Queen Anne's Revenge

"This be the Queen Anne's Revenge, right enough." "How do you know?" "I've seen the name. On the back of the ship."

- Scrum and Jack Sparrow

The Queen Anne's Revenge was an infamous pirate vessel, formerly named Concord and La Concorde de Nantes. Imposing, terrifyingly beautiful, a brutal beast of the sea, this legendary ship of the seven seas struck dread into the heart of pirates on the high seas. Cutting a quick path over open water, the Revenge boasted strong defenses and lethal armaments. The Queen Anne's Revenge reportedly sailed full of wealth and treasure plundered from many ill-fated victims.

Bristling with cannons and spiked with human bones, the Queen Anne's Revenge was the flagship of the notorious pirate Blackbeard. Under his command, this fearsome vessel was manned by the undead, whether it was a soulless crew of jumbees or zombies, await with deadly determination to repel all boarders. The Revenge also came to life as long as its captain wielded the Sword of Triton, then the vessel would do his indomitable will and spread terror in its bloody wake. According to legend, the Queen Anne's Revenge was festooned with the skeletons of Blackbeard's victims, and spat Greek fire from its bow to incinerate enemy ships, or the occasional crew member fallen out of favor.

During the quest for the Fountain of Youth, Blackbeard held no ordinary ship's crew, but a crew consisting of a mixture of humans and zombies, led by his daughter Angelica. Several days after being shanghaied aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, Jack Sparrow used his lowly position as mere crewman to lead a mutiny against the zombie officers. However, the revolt was foiled when Blackbeard himself appeared and used the Sword of Triton to spring the sinister ship to life, in which Jack's crew of mutineers got caught in its rigging. Throughout the quest, Jack and Angelica danced on deck, the Revenge partook in the mermaid hunt at Whitecap Bay, and was docked in a cove of a mysterious island for the remained of the journey to the Fountain. After the death of Blackbeard, the Queen Anne's Revenge and its crew would be led by Hector Barbossa.

The Concord
She was built in England in 1710 and named Concord. At first she served as English Merchant Navy ship but she was captured by French privateers a year later. While in France, her stern was modified to resemble that of the Dutch flute, and she was later sold to Spain. In 1713 she was returned to France and again underwent a transformation. She was eventually sold to Rene Montaudoin, a French merchant who refitted her as a slave ship and renamed La Concorde de Nantes.

La Concorde de Nantes
La Concorde, now a French Merchant Navy ship left Nantes on March 24, 1717, armed with sixteen cannons and had a crew of seventy-five. On July 8, La Concorde arrived at the port of Judas, on the coast of West Africa. There they took on a cargo of 516 captive Africans. The captain and officers also obtained about twenty pounds of gold dust for their own account. La Concorde took nearly eight weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the hardships of the notorious Middle Passage took their toll on both the Africans and the French crew. By the time they reached the Caribbean, sixty-one slaves and sixteen crewmen had perished.

After crossing the Atlantic, and only 100 miles from Martinique, the French ship encountered two pirate sloops, one with 120 men and twelve cannons, and the other with thirty men and eight cannons. The pirates were led by none other than Blackbeard, a notorious pirate captain. With the French crew already reduced by sixteen fatalities and another thirty-six seriously ill from scurvy and dysentery, the French were powerless to resist. After the pirates fired two volleys at La Concorde, Captain Pierre Dosset surrendered the ship.

Blackbeard's pirates took La Concorde to the island of Bequia in the Grenadines where the French crew and the enslaved Africans were put ashore. While the pirates searched La Concorde, the French cabin boy, Louis Arot, informed them of the gold dust that was aboard. The pirates searched the French officers and crew and seized the gold. The cabin boy and three of his fellow French crewmen voluntarily joined Blackbeard's pirates, and ten others were taken by force including a pilot, three surgeons, two carpenters, two sailors, and the cook. La Concorde was the grandest and most elegant ship that Blackbeard ever captured, so he decided to keep her for himself. His crew left the French the smaller of the two pirate sloops. The French gave their new and much smaller vessel the appropriate name Mauvaise Rencontre (Bad Encounter) and, in two trips, succeeded in transporting the remaining Africans from Bequia to Martinique. Soon, Blackbeard doubled the number of the ship's guns and renamed her the Queen Anne's Revenge, in honor of Queen Anne of Great Britain.

