42 Fun Facts About Blackbeard

By what real name is Blackbeard usually known?

Edward Teach is the usual name, but people who met him wrote 'Thatch', and pirates often used false surnames, so his true name may never be known.

What was the name of Blackbeard's 40-gun flagship?

Queen Anne's Revenge was the captured French ship La Concorde, taken off Saint Vincent in November 1717 and refitted by Teach with about 40 guns as his flagship.

What was Blackbeard reported to have tied under his hat to frighten enemies?

The slow matches, plus three brace of pistols in bandoliers, gave him a look 'from hell', according to a 1724 account.

On which Bahamian island did Blackbeard base himself when he first turned pirate around 1716?

Its harbour held hundreds of ships but was too shallow for the Royal Navy's largest vessels.

Under which pirate captain did Blackbeard first serve before commanding his own sloop?

Hornigold, a former privateer, attacked only old enemies; his crew demoted him and he took the King's pardon.

In which English city was Blackbeard most likely raised?

Then England's second-largest city, it was a hub of the Atlantic slave trade; he could almost certainly read and write.

Which 'gentleman pirate', a wealthy landowner, handed Blackbeard command of his ship Revenge in 1717?

Bonnet's own crew were dissatisfied with him; Blackbeard later stripped his ship and marooned his men.

What cargo did Blackbeard and Hornigold take from the Betty of Virginia in 1717 before scuttling her?

They had apparently developed a taste for it after taking 100 barrels of wine from a Bermuda sloop.

On which island did Blackbeard put La Concorde's French crew ashore after capturing her in 1717?

Teach landed La Concorde's crew on Bequia, near Saint Vincent, and gave them the smaller of his two sloops, which they renamed Mauvaise Rencontre, 'Bad Meeting'.

How did Blackbeard reportedly wear his beard?

He also favoured knee-length boots and sometimes a long coat of brightly coloured silk or velvet.

How many verified accounts exist of Blackbeard murdering or harming a captive?

He relied on his fearsome image rather than violence to get what he wanted.

Whom did Blackbeard make captain of a captured Jamaican logwood sloop in March 1718?

Hands later escaped hanging because he was ashore, having been shot in the knee by Blackbeard during a drinking session.

What rank did Blackbeard award himself by May 1718, at the height of his power?

Teach styled himself Commodore of a flotilla of several vessels and more than 300 men, which blockaded Charles Town, South Carolina, in late May 1718.

What did Blackbeard demand as ransom when he blockaded Charles Town in 1718?

He threatened to send prisoners' heads to the governor, then released everyone once the drugs arrived.

Where did Blackbeard's flagship run aground on a sandbar in June 1718?

Some historians think Blackbeard grounded her deliberately to shed crew and increase his share of the loot.

Which governor granted Blackbeard a royal pardon at Bath, North Carolina, in June 1718?

Eden was later accused of being Blackbeard's accomplice.

Roughly how many of his own men did Blackbeard maroon on a sandy island before sailing to Ocracoke?

The marooned men were rescued two days later.

What happened to the 'gentleman pirate' after Blackbeard stripped his ship and marooned his crew?

He was captured at the mouth of the Cape Fear River in September 1718.

What did Blackbeard rename his last sloop after receiving official title to it?

He was supposedly sailing to St Thomas for a privateer's commission, but was back to piracy within weeks.

Which fellow pirate joined Blackbeard for a days-long party on Ocracoke Island in 1718?

Charles Vane and Blackbeard's crews drank and feasted on Ocracoke for days in October 1718; news of the gathering alarmed the governors of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Which colonial governor personally financed the expedition that killed Blackbeard?

Alexander Spotswood of Virginia had no legal authority to invade North Carolina, and may have believed Blackbeard had fabulous treasure hidden away.

What were the names of the two sloops Maynard used to attack Blackbeard?

Maynard's 57 men sailed in the hired sloops Jane and Ranger; they came from HMS Pearl and HMS Lyme, whose frigates drew too much water for the inlets and stayed behind.

