The myth

Buccaneers, in the 16th-19th centuries, used to kill their enemies by making them "walk the plank."

The "truth"

If you're a ruthless pirate and you want to get rid of someone, why not simply hurl them overboard? If you want to torture them, there must be better - that is, crueller - methods than a brief stroll along a length of wood, followed by a quick drowning.

Just about every piece of pirate fiction of the last century and a half has included a walking-the-plank scene, yet there is no suggestion whatsoever in the historical record that it ever happened.