There's a story that one time while at sea, Blackbeard went on a day long drinking binge.

After getting suitably tuned up on rum or Madera wine, the pirate called out to his crew

and said, come, let us make a hell of our own and try how long we could bear it.

What did he mean by make a hell of our own?

Well, what he did was have his crew fill pots full of brimstone in the ship's hold, set them

on fire and then close the hatches.

The result was a smoky, foul smelling sauna that Blackbeard dared his crew to try and

withstand.

According to legend, not a single one of the hard-bitten pirates could outlast Blackbeard

in the new shipboard hell.

He apparently exited the hold long after everyone else had fled and then dressed down his crew

for not being as tough as their captain.

He would have liked his personal hell and he was a little disappointed that the rest

of the crew wasn't as at home in the smoky dungeon and they called themselves pirates.

Then of course there was the tale that one time at sea, during a particularly long cruise,

a routine headcount revealed that an extra person was on board Blackbeard's ship.

Stoweways were basically unheard of on pirate ships, so who was this mystery crewman?

Then just as mysteriously as he arrived, the extra man seemingly disappeared.

It was whispered amongst the crew that the Phantom Sailor had actually been the devil

himself.

Apparently Blackbeard had made a deal with Satan that got him a couple days of hard

labor from the original Fallen Angel.

...