Roughly how many men did Blackbeard have aboard at Ocracoke, according to the 1724 General Historie?

He had told everyone he had forty; two dozen of his men were ashore in Bath with one of his captains.

What trick did Maynard use to surprise Blackbeard's boarding party?

Seeing an apparently empty deck, Blackbeard led his men aboard, and Maynard's crew burst out of the hold.

What did Blackbeard do to Maynard's cutlass during their duel?

Teach's cutlass broke Maynard's sword at the hilt, cutting his fingers; he was about to deliver the killing blow when one of Maynard's men slashed his neck.

How many times had Blackbeard been shot when Maynard examined his body?

He had also been cut about twenty times.

What did Maynard do with Blackbeard's head?

Maynard hung Teach's severed head from the bowsprit of his sloop as proof for the reward; it was later displayed on a pole at the mouth of the Hampton River, Virginia.

What was Blackbeard's loot found to consist of when it was auctioned after his death?

It fetched £2,238, part of which paid for the entire operation.

Which North Carolina official was tried and acquitted of being in league with Blackbeard?

Tobias Knight, the colony's secretary and customs collector, argued the sugar in his barn was stored legally and that Blackbeard had visited him only on official business; the council acquitted him.

Where were the surviving members of Blackbeard's crew tried in March 1719?

The trial was held in Williamsburg, Virginia's capital, in March 1719; fourteen of the sixteen were hanged and left in gibbets along what became Gallows Road.

In what year was the wreck presumed to be Blackbeard's flagship discovered off North Carolina?

By 2013 around 280,000 artefacts had been recovered, some displayed at the North Carolina Maritime Museum.

Which pirate, credited with capturing over 400 ships, was far more successful than Blackbeard?

Bartholomew Roberts took more than 400 prizes between 1719 and 1722, dwarfing Blackbeard's haul; Teach was the most famous pirate of the age, not the most successful.

According to a North Carolina folk tale, what was made from Blackbeard's skull?

Legend says the skull was silver-plated and used as a drinking chalice; North Carolina judge Charles Harry Whedbee claimed to have drunk from it one night in the 1930s.

Which actor's exaggerated West Country accent as Blackbeard the Pirate (1952) is credited with creating the stereotypical 'pirate voice'?

Robert Newton was a West Country native himself, and simply exaggerated his own accent into the pirate voice.

Who played Blackbeard in the 2022 series Our Flag Means Death?

Malkovich played him in Crossbones and Ray Stevenson in Black Sails.

Unexplained lights at sea off North Carolina are sometimes called what?

Such lights are called 'Teach's light'; legend says Blackbeard's headless ghost roams the Carolina coast and the waters off Ocracoke in search of his head.

Which Supreme Court case arose from North Carolina posting videos of the wreck of Blackbeard's flagship?

In Allen v. Cooper (2020) the Supreme Court held that states cannot be sued for copyright infringement; videographer Frederick Allen had sued over North Carolina's use of his footage of the wreck.

Which former privateer landed at New Providence in the Bahamas in 1718 and ended the pirate republic based there?

Woodes Rogers's arrival sent West Indies piracy into terminal decline, and news that he had left England with men-of-war prompted Blackbeard to head north from Charles Town.

Which fictional character from a 2003 film has been compared to Johnson's Blackbeard?

Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), has been likened to Johnson's flamboyant Blackbeard; Disney's 1968 comedy Blackbeard's Ghost had put Teach himself on screen.

Fragments of paper found inside a cannon on the wreck in 2018 came from what kind of publication?

The sixteen scraps were from A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World, describing a 1708-1711 expedition.

Which medical instrument from Blackbeard's flagship wreck was found with traces of mercury inside?

A urethral syringe recovered from the wreck held traces of mercury, the era's standard treatment for syphilis, one of several medical instruments among the ship's artefacts.

Where was Blackbeard living before he moved to the pirate haven of New Providence?

Teach had sailed on privateers out of Jamaica during Queen Anne's War; after the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht ended that work he moved to New Providence and turned pirate.