote.

The best stories of gold come from the Spanish treasure fleets whose route from south america back to europe took them up the eastern coast of america. One such fleet was lost in 1750 in a hurricane. Thr El Salvdor and several gold laden ships like her were lost all along the eastern coast. Most of these ships were lost without a trace beckoning treasure hunters to this day.

One of these ships lost along the outer banks sank close enough to shore for survivors to reach safety. This handfull of survivors made it back to Spain and organized an expedition in hopes of recovering there lost treasure. This took nearly a year but when they returned to the site of the wreck they found all of the gold to be missing. To this day, no one is sure what happened to the gold but it is a good chance locals were able to salvage it and keep it for themselves.