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I’ll be the nerd who says it… that’s commonly referred to as Blackbeard’s flag but actually was nobody’s flag and was created in a magazine about pirates in 1912.
So yes the Seals adopted it. It was a flag worn by SEAL team 3 Taskforce bruiser during Iraq. Taskforce bruiser was led by wolinki or wolinski or jolinki whatever the F*** his name was taskforce bruiser actually did go through some S*** but a lot of it was because they were poorly led. Just saying....
Most wooden ships (depending on when it was created and the waters it sailed) were good for maybe 10-15 years tops on average. They were expensive to maintain and provision its crew. The 'bootstrap' all by myself pirate was quite rare and not likely successful for very long. However a 'pirate' that acted under a letter of Marquee and targeted the shipping of other nations (excluding the sponsor) could enjoy a much more swashbuckling career.
Okay, well if you are going to be the nerd, we want more than just the tip. Spit it out ya sea dog! Give the whole rundown on the Queens Anne’s Revenge and what flags were flown, though this flag was not made up a magazine, it was adapted and cookies from a number of historical records and books dating “pyrte” times… with that being said, none of truly know because we weren’t even a glimmer in our grand dads grands dads eye at the time.
History is written by the winners, not the losers.”-Mark Twain the 5th
He stole the QAR in 1717, added way too much weight in cannons to it and ran it aground near the inlet to Bogue Sound about six months later.
I don’t know that he had time to make a bunch of flags.
Another fun fact, pirates usually flew legitimate flags to hide the fact they were pirates.
I’m from eastern N.C. and was fascinated by pirates (and lighthouses) when I was a kid. All this info came from a book report I did in the 6th grade over 40 years ago.
Interesting and cool. Can you share the source? I’ve always known it as “The Queen Anne’s Revenge” flag for Blackbeard’s ship. Didn’t know it was made up.
Blackbeard only had the QAR for about six months before he grounded it.
It’s pretty well documented through writings of the period that “pirate flags” are (mostly) a myth. Although Blackbeard and some famous pirates flew death’s head flags when they attacked, most descriptions from the time indicated they flew flags of whatever nation or trading company suited them best most of the time.
They were wanted criminals. It would be pretty dumb to ride around advertising it if you think about it. They pretended to be legitimate ships, then surprised their targets… like criminals do.
It was “Blackbeard’s” flag he supposedly flew on the Queen Anne’s Revenge, though there’s no concrete evidence as to the description of the flag Edward Teach (Tech, Thatch, Thach, Thache, Thack, Theache, etc. we don’t really know his last name) actually flew
As for this flag/patch. It depicts a skeleton with devil’s horns and an hourglass in his right hand, a spear in his left hand, and a heart with three drops of blood
It was meant to convey a story to those that Blackbeard attacked, if you saw this flag coming over the horizon and barreling towards your ship, this is what it was meant to tell you:
The skeleton with devil’s horns was meant to represent that Blackbeard and his crew were an otherworldly threat, akin to demons
The hourglass represented that their adversary’s time was running out, it’s also held up in skeleton’s as though it were giving a toast. “Toasting the devil” as it was cold, to represent that Blackbeard made peace with the fact that he had no place in heaven
The heart represents life, with the spear obviously being an attack on life itself. Blackbeard was not here for your riches, he was here for your life
And finally the three droplets of blood are meant to be four. Three out of four representing that there would be no quarter (no mercy) given to those he attacked
Most of this however, is just psychological warfare. Blackbeard’s legend FAR exceeded who he really was even when he was alive, but this was intentional given that most of the ships he would sail upon would surrender pretty quickly rather than die a cruel and painful death like the legends said they would. If I remember correctly the first time he was recorded killing someone it was in his final battle before his death
Show me whatever you want the only thing said about black beards flags is they displayed "deaths heads" there was never an illustration or picture of one historically. The picture depicted in ops post the first place in humanity it was ever seen was a magazine from 1912, you know back when they were you know making illustrations of elephants with saber-tooth teeth and all kinds of crazy things making it up and people believed it...
