https://www.qaronline.org/conservation/artifacts/arms-and-armament/bar-shot
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Bar shot was used at close range to slash through the rigging and sails of an enemy ship. The weight on either end of the bar would cause the whole thing to partially rotate after it was fired out of a cannon, inflicting maximum damage on sails and rigging. Such attacks could prove devastating, especially at sea, when a successful volley could force sailors to choose between starving whilst stranded at sea or surrendering to the pirate crew.

Bar shot can be constructed in a variety of ways, but four distinct types have been recovered from Queen Anne’s Revenge thus far, both fragmented and complete. Bar shot with whole (cannon ball-shaped; top in photo above), half (hemi-spherical; middle in photo above), and hammer (cylindrical; bottom in photo above) heads are connected by a solid wrought iron bar, square in cross-section. A recently cleaned expanding bar shot (bottom in photo above) consists of two linked bars with hammer heads on either end, which would be loaded collapsed into a cannon, but spread out to almost three feet when fired. In total, we have recovered over 35 complete and fragmented bar shot.

Over the years, archaeologists working on the wreck of the QAR have recovered numerous artifacts connected to the ship and its crew.

Cannons, navigational tools, medical supplies, weapons, gold dust, personal items, and countless everyday objects have all helped paint a picture of life aboard Blackbeard’s flagship.

But there’s still plenty that may never be found, or may just be waiting beneath the sand.

So here’s the question:

If you could recover ONE artifact from Queen Anne’s Revenge, what would you choose?

Would it be:
- a weapon?
- a personal belonging?
- navigational equipment?
- treasure?
- the ship’s bell?
- Blackbeard’s own possessions?

And why that item specifically? Curious to hear what everyone would want to uncover most from the wreck.

https://www.qaronline.org/conservation/artifacts/arms-and-armament/grenades
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“These hollow iron spheres were filled with gunpowder and stopped with a wooden fuse plug through which a slowmatch or paper fuse was fed. After the fuse was lit, the grenade would be lobbed at the enemy, with devastating results. If the fuse was too long, the intended victim might have the opportunity to return the grenade to the pirates. At least two dozen grenades have so far been identified from the Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck.”

r/QueenAnnesRevenge has officially passed 100 members!

For a brand new community centered around pirate history, maritime archaeology, and the story of Blackbeard’s flagship, that’s honestly an amazing start for such an extremely niche subject!

Thank you to everyone who’s joined, posted, commented, and helped bring this little corner of pirate history to life already. It’s been great seeing people excited to explore the story of Queen Anne’s Revenge together.

⚓ Here’s to the next hundred!

And if you haven’t posted yet, this is your sign to share something! Maps, artifacts, questions, media, theories, or historical discussions are always welcome aboard!

If you like what you’re seeing here, this is your sign to check out the other subreddit I created on Sam Bellamy’s ship, the Whydah Galley! r/WhydahGalley

https://www.qaronline.org/conservation/artifacts/tools-and-instruments/fishing-weights
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“Fishing weights like these helped sailors sink lines. There is also the possibility that these weights were used as counter-balances for scales or plumb bobs for surveying. Sailors or pirates caught fish to break up the monotony of a diet consisting only of the common low-nutrient foods aboard a seafaring vessel.”

I've taken inspiration from some of the quotes relating to pirate weapons. Such as:

,,they again descride us, came up with me, and discharged two broadsides (double, round and partridge) with two full vollies of musketoons, blunderbusses, muskets and pistols" -Richard Hawkins on the assault by Francis Spriggs crew, 1724.

,,They have arms to fire five rounds before they load again" - Boston News-Letter warning of Blackbeard's ships in the area, 1717.

From these and other sources we can say that pirates favoured firearms more than the classic cutlass, usually armed with a pair of pistols, sometimes three or four; maybe even six, as Blackbeard himself was purported to carry.

As to the clothing I based it on the sailor garbs of the period:

example 1, 1680s; example 2, 1709; example 3, 1709

So this may disappoint some people, but there’s actually no confirmed historical evidence that the famous horned skeleton flag was ever used by Blackbeard…

The modern “Blackbeard flag”, the one we all know of with the horned skeleton holding an hourglass and spearing a bleeding heart, is extremely popular today, but the historical trail behind it is pretty shaky.

The only description of Blackbeard’s flags comes from a 1718 newspaper report during the blockade of Charleston. It describes his ships flying:

> “Black Flags and Deaths Heads in them”

…and accompanying sloops flying “bloody flags” (red flags).

That’s it. No horned skeleton. No spear. No bleeding heart.

What’s interesting is that the famous modern design doesn’t actually appear connected to Blackbeard until much later. The 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. Over time, later books and pop culture adaptations began attributing it to him, and eventually that attribution just stuck.

Some historians have also pointed out that the imagery itself feels more modern than early 18th-century pirate symbolism. Pirate flags from the Golden Age were usually fairly simple and relied heavily on common mortality imagery like skeletons, hourglasses, and skulls.

So the flag itself isn’t necessarily “fake”, it’s the direct attribution to it being Blackbeards that’s questionable.

Honestly, it’s just a fascinating example of how pirate mythology evolves over time until something repeated often enough simply becomes accepted as historical fact.