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No pirate in history left a legacy as enduring as Blackbeard’s. During the brief two years he spent terrorizing the Americas and the West Indies, he crafted a fearsome reputation as the most ruthless and terrifying pirate to sail the seas.
Today, Blackbeard has become more of a legend than a real person. We now think of him as the quintessential tough guy, a pirate capable of striking fear into anyone who crossed his path. And while this isn’t entirely inaccurate, Blackbeard was far from being a charming antihero. He was a dangerous, unpredictable madman.
10. He Shot His Own Crew Members to Assert His Authority
Blackbeard’s ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, was a behemoth. With a crew of 300 hard-drinking pirates, all itching for a fight at the slightest provocation, keeping them in check was no easy feat. It’s likely that this led Blackbeard to develop a habit of drinking heavily and shooting his own men.
In the beginning, Blackbeard reportedly struggled to get his crew to obey him. After plundering ships, they’d get drunk off the stolen wine and become unruly, making it difficult for Blackbeard to maintain order.
However, things took a turn when Blackbeard started outdoing them in craziness. One famous tale tells of a night when Blackbeard was drinking with his first mate, Israel Hands. Suddenly, Blackbeard blew out the candle, pulled out his gun, and shot his first mate in the knee.
Israel Hands hadn’t provoked Blackbeard in any way. When Hands questioned Blackbeard about the shooting, Blackbeard simply relit the candle and replied, “If I don’t shoot one or two crewmen now and then, they’d forget who I am.”
9. He Burned Toxic Chemicals to See Who Could Endure the Longest
Blackbeard had some peculiar ways of passing the time. According to a tale that spread among his crew, the pirate once got utterly drunk and dared his men to determine who the toughest sailor was, in the most absurd way imaginable.
He led the men who accepted the challenge down into the hold of the ship and sealed all the hatches. Once he was certain there was no way to escape, he set a pot of sulfur ablaze. The thick, acrid smoke filled the air, suffocating the crew. Panicked, they began banging on the locked doors, pleading for release.
The other sailors managed to break open the doors and free themselves, but Blackbeard stayed behind. He made sure he was the only one still breathing in the choking fumes, then emerged from the yellow fog, shouting, “Damn ye, ye yellow-bellied sapsuckers! I’m a better man than all ye milksops put together!”
Afterward, he told his crew, “Next time, we’ll play at gallows and see who can swing the longest without being strangled.” However, by this point, his men had learned their lesson. No one volunteered.
8. He Shared His Wives With His Crew As A Gift
Blackbeard had a surprising appeal among women. Over the course of his life, he was married a total of 14 times—though for his wives, it wasn't always a dream come true.
The pirate was quite sentimental when it came to women. It was said that he treated each of his wives 'like his first love.' He insisted they marry him, but being a notorious pirate, he couldn't exactly make it to a church for a ceremony. Instead, one of his crew members would perform a mock wedding on board the ship.
At first, it might have been thrilling for the women—holding hands with a pirate and promising to be his forever. However, after the honeymoon, they quickly understood why none of Blackbeard’s marriages lasted. After their first night together, it is said that he would summon his men.
It was his custom to bring five or six of his ruthless companions ashore with him. The pirate would force his wife to prostitute herself to them, one by one, right before his eyes.
7. He Plundered Ships to Seek Treatment for Syphilis
While rummaging through the wreckage of his sunken vessel, archaeologists made an astonishing discovery: Blackbeard’s personal syphilis syringe. It turns out the infamous pirate carried a syringe filled with mercury to treat the relentless syphilis that had plagued him, the result of years spent chasing treasure.
This odd find, however, sheds light on much of Blackbeard’s behavior. Health care was central to his operations. During his raids, he would capture ship surgeons, forcing them to stay with him. On one occasion, after capturing a South Carolina ship, he threatened to kill everyone aboard—only to demand a chest full of medicine in the end.
Initially, historians believed that Blackbeard’s thirst for medicine was just for the wellbeing of his crew. However, it now seems he had a far more urgent need for all that mercury.
6. He Drank Too Much and Took People’s Hats
Before rising to the rank of captain, Blackbeard served under Captain Benjamin Hornigold. During this time, he mastered the art of flying the notorious black flag, terrorizing the Caribbean, and harassing the British. Above all, it was where he perfected his drinking skills.
While part of Hornigold's crew, Blackbeard joined in a raid against a sloop off the coast of Honduras. With black flags raised high, they boarded the vessel and made threats to the crew. However, their primary goal wasn’t treasure.
