Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge

Blackbeard Returns To Piracy!  Late July 1718: Edward Thache sails for St. Thomas on his Spanish sloop, Adventure [II] , to seek a commission as a privateer. But the lure of piracy is too great for Blackbeard and he returns to his old ways after stopping first in Philadelphia to sell some of his loot. Soon Thache and his crew sail into the Atlantic after hearing of the warrant for his arrest. READ MORE #artsandentertainment #piracy #northcarolina #shipwreck #shipwrecklaw #maritimeheritage #Pirates #NautilusProductions #Blackbeard #Documentary #StockFootage #Privateer #Archaeology #EdwardThache #copyright #QueenAnnesRevenge #McCrory #FriendsofQAR #NCDNCR #BlackbeardsLaw #NCFilm #Blackbeard300 #IntellectualProperty #lawsuit #SovereignImmunity #SCOTUS #SupremeCourt # Philadelphia #OuterBanks #ourflagmeansdeath

Blackbeard & Hornigold East of Cuba!  July 1717: Pirates Benjamin Hornigold on board his 30 gun sloop Bonnett , and his second in command Edward Thache on another sloop are sailing in the waters East of Cuba. They seize two merchant ships in quick succession. One sailing for New York from Havana is carrying 120 barrels of flour, a commodity much in demand in the Bahamas. About a week later they capture another sloop from Jamaica headed for New York with a cargo of rum which the pirates liberate from their prey. The pirate crews then sail for Nassau in early August and offload their booty. READ MORE #artsandentertainment #piracy #NorthCarolina #shipwreck #shipwrecklaw #maritimeheritage #pirates #NautilusProductions #Blackbeard #documentary #stockfootage #privateer #archaeology #EdwardThache #copyright #QueenAnnesRevenge #McCrory #FriendsofQAR #NCDNCR #BlackbeardsLaw #ncfilm #Blackbeard300 #Intellectualproperty #Lawsuit #SovereignImmunity #SC...

A Slave Ship Arrives in Port!  June 27, 1717: La Concorde arrives at the trading port of Juida (or Whydah), present-day Ouidah, Benin. During the next several weeks, the crew trades the goods they brought with them from Europe for 516 slaves and 14 ounces of gold dust. This gold dust would later be found on wreck site of the Queen Anne's Revenge . It is estimated that more than half of the entire slave trade took place during the 18th century, with the British, Portuguese and French being the main carriers of nine out of ten slaves abducted in Africa. Around 2.2 million Africans died during the Middle Passage where they were packed into tight, unsanitary spaces on ships for months at a time. Measures were taken to stem the onboard mortality rate, such as enforced "dancing" (as exercise) above deck and the practice of force-feeding enslaved persons who tried to starve themselves. The conditions on board also resulted in the spread of fatal diseases and the suicid...

Blackbeard Pardoned!   June 1718: Blackbeard takes his pick of booty and crew, after grounding the Queen Anne's Revenge and the Adventure, and travels to Bath, NC aboard his Spanish sloop, newly named Adventure [II].  Bath is North Carolina’s oldest town, incorporated in 1705, and the governmental center of the colony. In Bath Thache receives the "gracious pardon" of the Royal Proclamation from Governor Charles Eden . Blackbeard then gives the Governor a share of his plunder. Governor Eden, may have expected the arrival of Blackbeard, having just granted a pardon to pirate Stede Bonnet some time before. Eden knew that compliance with the pirate not only meant that his town would not be attacked, but that a degree of economic gain may also be in the cards. So, when Blackbeard arrived with a questionable ship laden with goods after his departure from Beaufort, Eden chooses to comply with the pirate’s orders. Blackbeard’s past crimes were, for all intents and purposes,...

Blackbeard Grounds His Flagship!  June 10, 1718: On or about this day, Blackbeard runs his flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge aground at Old Topsail Inlet, now Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. He attempts to kedge the Queen Anne's Revenge off the bar using his sloop Adventure but runs her hard aground as well. His cohort, Stede Bonnet, leaves for Bath, NC to seek a pardon from Gov. Charles Eden and renames his sloop the Royal James . When Bonnet returns he finds Blackbeard gone, the Queen Anne's Revenge stripped and former Adventure captain David Herriott marooned on Bogue Banks with Blackbeard's remaining pirate crew. A contemporary account by Ellis Brand of the Virginian guardship Lyme relates; "On the 10 June or thereabouts a large pyrate Ship of forty Guns with three Sloops in her company came upon the coast of North Carolina ware they endeavour'd to goe in to a harbour call'd Topsail Inlett; the Ship stuck upon the bar att the entran...