Blackbeard crashed his pirate ship on purpose because it leaked

By Colin Barras

Edward Teach was better known as the pirate Blackbeard

Science Source/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Queen Anne’s Revenge, the ship that helped the pirate Blackbeard gain fame and fortune, was in poor shape and prone to leaking, a new analysis has revealed. The discovery could explain the vessel’s fate, as Blackbeard may have deliberately run it aground to avoid the headache of keeping it afloat.

We know little about the early life of Blackbeard, whose real name was Edward Teach. One of his most successful acts of piracy came in May 1718 when he used his pirate flotilla to blockade …