According to the victims, Blackbeard and Hornigold “did us no further injury than the taking most of our hats from us.” The pirates later confessed that, after a night of heavy drinking, they had carelessly thrown the hats into the sea.
5. He Wasn’t Really After The Money
The thing about being the most dreaded pirate on the oceans is that wealth becomes somewhat irrelevant. Despite all the ships Blackbeard plundered and the riches he accumulated, his mere reputation was enough to ensure no one would challenge him—even if he strolled into a shop and helped himself to whatever he fancied.
Blackbeard understood this well—and he made the most of it. On occasion, he would pay for his purchases, but only when the mood struck him. On other days, he'd simply take whatever he wanted and leave, almost taunting the shopkeepers to dare send him a bill.
It wasn’t that Blackbeard was unwilling to spend the money—it was more about flaunting his dominance. For sheer amusement, he'd stop ships he had just looted and offer to trade with them. Then he'd resell them their own stolen goods—not because he was in need of cash, but simply to remind them of how powerless they were against him.
4. He Launched Bags of Glass, Nails, and Lead at Rival Vessels
Blackbeard’s ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, was armed with 31 cannons, but they weren’t always loaded with traditional cannonballs. When he attacked a ship, sinking it wasn’t his primary goal. Instead, he preferred to keep the ship intact so he could seize it. For that, he had something far more vicious at his disposal.
Instead of cannonballs, Blackbeard stored canvas bags filled with glass, nails, and lead on his ships. When fired from the cannons, these bags unleashed a deadly spray of shrapnel, tearing through the target ship and causing chaos before Blackbeard and his crew boarded.
However, that doesn’t mean Blackbeard never aimed to sink a ship. When enraged enough to use cannonballs, he would tie two together with metal bolts. These would spin when fired, slamming through ship walls with enhanced force, utterly demolishing anything in their path.
3. He Was Shot Five Times and Stabbed 20 Times Before His Death
Even after Blackbeard received his pardon, he couldn’t stay away from piracy. It wasn’t long before he grew tired of a peaceful life and returned to the seas, attacking slave ships and causing chaos along the coastlines.
Lieutenant Robert Maynard set out to capture Blackbeard with two ships and a crew of 60 men. He would be the one to end Blackbeard’s reign, though it wouldn’t be an easy task.
Maynard devised a plan to make his ship appear almost deserted, tempting Blackbeard to board it. Once the pirate was close, Maynard’s men sprang from the hatches. Enraged, Blackbeard charged toward Maynard, who immediately shot him in the chest.
But even that couldn’t stop Blackbeard. He continued to fight, clashing swords with Maynard. He struck down with such force that he shattered Maynard’s sword, and likely would have killed him. However, someone stabbed Blackbeard in the neck from behind.
Despite the wound, Blackbeard kept on fighting. In the end, he had been shot five times and stabbed over 20 times before dying from blood loss. Even as he neared death, he was reloading his gun, resolute in his intent to keep shooting, no matter how many times they shot him.
2. He managed to secure a full Royal Pardon from the British authorities despite everything.
Despite the many heinous acts committed by Blackbeard, it's surprising that the British navy chose to abandon their pursuit of him. During the peak of piracy's golden age, notorious figures like Blackbeard became such a significant threat that the military eventually gave up trying to catch them.
The authorities declared that anyone who swore off piracy would receive a full governmental pardon—as long as they promised to never return to their old ways.
Blackbeard agreed to the terms—but not before indulging in one final spree of his notorious misdeeds. First, he persuaded his ally Stede Bonnet to seek a pardon for himself. Then, while Bonnet was preoccupied, Blackbeard betrayed him, stealing from his friend and his crew, and left them stranded on a deserted island.
Blackbeard secured his pardon just before Bonnet had a chance to learn of his actions. Unable to seek vengeance without becoming a fugitive again, Bonnet was left powerless, while Blackbeard managed to escape without facing any repercussions for his theft.
1. He Killed the Women He Captured by Strangling Them
Though Blackbeard married 14 women on land, he was staunchly opposed to women being on the sea. His views were clear: women had no place aboard his ship.
A woman who encountered Blackbeard at sea faced a far grimmer fate than one who met him in a tavern. His crew followed strict orders: any woman they captured was to be strangled and thrown overboard.
It was a harsh and unforgiving rule, yet Blackbeard was not alone in adhering to it. Stede Bonnet, Blackbeard's companion and one of the most dreaded pirates of the time, followed his example.
This strange code seemed to resemble a twisted form of chivalry. While Blackbeard never clarified his reasoning, other pirates claimed they didn’t condone allowing their men to assault and abuse women. To prevent such suffering, they would throw them overboard, leaving them to perish.
