Black Sails, the ambitious prequel to Treasure Island, draws heavily from historical pirate lore while taking significant liberties for dramatic effect. The series blends real historical figures with fictional characters, crafting a gritty, politically complex narrative set in the early 18th-century Caribbean. But how closely does it align with the truth?
Flint and Silver: Fiction Grounded in Myth
Captain James Flint is a creation of Robert Louis Stevenson, and Black Sails builds him into a tragic antihero shaped by British politics, betrayal, and personal loss. While Flint himself never existed, his methods, ideals, and even some of his campaigns mirror those of real buccaneers like Henry Avery and Edward Low. These men operated with ruthless pragmatism and occasionally expressed ideological motives, blurring the line between self-interest and rebellion.
John Silver, also fictional, plays the long con throughout the series. His cunning and adaptability reflect traits common among surviving pirates, but no direct historical analogue exists. That said, his manipulative charm feels plausible in a world where wit was often a better weapon than steel.
Charles Vane: As Fierce as They Come
Unlike Flint or Silver, Charles Vane was very real. Born around 1680, Vane was known for his violent resistance to colonial authority and his refusal to accept royal pardons. The show’s portrayal captures much of his temperament accurately. He was volatile, defiant, and often more feared than respected. Historically, Vane was deposed by his crew and later executed in Jamaica in 1721, much like in the series.
In real life, Vane was not as ideologically committed as his onscreen counterpart, who grows into a symbol of anti-colonial resistance. Still, the core of his character remains consistent with what little we know from period sources.
Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny: Infamy and Speculation
Calico Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny were real figures whose lives have been clouded by myth. Rackham was a middling pirate best known for the women who sailed with him: Anne Bonny and Mary Read. His actual exploits were relatively minor compared to legends like Blackbeard, but Black Sails gives him more strategic depth and influence than the historical record supports.
Anne Bonny, meanwhile, remains one of the most intriguing pirates of the Golden Age. The series takes creative liberties with her past, especially her relationship with Max and her hardened persona, but it stays true to her boldness and independence. The real Bonny was arrested in 1720, and her fate remains uncertain. Some believe she was released and faded into obscurity, while others think she died in prison.
Edward Teach (Blackbeard): Fact, Not Fantasy
Blackbeard is perhaps the most accurately depicted historical pirate in the series. Edward Teach was feared for his appearance and reputation, though contemporary accounts suggest he was more calculating than chaotic. Black Sails captures both sides of his character: the showman who cultivated terror and the tactician who sought control through fear, not senseless violence.
He died in 1718 after a brutal fight against Royal Navy forces led by Robert Maynard. The series portrays his downfall in a similarly grisly fashion, echoing the historical ambush in Ocracoke Inlet.
Nassau: A Pirate Republic, Romanticised
Nassau did serve as a base for pirates in the early 1700s, often described as a makeshift republic where captains were elected and spoils were shared. Black Sails leans into this idea, portraying Nassau as a fragile society balancing greed, freedom, and outside threats.
While there is some truth to the romantic idea of pirate democracy, real-world Nassau was more chaotic and opportunistic than politically unified. There was no formal government, just temporary alliances, shifting loyalties, and opportunistic raiding. Still, the show’s depiction of competing interests, between pirates, colonists, and British authorities, is grounded in genuine tension from the period.
The Pirate Code: Myth vs Morality
The so-called “Pirate Code” often gets overstated. Pirates did have articles, rules voted on by the crew, but they varied from ship to ship. The series uses the idea of the code to explore broader themes of justice, autonomy, and leadership, but it risks exaggerating how unified pirate ethics really were.
The Seven Swords takeaway
Black Sails succeeds more as a dramatic lens on pirate culture than a faithful retelling. It merges real figures with fictional ones and distils the chaotic world of piracy into a narrative of rebellion, identity, and power. While many details are reimagined or compressed for television, the core spirit of the age, the tension between lawlessness and order, loyalty and betrayal is well captured.
The result is not a history lesson, but a convincing world built on fragments of truth.
Watch: Blackbeard introduction