Blackbeard's pirate ship
"Where am I?" " 'Scuse me, Captain Sparrow, sir. I be right honored to welcome you aboard our world-renowned vessel of infamy&mdash;Queen Anne's Revenge." "...Blackbeard."

- Jack Sparrow and Scrum

Leaving Bequia in late November, Blackbeard with his new ship cruised the Caribbean taking prizes and adding to his fleet. From the Grenadines, Blackbeard sailed north along the Lesser Antilles plundering ships near St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Nevis, and Antigua, and by early December he had arrived off the eastern end of Puerto Rico. From there, the pirates were headed to Samana Bay in Hispaniola. By April 1718 the pirates were off the Turneffe Islands in the Bay of Honduras. It was there that Blackbeard captured the sloop Adventure, forcing the sloop's captain, David Herriot, to join him. Sailing east once again, the pirates passed near the Cayman Islands and captured a Spanish sloop off Cuba that they also added to their flotilla. Turning north, they sailed through the Bahamas and proceeded up the North American coast. In May 1718, the pirates arrived off Charleston in South Carolina, with the Queen Anne's Revenge and three smaller sloops.

Blockade of Charleston
In perhaps the most brazen act of his piratical career, Blackbeard blockaded the port of Charleston for nearly a week. The pirates seized several ships attempting to enter or leave the port and detained the crew and passengers of one ship, the Crowley, as prisoners. As ransom for the hostages, Blackbeard demanded that the pirates be given a chest of medicine. The medicines eventually delivered, the captives were released, and the pirates continued their journey up the coast. Before they departed, the pirates also plundered all valuables from the captured ships.

Grounded
In June 1718, Blackbeard's fleet attempted to enter Old Topsail Inlet in North Carolina. During that attempt, the Queen Anne's Revenge grounded on the ocean bar and was abandoned. Blackbeard then disbanded his fleet except for the Adventure and twenty men. But after the battle of Ocracoke Inlet, Blackbeard returned to the wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge, and had her repaired for him to use as his flagship once again. Blackbeard soon continued in his life of committing various acts of piracy, treason, and murder.

Legends
"Blimey, rumors of the Queen Anne's Revenge stalking ships at sea be too much for m'nerves!"

- Unnamed townsfolk

At an unknown point in time, Blackbeard made several designs to his infamous flagship: a cage put on the back, a Greek fire-based weapon on the bow, and the entire ship was decorated with the bones of his victims as trophies. Blackbeard also obtained the Sword of Triton, a powerful weapon said to be forged in lost Atlantis. Brandishing the sword, Blackbeard commanded unearthly power as it made the Queen Anne's Revenge come to life. Blackbeard also studied Voodoo and became a master of the dark arts. Because of his passion for the forbidden dark magic, Blackbeard changed his pirate flag from a horned, spear wielding skeleton, to a large flaming skull. Possessed of a tattered soul, lost to the forces of darkness, Blackbeard often did his sinister sorcery in the captain's cabin on the Queen Anne's Revenge. Blackbeard also learned how to turn the vessels he captured into ships in individual glass bottles, where they all sailed on a shrunken, churning ocean. He would keep his collection of ships in bottles inside a cabinet found in his cabin. Over the decades, Blackbeard's activities on the high seas increased. With his supernatural powers and magical sword, no ship was safe from him. He was known to have captured even one ship of the line.

War of Jolly Roger
"Invasions, Fleets, and now the Queen Anne's Revenge. 'Tis a time of great conflict in the Caribbean."

