The pirate flag of Captain Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard. The flag shows a skeleton spearing a heart and toasting death. Image credit: Fred the Oyster via Wikipedia
The skull, now lined in silver, eventually showed up again at a pub in Virginia so that it could be used as a goblet.
By Dolly Stolze / 04.02.2018
There is an area of land on the west side of the mouth of the Hampton River in Hampton Roads, VA that is known as Blackbeard’s Point. After Blackbeard was killed in battle in 1718, his head was placed on a pole overlooking the southern end of the Cheseapeake Bay as a deterrent to any current or future pirates. The head sat atop that pole for many years until it disappeared. The skull, now lined in silver, eventually showed up again at a pub in Virginia so that it could be used as a goblet. It traded hands a few times until it ended up in storage at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA.
Before I discuss the undignified afterlife of Blackbeard’s skull, I would like to start with the meteoric career of the notorious pirate captain.