Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge

Blackbeard Captures Two Prizes! August 23, 1718: Blackbeard and his crew on the Adventure [II] spy two French merchant ships, one fully laden and the other in ballast, sailing Northward from the Caribbean island of Martinique. The Rose Emelye , loaded with bags of cocoa and barrels of refined sugar, is in the company of the unarmed La Toison d’Or . Both are returning to France via the Gulf Stream. After a brief and futile fight, and some damage to Blackbeard's Adventure [II] and his crew, the pirates take both prizes and set course for North Carolina with one of the fully laden ships. The French crewmen are sent on their way in the other merchant vessel. Representative image.  READ MORE #artsandentertainment #piracy #northcarolina #shipwreck #shipwrecklaw #maritimeheritage #Pirates #NautilusProductions #Blackbeard #Documentary #StockFootage #Privateer #Archaeology #EdwardThache #copyright #QueenAnnesRevenge #McCrory #FriendsofQAR #NCDNCR #Blac...

Pirate Bonnet Heads For Carolina! August 12, 1718: On this day in 1718, "Gentleman Pirate" Stede Bonnet's sloop-of-war flagship the Royal James and two other armed sloops, th e Francis and the Fortune , captured a shallop as they sailed from Delaware Bay into the Cape Fear River. The Royal James was Blackbeard's former sloop and armed with eight cannon. The other two sloops were similarly armed. All together, 46 pirates crewed them. The Royal James was badly in need of careening with hurricane season quickly approaching and Bonnet had chosen the Cape Fear estuary as a reliable shelter against storms. For the next few weeks, Bonnet's crew made repairs to the Royal James with materials salvaged from the captured shallop. In the coming month, reports of Bonnet's presence in the region would make their way to South Carolina Governor Robert Johnson, prompting him to issue an order for Militia Colonel William Rhett to command an operation "to destroy t...

Warrant Issued for Blackbeard's Arrest! August 11, 1718: Governor William Keith of Pennsylvania issues a warrant for Blackbeard's arrest based on the belief Thache is trading with merchants in Philadelphia. "Upon an Informacon that one Teach a Noted Pirate, who has Done the Greatest Mischeif of any to this Place, has been Lurking for some Days in & about this Town I have Granted a Provincial warrant for his being apprehended, if possible to be found, & Several other petty Informacons of Late gives me Cause to Suspect that many of the Pirates that have Lately Surrendered themselves & Obtained Certificates from this & the neighbouring Governments, do still keep a Correspondence with their Old Companions abroad. To Prevent the Evil Consequences, whereof I am of Opinion it will be Convenient on the Sixth Day of the Next Month When his Majesties Act of Grace to the Pirates doth Expire, to publish a Proclamation here, Certifying a fresh the Encouragements whic...

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...