The Mermaid Times

In the spring of 1717, the Atlantic swallowed one of the richest pirate ships ever to sail its waters.

The reef appeared first as a pale scar beneath the moonlit water. The Batavia tore herself open against the coral in the dark.

Nuestra Señora de Atocha left Havana carrying so much gold and silver that it took three days to load. The fleet was already behind schedule — hurricane season was well underway, and the captains knew it.

Last time, we told the story of Edward Teach — the fearsome pirate known as Blackbeard. But every legend needs a stage, and Blackbeard had one of the most dramatic of all: a 40-gun warship called the Queen Anne's Revenge. This is her story...

There are accounts of her firing into the hold at the men hiding below, saying: “Get up here and fight, or I’ll kill you myself.” 

"I am sorry to see you here, but if you had fought like a man, you need not have been hang'd like a dog."

As historian Anne Chambers wrote: "She commanded loyalty because she was braver than the men."

The Spanish were so terrified of her, they named her after their worst nightmare.

She sold her lands, painted her ships black, and spent thirteen years hunting the king of France across the English Channel — one widow's grief made into a fleet. They called her the Lioness of Brittany, and she made sure the French crown never forgot her name.