Medical supplies found aboard the wreck of Blackbeard's flagship

Marine archaeologists have recovered medical equipment from the Queen Anne’s Revenge, flagship of the pirate Blackbeard, which lies in shallow water on a sandbar at the Topsail Inlet in North Carolina.  The artifacts, combined with historical records, show that the infamous buccaneer had to keep his crew in fighting shape.  

Edward Teach (1680 – 1718), affectionately known to his crew as ‘Blackbeard’, was a notorious English pirate who captained the Queen Anne’s Revenge, operating around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies. Despite the modern-day picture of the traditional tyrannical pirate, Blackbeard is said to have commanded his vessels with the permission of their crews and there is no known historical account of his ever having murdered those he held captive.