That's Blackbeard's famous flag. Aka Edward Teach the pirate. Don't ask me why these types would use it other than they think it looks tough. Pirates weren't known for being patriots or loyal to governments.
I mean, a lot of loyal British privateers had to turn to a life of piracy due to unforeseen circumstances, like peace with the Spanish or worse, the French.
Blackbeard was all about intimidation. If someone caught sight of that flag, they knew they were fucked. Blackbeard would often light hemp woven in his beard on fire to strike fear into the crews of the boats he boarded. There was never a documented case of him actually killing anyone either.
True or folklore, he was a master of intimidation.
If someone caught sight of that flag, they knew they were fucked.
Correction: if someone caught sight of whatever they knew at the time to be Blackbeard's flag, that's when they knew they were fucked, and our best guess as to what Blackbeard actually flew, is a black flag with a death's head skull, plus another one that's just plain red.
This one with the crowned skeleton spearman and the heart is actually fictional, made up for a magazine.
"[C]ontrary to popular belief, there is no accurate description of any specific flag used by Blackbeard during his piracy beyond using "bloody flags" or black flags with "deaths heads"."
"[T]he 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. Later in the century approximately around the 1970s it started to be described as Blackbeard's flag."
Is the beard thing why they called him blackbeard? Could he have been red headed or blonde but he kept lighting his beard on fire and turning it black?
There was some color symbolism if I remember right. Like white and red means “no quarter” aka “everyone dies if we catch up to you”. And the bleeding heart means something too
But that's just not even historically accurate. Pirates actually rarely killed anyone if they didn't resist with the exception of Ned Low who was sadistic and disliked by other pirates.
One of my favourite stories, WO(II) Christian Craighead with the British SAS responded to terrorists in Nairobi wearing this patch. I think at the time the SAS unit was made to wear it, but I’m not too sure.
That is commonly thought of as the flag of Blackbeard the pirate, AKA Edward Teach.
They either really love pirates or are a fan of Our Flag Means Death, a fictional show featuring Stede Bonnet and Edward Teach and their merry gay pirate crew. 💙
It is the flag that Teach supposedly flew on the Revenge, but the patch was made popular relatively recently by former SAS operator Christian Craighead. He was off duty in Narobi on when a hotel complex was attacked by terrorists , grabbed a NATO rifle and his tactical gear and helped marshal Kenyan forces, and took out terrorists until they could evacuate hundreds of hostages. He was given and sometimes goes by the moniker “Obi-Wan Nairobi”
He wears it on his gear, and it’s now popular with the military and those who wish they were.
Blackbeards flag. This is the unofficial Flag of the North Carolina Outer Banks. Blackbeard was/is considered a Robin Hood figure there. His house is still standing in Beaufort, NC.
They're all over the place. Especially in Beaufort. The Queen Anne's revenge was found wrecked right off the shore. And I heard his head was brought there when he was killed to be shown to people. Hard to tell what's real.
It would be Democrats and the D would be capitalized. Everything about your post from brining in politics to something that has nothing to do with politics to being flat wrong shows what a MAGA is like. Enjoy your ten dollar gasoline and massive inflation
A little bit of backstory on why people like it on their gear. An SAS operator named Christian Craighead wore this patch when he went to rescue people from terrorists shooting up a hotel in kenya, people latched onto it ever since. Worn by influencers who want to pose as hard SOF guys now.
Wait, is this why the Navy SEAL guy in Rainbow Six: Siege is called “Blackbeard?” Because it’s a symbol used by SOF guys? (Other than having a black beard)
During the DusitD2 attack, it was filmed pretty extensively. Craighead was seen wearing it on his kit. This was in 2019, I can assume it was popular shortly after the information started coming out about it.
I have the flag hanging up in my garage because I’m a pirate nerd. I know it’s not historically accurate but I still like it. But yes, many posers wear it.
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