Lieutenant Richards (pirate) Lieutenant Richards (pirate) Lieutenant Richards (fl. 1718, first name unknown, possibly Thomas) was a pirate active in the Caribbean and off the Carolinas. He is best known for sailing alongside Blackbeard (Edward Teach / Thatch). Richards was part of Edward Teach’s crew while they sailed with Benjamin Hornigold and later aboard the "Queen Anne’s Revenge". Near the Carolinas in early 1717 Teach met up with pirate Stede Bonnet in his 10-gun 60-ton sloop "Revenge". Bonnet was a wealthy landowner from Barbados who knew little of seafaring or piracy; at Teach’s suggestion (and the request of Bonnet’s disgruntled crew) Bonnet came
Lieutenant Richards (pirate) sloop "Revenge", he rescued the others and attempted to chase down Teach but settled for looting other ships instead. Lieutenant Richards’ fate is not recorded. Charles Town merchants, weary of pirate attacks by Teach, Charles Vane, and others, equipped two ships under William Rhett as pirate hunters. Rhett missed Vane but fought and captured Bonnet. Records of Stede Bonnet’s trial list all the pirates captured alive by Rhett, and Richards was not among them. Teach was caught and killed near Ocracoke by naval officer Robert Maynard, who apprehended many of his crew. Richards was not among the pirates captured by