On Watch has the unenviable job each week of scanning the global media for stories that tie the wider world and shipping together.

This week, Live Science website sought to breathe new life into the old war stories of the pirate Blackbeard, whom Wikipedia dubs history’s most notorious.

The premise of the story is that new scientific evidence published by the International Journal of Nautical Archeology indicates that Blackbeard had in fact grounded his flagship vessel – the former slave ship Queen Anne’s Revenge – himself.