50 Fun Facts About Blackbeard

By what real name is Blackbeard usually known?

People who actually met him wrote 'Thatch'; pirates often used false surnames, so his true name may never be known.

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

She had been the French slave ship La Concorde, and before that the English merchantman Concord.

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.

What kind of vessel was La Concorde when Blackbeard captured her off Saint Vincent in November 1717?

He landed her crew and captives on Bequia and gave the crew a small sloop they renamed Mauvaise Rencontre, 'Bad Meeting'.

Whose deposition describing 'a very black beard which he wore very long' gave us the name Blackbeard?

Bostock and his crew were held for eight hours in December 1717 while their sloop Margaret was ransacked.

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?

His flotilla then blockaded Charles Town, South Carolina.

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.

Why were the two pirates sent into Charles Town to fetch the drugs so slow to return?

Blackbeard had moved eight ships into the harbour, causing panic, before the party finally reappeared.

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?

News of the gathering alarmed the governors of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Which colonial governor personally financed the expedition that killed Blackbeard?

He may have believed Blackbeard had fabulous hidden treasure; he had no legal authority to invade North Carolina.

Who led the naval force that killed Blackbeard at Ocracoke on 22 November 1718?

Despite his bravery he was never promoted and faded into obscurity.

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

His 57 men came from HMS Pearl and HMS Lyme; the ships themselves 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?

Blackbeard 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?

It was later mounted on a pole at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, where it stood for years.

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.

Why did one of Blackbeard's captains escape hanging while 14 crewmates were executed?

He claimed Blackbeard had shot him in the knee during a drinking session, leaving him ashore.

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

He argued the sugar in his barn was stored legally and that Blackbeard had visited him only on official business.

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

Fourteen of the sixteen were hanged and left in gibbets along what became known as Gallows Road.

Most of what is known about Blackbeard comes from a 1724 book credited to which author?

'Johnson' may have been a pseudonym, possibly for Defoe or the publisher Charles Rivington.

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 is said to have taken about five times as much loot as Blackbeard?

Blackbeard was not the most successful pirate, only the most famous.

According to the encyclopaedia, which is the only pirate ever known to have actually buried treasure?

No find on the US east coast has ever been linked to Blackbeard's rumoured hoard.

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

A local judge claimed to have drunk from it one night in the 1930s.

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

Newton was himself a West Country native.

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?

Legend says his ghost roams in search of his head.

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

The state's so-called 'Blackbeard's Law' was repealed in 2023.

Which former privateer arrived in the Bahamas in 1718 and ended the pirate republic there?

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?

Blackbeard's Ghost, a 1968 Disney comedy, had already put him on screen decades earlier.

Which French naval commander used the future Queen Anne's Revenge before she became a slave ship?

The 200-ton vessel is believed to have been built in 1710; Blackbeard added heavier cannons after selling her cargo of enslaved people at Martinique.

Which private research firm discovered the presumed wreck of Blackbeard's flagship in November 1996?

Director of operations Mike Daniel located it using historical research; the state only confirmed the wreck's identity in 2011.

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.

How many cannons in total have been identified at the wreck site of Blackbeard's flagship?

By 2018 archaeologists had excavated 24 of them; proof marks show guns of English, Swedish and other origins.

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

The move probably came shortly after the Treaty of Utrecht, when many out-of-work privateers turned to piracy.