- Unnamed townsfolk

Around the great conflict between the pirates, the East India Trading Company, and the undead army of Jolly Roger, Blackbeard assembled a new crew. All of them were jumbees, malevolent supernatural beings, well-known throughout the Caribbean. Enslaved by Blackbeard's dark magic, they served their master without question. The Queen Anne's Revenge sailed with a hull full of rich bounty, and had strong defenses. Blackbeard would put LaSchafe, his loyal jumbee first mate, in charge of the Queen Anne's Revenge. However, Jolly Roger used that opportunity to make a Voodoo Doll of LaSchafe, and took control of Blackeard's first mate, his soulless crew, and the Queen Anne's Revenge.

Controlled by Jolly Roger's voodoo powers, the Revenge and her ghastly crew started to attack pirate ships in the Caribbean. For many months, the Queen Anne's Revenge sailed around wild islands like Isla Cangrejos, Isla Perdida, and Isla Tormenta, attacking ships of the Brethren Court. But, through unknown circumstances, Blackbeard managed to retake the Revenge.

Acts of Piracy
"We were off the coast of Hispaniola when we came under attack. No provocation nor warning or offer of parley. We were peppered with cannon fire."

- Hector Barbossa to Jack Sparrow



Through unknown circumstances, Blackbeard would be reunited with his beloved daughter, Angelica. Taking her aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard soon trusted Angelica well enough to give her the rank of first mate. Blackbeard soon learned of a prophecy, foreseen by the zombie quartermaster, which foretold Blackbeard's death in the hands of a one-legged man. Upon learning of this, Blackbeard decided to try and escape his inevitable death by finding the Fountain of Youth, which was discovered by conquistador Ponce de León. With the help of Angelica, who was able to learn of the Profane Ritual needed for the Fountain to work, Blackbeard began his search for the Fountain.

Prior to this, at some point after the end of the War Against Piracy, the Queen Anne's Revenge encountered the Black Pearl, a pirate ship in command of Captain Hector Barbossa, off the coast of Hispaniola. After firing a broadside, Blackbeard used his sword to bring the rigging of the Pearl to life and used it against Barbossa and his crew. The crew were eventually defeated, though Barbossa himself managed to escape with the cost of cutting off his right leg. Blackbeard managed to capture the Black Pearl and added it to his collection of ships in bottles. During one of Blackbeard's later raids on a remote island in the Caribbean, his crew captured a young missionary named Philip Swift in the process. Before Blackbeard had a chance to kill Philip, Angelica stopped him, as she believed that he may be a key to Blackbeard's redemption. Blackbeard allowed the missionary to live but had him lashed onto the mast of the Queen Anne's Revenge.

Jack Sparrow
"You...are a ruthless, soulless, crossgrained cur." "I told you I had a ship." "No, Blackbeard has a ship. Upon which I am now imprisoned."

- Jack Sparrow and Angelica



Before their search for the Fountain of Youth could continue further, Blackbeard and Angelica had to find Captain Jack Sparrow, someone whom they have heard had been to the Fountain. And so Angelica set out to find Jack and bring him aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge. Accompanied by the Quartermaster, Angelica went to London to put an elaborate charade that ensured the capture of Jack Sparrow into effect. With the help of Scrum, Angelica, disguised as Jack himself, began to recruit crewmen at a local pub called the Captain's Daughter. During this time, Angelica was able to recruit a number of sailors and pirates, whom she had promised a "modest venture sailing under Jack Sparrow," before Jack himself arrived to confront his impostor. Ultimately, Jack was knocked out cold with a voodoo dart by the Quartermaster and shanghaied aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, where Blackbeard's quest for the Fountain continued.

About five days later, Jack Sparrow would wake up aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, where he was forced to work with the rest of the press-ganged crewmen. As the Revenge sailed gloriously over the ocean, Jack would befriend a fellow crewmen named Scrum, who told him of everything he needed to know, including the zombie officers, Philip Swift, and their first mate: Angelica. Realizing his predicament, Jack confronted Angelica in the belowdecks of the Revenge. Angelica tried to convince Jack to go along with it because of Blackbeard's need to find the Fountain because of the Quartermaster's prophecy that foresaw Blackbeard's death at the hands of a one-legged man.

The Mutiny
"Gentlemen...I be placed in a bewilderment. There I were, resting. And upon a sudden, I hear an ungodly row on deck. Sailors abandoned their posts, without orders, without leave. Men before the mast, and taking the ship for themselves. What be that, First Mate?" "Mutiny, captain."

