In May 1718, Blackbeard blockaded the port of Charleston. Blackbeard added 26 guns to the vessel, which already boasted 14, making the renamed Queen Anne's Revenge one of the most powerful ships in American waters. Slave ships, which often featured a central partition to protect the crew against a slave uprising, made good pirate ships because they were built for speed. Queen Anne's RevengeĮnglish pirate Edward Teach, more commonly known as Blackbeard, captured the Concorde, a French-owned slave ship, in the West Indies in 1717 and made the vessel his flagship. He hoped to receive a pardon from Livingston in New York, but was returned to London, found guilty of piracy, and executed in 1701. Kidd abandoned the Adventure Galley, which had developed a rotten hull, off the coast of Madagascar in 1698. Kidd had agreed to pay back the investment if he didn't return any treasure, and when finding pirates proved too difficult, he resorted to attacking allied ships.
Pirate hunting, it turned out, wasn't easy. To facilitate the mission, which was funded primarily by prominent English noblemen, the Adventure Galley was outfitted with 34 guns and 23 oars for maneuvering the ship in calm winds.
As part of a venture planned by New York Colonel Robert Livingston to curb attacks against British ships in the East Indies, Kidd was instructed to hunt down pirates and enemy French ships and steal their treasure and goods. Adventure GalleyĬaptained by Scottish sailor William Kidd, the 287-ton, three-mast Adventure Galley was launched along the Thames River in 1695. Here's a look at six of the more famous pirate ships in history. While the most successful captains in pirate lore commanded ships that were smaller, faster, and less ornate than Disney's fictitious Black Pearl, Blackbeard didn't make his fortune in a rowboat either. He was executed for murder and piracy in London on .Somali pirates, who wield automatic weapons and attack unsuspecting victims from speedboats, are changing the way we think about pirates and pirate ships. When news spread that Kidd had robbed an Englishman, many believed he had graduated from privateer to full-blown pirate. They robbed the vessel, which was sailing under French papers but had an English captain. On his mission in the East Indies, he and his crew apprehended a merchant vessel in 1698. Kidd outlived the Adventure Galley, though not by many years. She was stripped of anything of value and left to sink off the coast of Madagascar. By 1698, her hull was rotten and the ship was taking on water. In the late 17 th century, he was commissioned to attack and rob French vessels in the East Indies, kitting out his vessel, Adventure Galley, with some 34 guns for the task.Ī 3-masted ship launched in London in 1695, Adventure Galley served Kidd for roughly 3 years. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainĬaptain William Kidd, or simply Captain Kidd, began his seafaring career as a privateer (essentially a government or crown-sanctioned pirate). In 1996, researchers discovered what they believed to be Blackbeard’s lost vessel off the coast of Beaufort, North Carolina.Ĭaptain Kidd on the deck of the Adventure Galley by Howard Pyle. Queen Anne’s Revenge ran aground in 1718 off North America’s Atlantic coast. With it, Blackbeard enacted a blockade around Charleston, South Carolina, holding the whole port to ransom. When he was done with his renovations, the vessel had 40 cannons onboard and bore the name Queen Anne’s Revenge. In November 1717, he stole a French slaving vessel, La Concorde, and set about converting it into a fearsome pirate ship. Queen Anne’s RevengeĮdward Teach, better known as ‘Blackbeard’, oversaw a brutal reign of piracy across the Caribbean and North America from the late 17 th to early 18 th centuries. Here are 5 of the most notorious pirate ships in history. Typically stolen, stripped bare in the interest of speed and kitted out with numerous cannons, pirate ships were arguably the most important tool in a pirate’s arsenal.ĭuring the Golden Age of Piracy (1650s-1730s) and indeed throughout history, pirate ships have been used for some truly unthinkable acts of theft, violence and treachery. The most infamous pirates in history, from Blackbeard to Captain Kidd, would have been nothing without their fearsome vessels.
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