14 DAY TRIAL // Let's face it, sailing for weeks on end and plundering ships for a living is not for the faint of heart or for the weak. Apparently, Pirate Blackbeard was well aware that, with a feeble body, there can be no hostile takeovers of vessels and robbing of goods.
Hence the fact that his flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, carried a rather impressive supply of medical equipment and all sorts of drugs. Historians know this for a fact because, not long ago, they recovered the remains of this sailing hospital from the bottom of the Atlantic.
Archaeologists have been exploring the ship for years
Pirate Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge sank back in 1718, just months after the plunderer captured it, changed its name to this scary-sounding moniker and made it his. Historical records say that the ship was lost after running aground on a sandbar off the coast of North Carolina.
Shortly after, Pirate Blackbeard was killed in battle, and for years and years, his ship remained hidden on the ocean floor. It was discovered by a group of divers back in 1996, and come 2007, underwater archaeologists decided to get to work excavating it.
A couple of years ago, the researchers exploring this shipwreck announced the recovery of several massive cannons weighing from 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms) to 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms), and most likely manufactured somewhere in Sweden.
Now, archaeologists say that, while closely inspecting the remains of Pirate Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge, they stumbled upon syringes, needles, scissors and all sorts of other medical equipment dating back to the 18th century.
Pirate Blackbeard made sure his crew was in fighting form
Historians say that the reason Queen Anne's Revenge had medical equipment aboard it when it sank back in 1718 is that Blackbeard was well aware of the fact that, to be successful in his line of business, he had to look after his fellow plunderers' health.
More so given the fact that attacking and robbing folks is not the easiest or the safest of jobs. Thus, the medical equipment, together with all sorts of drugs, most likely served to keep the pirates fit for battle and to treat whatever injuries some of them sustained while hard at work plundering.
Interestingly enough, it appears that this medical equipment, photos of which are included in the gallery below, belonged to three French surgeons who were captured together with Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge and whom the pirate forced to become members of his crew.
What's more, historical records say that, when he blocked the port of Charleston in South Carolina for an entire week in 1718, Pirate Blackbeard demanded that he be handed a chest of medicine in exchange for not killing the people he kept as prisoners. He got his medicine, but unfortunately, he was killed in battle months later.
Among the medical equipment recovered from the shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina is an urethral syringe that Pirate Blackbeard's surgeons most likely used to treat syphilis by administering their patients mercury. Although barbaric, this treatment actually helped some folks feel better.
Other conditions were dealt with by pumping fluids containing all sorts of medical compounds directly into the rectum. This was done using special pumps. The luckiest of the bunch got away with just being asked to chug down one medicine or another.
