Blackbeard is quite possibly the most infamous and well-known pirate in history. While his name is legendary, what do we really know about him? Edward Teach is the name that Blackbeard used however, many scholars doubt that was even his real name. It was common for pirates to use assumed names while engaged in piracy so as not to tarnish their family’s name. It is believed that Blackbeard was born in England around the year 1680. Unfortunately, much of Blackbeard’s early life remains a mystery. We do know that he arrived in the Caribbean during the last years of the 17th century and worked on several ships during that time.
Some speculate that his career in piracy began in 1716 when he joined the crew of Captain Benjamin Hornigold, one of the “founders” of the Republic of Pirates in the Bahamas. Teach worked his way up to become Hornigold’s second-in- command and eventually replaced him as Captain. After capturing the French ship Le Concorde, Blackbeard renamed it the Queen Anne’s Revenge and took it as his flagship. At the height of his power in 1717 and 1718, Blackbeard pillaged and plundered ships throughout the Caribbean and off the coast of North America. Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy was tasked with Blackbeard’s capture. Maynard and his crew tracked Blackbeard to the coast of North Carolina. It was there, in a final battle near Ocracoke Island that Blackbeard finally met his demise.
The history of Blackbeard’s flag is not entirely clear. The “Flag of Blackbeard”, as we know it today, is a black banner with an image of a horned skeleton holding an hourglass in its raised right hand and a spear in its left. It is said that the skeleton is toasting the devil with the hourglass. Below the spear is a red heart with three drops of blood below it. The pierced heart symbolizes that no quarter would be given.
The only contemporary account of Blackbeard’s flag can be attributed to Captain William Wyer of the ship Protestant Caesar. When he saw Blackbeard’s fleet of pirate ships, he gave this description “… a large Ship and Sloop with Black Flags and Deaths Heads in them and three more Sloops with Bloody Flags all bore down upon the… ship Protestant Caesar… the ship had 40 Guns and 300 Men called the Queen Anne’s Revenge, commanded by Edward Teach…”
This description has inspired the version of Blackbeard’s flag that we know today. This modern version of Blackbeard’s flag appears to have been designed in the early 20th century and first appeared in the academic journal The Mariner’s Mirror as a general pirate flag. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that this image became specifically associated with Blackbeard.
Regardless of its origin, this flag has become as closely associated with Blackbeard as the images of his smoldering beard and his bandolier of six pistols. The imagery used was drawn upon from many symbols that are closely associated with Blackbeard and the Golden age of Piracy.
Flag is 19.5"x36"