All Episodes

The Island of Juan Fernandez was made famous by Alexander Selkirk, who was marooned there for 4 years and 4 days. His experience led Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, one of the many tales to have arisen from this mysterious land of castaways.

Pirates and explorers alike have traveled the Route to the Cocos Islands for over 400 years. For the last 100 years, travelers have tried to find one of three treasures legends say are buried on the island.

In 1868, ships sailed into Port Bluff, New Zealand carrying only a few exhausted survivors, who had been marooned for nearly 2 years on one of the coldest desert islands. In the last 100 years, many have died in search for the island’s treasure.

The Seychelles Islands are a popular tourist destination of the east coast of Africa. But in the 18th century, their remote location made the Seychelles an excellent base for pirate ships.

The island of Aruba, twelve miles off the coast of Venezuela, has seen one of the most secret of all treasure tales, in which a priest exchanged his love of God for a love of gold.

Lying off the west coast of South Wales is an island known as the Isle of the Seven Seas. It is an island that, according to an old legend, houses one of the greatest of all treasures, guarded by a long-dead monk.

After Europeans first settled in their land, the natives of Catalina Island began a hunt for buried treasure. To this day, historians are unsure whether the hunt by the aboriginal community was based on fact, or a fantasy devised to torture sailors.

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, June 1795: Three young men set out to row from the town of Chester to one of the many small islands that lie in this bay, with dreams of buried treasure, pirate gold and immeasurable wealth.

When Mussolini was executed, it was widely suspected that much of the treasure he had looted throughout his dictatorship was hidden on Elba Island.

The author of Treasure Island, Robert Louis Atevenson, came to live in the lush islands of the South Pacific in the 1890s. The dreamy mountains, the lagoons and coral reefs all make a perfect setting for mystery, adventure and unlikely discoveries.

Pirates fascinate us, partly because their personalities are believed to be so eccentric and colorful. And partly because people continue to believe that that they left behind unimaginable treasures traceable by folklore and historical record alike.

Far out in the Indian Ocean lies the island of Mauritius. One man living on the island has devoted years to his search for a treasure his father was convinced was there.

Treasure Island is a grim tale, and the author aimed to provide a moral message: Digging for private gold will only bring misery to the treasure-hunter.