Graveyard of the Atlantic then drive his ship ashore following the false light. The first recorded shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina was in the early 16th century. This wreck was reported in 1526, off the mouth of Cape Fear River. The large numbers of explorers who came to the area in subsequent years had to travel through the rough waters to get to the coast of North Carolina. In June 1718, Edward Teach — better known as Blackbeard the pirate — ran his flagship, the "Queen Anne's Revenge", aground near present-day Beaufort Inlet, NC. Thirty two years later, in August 1750, at
Edmund Cooke (pirate) English pirates fitted from Saint Thomas. I have furnished him with men and powder lest he should be overpowered.” Edmund Cooke (pirate) Edmund Cooke (fl. 1673–1683, also named Edward / Edmond or Cook) was a merchant captain, buccaneer, and pirate. He is best known for sailing against the Spanish alongside Bartholomew Sharp, John Coxon, Basil Ringrose, Lionel Wafer, and other famous buccaneers. Cooke’s flag was red-and-yellow striped and featured a hand holding a sword. Cooke’s 130-ton merchant vessel "Virgin" was bound to Jamaica from London when Irish pirate Philip Fitzgerald, who was serving the Spanish in the Caribbean, seized it