- Blackbeard and Angelica



Although trapped aboard a ship led by zombies and sailing to a place of certain death, Jack Sparrow continued to work with his fellow crewmen aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge. As he was lashing the topsail, Jack began to spread the word for a meeting. The message soon came in full circle, in which the majority of the crew met with Jack at the gun deck of the Revenge to discuss the topic of mutiny. In the meeting, Jack revealed to the crewmen that they were deceived by not being informed of their destination: the Fountain of Youth. The men were shocked by this revelation and knew that death was certain, unless they took the ship. After Scrum and Jack gave the order to take the ship, the crewmen began their attack aboard the Revenge. Jack's mutiny went on intensely as the human crewmen fought against zombie crewman. During the battle onboard, Jack and Salaman rescued Philip Swift from the Revenge's mast. Soon Angelica and and all of the zombies were defeated by Jack's mutineers.

However, the doors right behind Jack Sparrow opened as Blackbeard himself appeared on deck. Blackbeard touched the jeweled hilt of his sword as he told about his bewilderment of the situation of men taking the ship for themselves. As he touched the sword, the Queen Anne's Revenge's ropes started to slide around, slithering up and down the rigging, inching towards the legs of the mutineers. Upon learning from Angelica that it was mutiny, Blackbeard pulled out his sword and he asked his mutinous crew about the fate of mutineers. Raising his sword, Blackbeard yelled "Mutineers Hang!", as he brought his sinister ship to life. Jack and the other members of his party are thrown forward as the Queen Anne's Revenge began to sail at full speed. Blackbeard pointed his sword at some of his mutinous crewmen and more of the ship's ropes grab other pirates, including a crewmember attempting to jump overboard. The Queen Anne's Revenge slowed to normal speed as the majority of the pirate crewmen become entangled in a massive spiderweb of rope and rigging, all of the pirates caught in the web, bound, trapped like flies. Blackbeard finished his work and rested his trusty sword on his shoulder, having crushed the mutiny relatively easy.

After Blackbeard made an example by unleashing Greek fire on the Cook, who was on watch that night, Jack was brought into Blackbeard's cabin for a talk. Despite Jack's attempt to warn Blackbeard of his First Mate Angelica, claiming that she was conning him, Blackbeard himself made a voodoo doll resembling Jack. Angelica entered the cabin as Blackbeard started using the doll to manipulate Jack, in which Blackbeard was able to force Jack into helping him in his quest for the Fountain.

Voyage to the Fountain
"Back to the ship. We head for a protected cove. Now."

- Blackbeard after capturing Syrena



As the Queen Anne's Revenge sailed under the moonlit sky, as Scrum played a tune on his mandola, Jack and Angelica entered in a dance on deck. While they danced aboard the Revenge, Jack tried to gain knowledge of the Profane Ritual from Angelica. After revealing the ritual to Jack, Angelica and Jack snuck into Blackbeard's cabin while Blackbeard was in the chart room. It was here that Angelica showed Jack the cabinet full of Blackbeard's prizes&mdash;captured ships that were shrunk and put in individual bottles; the Black Pearl among them. Jack and Angelica then entered a discussion regarding Blackbeard's redemption, in which Jack tried to warn Angelica that Blackbeard cannot be saved and would kill her, given the chance. But before they could go further into the matter, the Quartermaster rang the ship's bell alerting all aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge that they had arrived to their destination: Whitecap Bay.

Blackbeard led his crew ashore and prepared to capture a mermaid, as one of the items required for the Profane Ritual was a mermaid's tear. After briefly battling with the sirens of the sea, in which the crew suffered casualties, until Blackbeard was able to use his sword to control the Queen Anne's Revenge and unleashed Greek fire upon the mermaids, forcing them to swim towards the shore where the mermaids continued attacking the crew. By the end of the battle, Blackbeard's crew managed to capture a mermaid, who was later named Syrena. After that, Blackbeard ordered the crew to return to the ship, where they would continue their quest. The majority of Blackbeard's crew later returned ashore, leaving the Queen Anne's Revenge docked in a protected cove.

