Pirate History
Pirates worked this coast. Blackbeard was one of them. He almost certainly did not name this island.
The story says pirates hid behind the dunes with only their topsails showing. It is a good story and part of the island’s identity. It is also folklore — no primary source backs it.
The documented origin is New Topsail Inlet on early charts. Chart-makers named the channel; the island took the name.
Edward Teach worked the Carolina coast and used shallow sounds as cover. In June 1718 Queen Anne’s Revenge ran aground at a charted Topsail Inlet. Historians identify that as today’s Beaufort Inlet, about seventy miles north — a different place that shared the name.
A wreck believed to be Queen Anne’s Revenge was found near Beaufort Inlet in 1996. No pirate treasure hoard has been documented on Topsail Island. The real find was the ship.
The water behind this island still looks like the water he chose to hide in. That part you can go and check.
Sources: NC Dept. of Natural & Cultural Resources — Queen Anne's Revenge; NC Office of State Archaeology — Queen Anne's Revenge Shipwreck Project; Town of Topsail Beach — island history.
Chapter 02 · The Legend
A pirate legend sailed these waters.
For about two years, Edward Teach was the most feared name on this coast. He used North Carolina's shallow sounds — water too thin for a naval frigate — as cover.
In June 1718 Queen Anne's Revenge ran aground at a charted Topsail Inlet. Teach was killed at Ocracoke that November. The shared name is why this island's folklore and his real history keep getting braided together.
Source: NC Dept. of Natural & Cultural Resources — Queen Anne's Revenge
Pirates were said to hide behind the island, with only their topsails showing above the dunes.
The name comes from New Topsail Inlet on early charts. The pirate-lookout story is local folklore — no primary source ties it to Blackbeard.
In the telling, Blackbeard hid ships behind Topsail and buried treasure in the dunes.
Edward Teach did work these Carolina waters. In June 1718 Queen Anne's Revenge ran aground at a charted Topsail Inlet — historians identify that as today's Beaufort Inlet, about seventy miles north.
Source: NC Dept. of Natural & Cultural Resources — Queen Anne's Revenge
Gold in the dunes, chests under the tide — every generation has had someone sure they knew the spot.
A wreck believed to be Queen Anne's Revenge was found near Beaufort Inlet in 1996. Cannon and artefacts came up. No treasure hoard has been documented on Topsail Island.
Source: NC Office of State Archaeology — Queen Anne's Revenge Shipwreck Project
