So this may disappoint some people, but there’s actually no confirmed historical evidence that the famous horned skeleton flag was ever used by Blackbeard…

The modern “Blackbeard flag”, the one we all know of with the horned skeleton holding an hourglass and spearing a bleeding heart, is extremely popular today, but the historical trail behind it is pretty shaky.

The only description of Blackbeard’s flags comes from a 1718 newspaper report during the blockade of Charleston. It describes his ships flying:

> “Black Flags and Deaths Heads in them”

…and accompanying sloops flying “bloody flags” (red flags).

That’s it. No horned skeleton. No spear. No bleeding heart.

What’s interesting is that the famous modern design doesn’t actually appear connected to Blackbeard until much later. The flag with the horned skeleton and bleeding heart first appeared in an article in The Mariner's Mirror magazine as a general pirate's flag in 1912, but the article made no assertion of it being Blackbeard's flag. Over time, later books and pop culture adaptations began attributing it to him, and eventually that attribution just stuck.

Some historians have also pointed out that the imagery itself feels more modern than early 18th-century pirate symbolism. Pirate flags from the Golden Age were usually fairly simple and relied heavily on common mortality imagery like skeletons, hourglasses, and skulls.

So the flag itself isn’t necessarily “fake”, it’s the direct attribution to it being Blackbeards that’s questionable.

Honestly, it’s just a fascinating example of how pirate mythology evolves over time until something repeated often enough simply becomes accepted as historical fact.

I've taken inspiration from some of the quotes relating to pirate weapons. Such as:

,,they again descride us, came up with me, and discharged two broadsides (double, round and partridge) with two full vollies of musketoons, blunderbusses, muskets and pistols" -Richard Hawkins on the assault by Francis Spriggs crew, 1724.

,,They have arms to fire five rounds before they load again" - Boston News-Letter warning of Blackbeard's ships in the area, 1717.

From these and other sources we can say that pirates favoured firearms more than the classic cutlass, usually armed with a pair of pistols, sometimes three or four; maybe even six, as Blackbeard himself was purported to carry.

As to the clothing I based it on the sailor garbs of the period:

example 1, 1680s; example 2, 1709; example 3, 1709

A Fragment of the book A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World Perform'd in the years 1708 1709 1710 and 1711, by Captain Edward Cooke was discovered in the barrel of a Gun found on the QAR.

r/QueenAnnesRevenge has officially passed 100 members!

For a brand new community centered around pirate history, maritime archaeology, and the story of Blackbeard’s flagship, that’s honestly an amazing start for such an extremely niche subject!

Thank you to everyone who’s joined, posted, commented, and helped bring this little corner of pirate history to life already. It’s been great seeing people excited to explore the story of Queen Anne’s Revenge together.

⚓ Here’s to the next hundred!

And if you haven’t posted yet, this is your sign to share something! Maps, artifacts, questions, media, theories, or historical discussions are always welcome aboard!

If you like what you’re seeing here, this is your sign to check out the other subreddit I created on Sam Bellamy’s ship, the Whydah Galley! r/WhydahGalley

https://www.qaronline.org/conservation/artifacts/tools-and-instruments/fishing-weights
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“Fishing weights like these helped sailors sink lines. There is also the possibility that these weights were used as counter-balances for scales or plumb bobs for surveying. Sailors or pirates caught fish to break up the monotony of a diet consisting only of the common low-nutrient foods aboard a seafaring vessel.”