Theft aboard the Revenge
"What of Blackbeard's men, guarding the ship?" "I employed the selfsame maneuver we perfected in New Guinea." "Oh." "Seemed a shame to leave an entire fleet behind." "Shame indeed."

- Jack Sparrow and Joshamee Gibbs



While Blackbeard was searching for the Fountain of Youth, many of Blackbeard's men stayed aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, guarding it while their captain was away. However, Joshamee Gibbs was able to find the Revenge with the use of Jack Sparrow's compass. Gibbs was able to sneak aboard and retrieved the shrunken Black Pearl for Jack, though he ended up taking all of Blackbeard's shrunken ships in a bottle. Putting them in a gunny sack, Gibbs was able to get off the Revenge to meet with Jack Sparrow.

The first voyage
"The Revenge is mine."

- Hector Barbossa

After Blackbeard's death at the Fountain of Youth, his pirate crew joined a privateer named Hector Barbossa, who killed Blackbeard and took his sword, claiming his ship and crew as his own. Barbossa was able to find the Queen Anne's Revenge anchored off of the island, proclaiming that the ship was now his. Having changed into his pirate regalia, Barbossa took the helm of the Revenge. Putting on his old hat, which the Cabin Boy found belowdecks, Barbossa pulled out his new sword and pointed it towards the bow, making the Queen Anne's Revenge to go full sail. Taking and ripping apart his Letters of Marque, Barbossa took full command as captain as the Queen Anne's Revenge made way for Tortuga.

Dead Men on the Sea
"Capitán! A ship sails toward us."

- Lesaro to Armando Salazar

Hector Barbossa's command of the ship eventually made him one of the wealthiest pirates in the Caribbean, granting him ownership of a fleet of 10 ships. Five years later, when Armando Salazar and his ghostly crew of Spanish pirate-hunters were released from the Devil's Triangle, they began hunting down several pirate ships using the Silent Mary, including some of Barbossa's ships. When news of these attacks reached Barbossa, he decided to consult with the sea-witch Shansa about the threat. With the information provided, he approached the pirate hunters with the goal of bartering with them and ensuring his survival. Armando Salazar and his cursed crew boarded his ship and began slaughtering pirates even as Barbossa attempted to negotiate with Salazar. After eventually coming to an accord, Barbossa and the surviving crew members boarded the Silent Mary, seemingly abandoning Blackbeard's former ship in the middle of the high seas.

Design and appearance
"Still, I pray for every unfortunate soul on this hellbound vessel."

- Philip Swift



The Queen Anne's Revenge was a three-masted frigate. Her stern was decorated in crimson-red and gold colors, along with the name of the infamous vessel. Legends say that the Revenge was built by Blackbeard's victims, though taking a closer look, it was actually constructed from them as well. Blackbeard was known to have kept the grisly bones and skeletons of his victims as trophies, displaying them in an unusual way. The bow and the stern castle were decorated with numerous miniature skeletons, while the outer walls of Blackbeard's cabin were decorated with numerous skulls, which helped to give the ship a tough outer shell. Like a monstrous creature, the Queen Anne's Revenge came to life, as long as its captain wielded the Sword of Triton. Then the vessel will do his will, and spread terror in its bloody wake.

At the aft of the ship beneath the helm, was the captain's quarters. The captain's quarters, most notably used by Blackbeard, appeared more like the den of an evil magician. The nightmarish vision painted on the stained glass window, which can also be seen on the stern of the Revenge, depicts dead men writhing in flames, stoked by devilish characters. The window made the cabin, as well as the Queen Anne's Revenge itself, look truly fiendish and demonic.

Like many other pirate ships, the Queen Anne's Revenge flew its own Jolly Roger flag. Blackbeard had two different variations of his pirate flag aboard the Revenge. The first flag had a great horned skeleton holding a goblet of wine in one hand and a spear in the other, as if he's toasting his victims&mdash;this would later be used in the design of the Revenge's figurehead. The second flag was a large skull with flames, which revealed Blackbeard's passion for forbidden dark magic.

