Historical Fun

Historical Fun Fact - May 23rd   On this day in history in 1701, Captain William Kidd was executed for Piracy on the High Seas.   Captain William Kidd was a famous 17th century pirate.   That's Captain William Kidd. Not to be confused with Billy The Kid, who was a cowboy, not a pirate. Although Captain William Kidd's level of piracy is very much disputed.   Kidd was employed by the Governor of the Island of Nevis to sail his ship, Blessed William, with a small fleet of likeminded Captains, to protect the English settlement against the French.   They were given permission and the authority to pillage the French ships of whatever plunder they wanted.   Kidd was later tasked with hunting enemy pirates and capturing or destroying their ships.   So, far from being a pirate himself, he was actually hunting them down. He did this for a number of years and had a reputation for being a cruel Captain who didn't think twice about kill...

Fun Facts About the Pirate - Blackbeard. When we think of pirates, apart from Johnny Depp, we think of the fearsome Blackbeard, an infamous English pirate who sailed the West Indies and the east coast of the American colonies. 1. Blackbeard wasn't his real name. Yep, kinda sounds obvious. You have got to be some kind of deranged parent to name your darling little baby, Blackbeard. His real name was Edward Thatch, or Edward Teach. 2. Edward Teach was born in or around 1680 , and in or around the English city of Bristol. There really isn't much to go on when it comes to Edward Teach's early life. We do know he was born as a baby which had an extraordinary amount of facial hair, even for a baby from Bristol, which is saying something. 3. Blackbeard could read and write. Now, I know what you're thinking. Big deal? Well, it actually was at the time. Education back then wasn't as freely available as it is today. This means we could assume Edward T...

5 Fun Facts About Famous and Infamous Pirates 1. Captain William Kidd was a famous 17th century pirate. That's Captain William Kidd. Not to be confused with Billy The Kid, who was a cowboy, not a pirate. Although Captain William Kidd's level of piracy is very much disputed. Kidd was employed by the Governor of the Island of Nevis to sail his ship, Blessed William, with a small fleet of likeminded Captains, to protect the English settlement against the French. They were given permission and the authority to pillage the French ships of whatever plunder they wanted. He was later tasked with hunting enemy pirates and capturing or destroying their ships. So, far from being a pirate himself, he was actually hunting them down. He did this for a number of years and had a reputation for being a cruel Captain who didn't think twice about killing his crew or captives. He came unstuck when he captured an American flagged ship, carrying French papers. Normally, it would have bee...