Urethral syringe used to treat syphilis

Sometimes the way the media reports a story about nautical history can be almost as interesting as the story itself. Near the end of last month, archaeologists examining artifacts discovered on the wreck of the pirate Blackbeard’s flag ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, announced that they had found medical equipment including a urethral syringe, probably used for the treatment of syphilis, several enema pumps, a porringer used in bloodletting, as well as variety of devices used in preparing and storing medicine. While this discovery is very interesting. It is not surprising. When the pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, captured the French slave ship, La Concorde, in 1717, he renamed the ship Queen Anne’s Revenge, and used her as his flagship. Blackbeard let most of the French crew go, but forced the ship’s three surgeons to stay. It is probably their equipment which was recently discovered.

In May of 1718, Blackbeard on the Queen Anne’s Revenge with a small flotilla of other pirate ships, blockaded the port of Charleston, South Carolina, took a few prisoners and demanded ransom. He didn’t demand gold or silver. He asked for a chest of medicine, instead. The chest of medicine was provided, the pirates released their hostages and attempted to sail away. It was clear that medical care and medicine was important to keep the pirate’s ships sailing.

The media generally reported on the discovery of the medical equipment in one of two ways. The first was by feigned amazement that Blackbeard would provide his crew with medical care, suggesting that he must have been a humane pirate after all. The UK Daily Mail was typical. Their headline read: “Was Blackbeard a CARING pirate? Medical equipment recovered from wreck of Queen Anne’s Revenge suggests feared captain looked after the sick and injured.”

The argument that Blackbeard was a “caring pirate” is a odd.  A sick crew could neither sail nor fight.  Any ship’s captain would try to keep his crew as healthy as possible. No doubt Blackbeard also provided food and water for his crew well.  Not long after loading the medicine aboard, the Queen Anne’s Revenge ran aground, at which point Blackbeard escaped with much of the loot in a smaller vessel, abandoning many of his crew. It seemed the “caring pirate” cared mostly about personal gain.

The other approach taken by the media was typified by the CNN headline: Not for the faint of hearties: Blackbeard’s medical devices.  I guess an urethral syringe and enema pumps were a bit much for CNN and other  outlet’s delicate sensibilities. By the standards of the day, these devices seem fairly tame.  One of the only treatments for a severe concussion, for example, was trepanation, or the drilling of a hole in your skull with hand tools without anesthesia. Likewise, many wounds that would be easily treated today resulted in amputation by hand saw. Compared to these, the urethral syringe is hardly frightening.