The Queen Anne's Revenge was armed with about 38 twelve-pound cannons. Her firepower was strong enough to damage a ship gravely. The secret weapon located at the bow of the Revenge was based on the Greek fire device of the Byzantine Empire. Unleashed by the skeletal figurehead, a sulphurous spray spreads all the fiery terror of the inferno. The stern of the Revenge had lit whale oil lanterns. A stunning stained-glass window can be seen where a nightmarish vision was painted on the stained glass window, which depicts dead men writhing in flames.

During the quest for the Fountain of Youth, the Queen Anne's Revenge had a mysterious advantage over the other ships racing for the Fountain, with supernatural factors taken into account when it came to Blackbeard's frigate. Holding no ordinary ship's crew, the Revenge carried a crew consisting of a mixture of humans and zombies alike. After Blackbeard's death at the Fountain of Youth, the zombies died along with him. The crew's quarters were near the middle of the Queen Anne's Revenge, close to the ship's gun deck. This area was filled with hammocks that the crew slept in, or have secret meetings. The Revenge also had a brig in the gun deck. Near the gun deck was a room most notably used by Angelica as her personal quarters.

The rigging of the Queen Anne's Revenge had three masts: the fore, the mizzen, and the main. Unlike other ships, such as the Black Pearl, the Revenge had a spritsail topmast at the end of the bowsprit. The Revenge was also heavily loaded with sails to keep it moving even in low winds. The ship's sails were painted blood red, but they were dirty, torn and tattered from long use and many battles.

Behind the scenes

 * The Queen Anne's Revenge was portrayed by the Sunset in On Stranger Tides. Scenes on the Revenge's gun deck were filmed on a set constructed on a soundstage near Honolulu International Airport. The interior of Blackbeard's cabin was built on B Stage at Pinewood Studios. In Dead Men Tell No Tales she was portrayed by a prop built at Helensvale, Australia. The same prop was used to portray the Black Pearl and one other ship.
 * When designing the Queen Anne's Revenge, production designer John Myhre used baroque details, almost like Versailles, which would make the ship look rich and elegant. After producer Jerry Bruckheimer said that Blackbeard's ship should be designed with some skulls and skeletons (since the most famous pirate flag is the skull and crossbones), Myhre also used Kostnice, the famous "Church of Bones" in Kutná Hora, Czech Republic, when creating the actual design of the ship.
 * Before portraying the Queen Anne's Revenge, the Sunset previously portrayed the Black Pearl in Dead Man's Chest and At World's End. In 2010, because the Black Pearl didn't "figure into the story of On Stranger Tides", the Sunset was reconstructed as the Queen Anne's Revenge.
 * In real-world history, the Queen Anne's Revenge was armed with forty cannons, and the ship was never used after 1718, as it was stripped of Blackbeard's pirate plunder and abandoned on a sand bar, six months before Blackbeard's death. There is also no record of the Revenge being decorated with the skeletons of Blackbeard's victims or any use of Greek fire.
 * Blackbeard's flagship Queen Anne's Revenge is the first historical ship to be represented in the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, because of its appearance in the fourth installment, On Stranger Tides. The Santiago, one of Ponce de León's ships that journeyed to the New World, also made an appearance.
 * One version of the Queen Anne's Revenge, which was fully computer-generated, can be seen on the river in the opening Walt Disney Pictures logo sequence for On Stranger Tides.
 * In Pirates of the Caribbean Online, the Queen Anne's Revenge is crewed by jumbees led by LaSchafe.
 * In LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game, the Queen Anne's Revenge appeared to have chase guns located at the bow of the ship, similar to the Flying Dutchman. It is possible that those were meant to be cannons that unleashed Greek fire.
 * The Queen Anne's Revenge appears briefly in Tim Powers' novel, On Stranger Tides, which was used as the basis for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. However she had no active role in the novel.

Appearances

 * Pirates of the Caribbean Online
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
 * LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Master of the Seas Strategy Game

Notes and references
La Venganza de la Reina Anna