The Queen Anne’s Revenge

“Edward Teach may have had a short run as a pirate captain, but what a beautiful soul for unwittingly being my chauffeur away from La Nouvelle Orleans.”

In the early years of the 1700s the British and the French were in a constant state of war, though they never declared it, they were fighting for territory, and riches in the “New World.” With the hunt for riches came the golden age of pirates. British sailors deserted colonial wars and instead sought loot, and chance for power, none have been remembered so vividly as Edward Teach, Blackbeard. His career as a pirate was like much others, thrilling but brief. In his time as a pirate he sought two things, to pillage the British Royal Navy, and become a legend. Teach was unlike any pirate of the time, he welcomed the consent of his crew, and sought to build himself into a fearsome legend that could circumvent bloodshed just because of his “myth.” He was able to become a fearsome legend among the island and coastal colonies thanks to his very first captured shipped, a French merchant ship he poignantly renamed, The Queen Anne’s Revenge.

In 1713, Teach had left the British Navy and was learning what it meant to be a pirate on a ship captained by Benjamin Hornigold. Meanwhile, French were seeking to out pace the British in colonists in the newly settled America. Among the rich trade of spices, gold, and silver the French were creating a colony in modern day Louisiana called, La Nouvelle Orleans built on trapping and trading with the native tribes. In the process the French and British would have…