He maimed, killed, plundered. Why will NC fly Blackbeard's creepy black flag again?
Long gone but by no means forgotten, Blackbeard's dreaded black flag will fly on state ferries to the Outer Banks this year.
It's the 300th anniversary of the pirate's death. To mark the occasion, his flag will fly on ferries between Hatteras and Ocracoke, Cedar Island and Ocracoke, Swan Quarter and Ocracoke, and on the Pamlico River route between Bayview and Aurora.
The state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources said it bought the flags to celebrate "the golden age of piracy" and North Carolina's long maritime history. The Blackbeard 300 Committee will host exhibits and events throughout the year, culminating with an Oct. 25-28 Pirate Jamboree in Ocracoke.
“We’re honored to take part in this celebration of an important piece of North Carolina history,” state Ferry Division Director Harold Thomas said in a statement. “It will be a neat reminder for our passengers that they’re plying the same waters that Blackbeard sailed 300 years ago.”
Pirate lore charms tourists, but the former English privateer Edward Teach was known to torture the crews and passengers of merchant ships he plundered in the Caribbean and on the Atlantic coast.
Blackbeard cultivated a fearsome image by wrapping lighted coils in his long black hair and beard, the National Park Service says, and flew a flag meant to intimidate: It depicted a skeleton holding an hourglass and spear and a heart dripping blood.
British Royal Navy ships lured Blackbeard into a battle in Ocracoke Inlet on Nov. 22, 1718. Blackbeard succumbed to 25 stab wounds and five gunshots, the Park Service says. His decapitated head was mounted on the bowsprit of a British ship and his body tossed overboard.
A search team found cannon and anchors believed to be from Blackbeard's flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, in 1996.
This story was originally published April 6, 2018 at 7:00 AM with the headline "He maimed, killed, plundered. Why will NC fly Blackbeard's creepy black flag again?."