Conceived as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novelTreasure Island,Black Sailsis a historical adventure series on the Starz Network from 2014 to 2017. Set in the early 1800s during the Golden Age of Piracy, the four-season tale follows various real-life pirates and seafarers who interact with fictional characters dwelling on New Providence island in the Bahamas. Apart from chronicling the history of piracy, the inciting event of the series concerns the hunt for treasure aboard a Spanish ship called the Urca de Lima, prompting a war for control between the Spanish and British Empire.
WithBlack Sailsjoining Netflix in April2024, a new audience is bound to get swept up in the riveting maritime drama. It’s also impossible not to wonder how much ofBlack Sailsis rooted in historical accuracy and how much is fictionalized for dramatic purposes. Before parsing the differences, it’s worth noting thatBlack Sailsblends historical facts with fictional storylines to create an unforgettable TV experience.
Black Sails
A Fictional Story With Elements of Truth
Created by Robert Levine and Jonathan E. Steinberg,Black Sailsis a fictional TV series that serves as a prequel to the famous novelTreasure Island. The show was deliberately designed to tell a fictional story by blending made-up characters fromTreasure Islandwith real-lifepirates who pillagedthe high seas in the early 1800s. For instance, the main protagonist inBlack Sailsis Captain James McGraw Flint (Toby Stephens), a feared leader and fictional character who stars inTreasure Island.
Whenthe must-watch historical dramabegins, Flint and his pirate crew sail to New Providence in the Bahamas and seize control of the island. Flint and his men learn of a Spanish treasure cargo ship called theUrca de Limanearby and hunt for its whereabouts. The treasure washes ashore in Florida in Season 2, prompting Spanish pirates to protect it from Flint and his crew. Although Flint and his men are fictional creations fromTreasure Island, theUrca de Limawas a real Spanish galleon shipwrecked off the coast of Florida in the 1715 Treasure Fleet.
In addition to Flint, fictional characters fromTreasure IslandinBlack Sailsinclude Ben Gunn (Chris Fisher), Billy Bones (Tom Hopper), and Long John Silver (Luke Arnold). The creative inspiration of the show was to mix Stevenson’s classic characters with genuine pirates who participated in the Treasure Fleet for real. However, other characters likeWalrusQuartermaster Hal Gates (Mark Ryan), brothel Madame Max (Jessica Parker Kennedy), and the wealthy merchants Richard (Sean Cameron Michael) and Eleanor Guthrie (Hannah New) are completely original. They neither appear inTreasure Islandnor exist in real life.
Who Are The Real Pirates in Black Sails?
The historical accuracy inBlack Sailspertains to the real-life pirates that populate the story. Unlike Flint’s crew and the original characters created for the show, the show tracks the history of Charles Vane (Zach McGowan), Jack Rackham (Toby Schmitz), Anne Bonny (Clara Paget), Benjamin Hornigold (Patrick Lyster), Ned Low (Tadhg Murphy), Israel Hands (David Wilmot), Woodes Rogers (Luke Roberts), and the infamous Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard (Ray Stevenson).
In addition to the genuine pirates,Black Sailsalso focuses on the battle for control of New Providence and Nassau, the port city and capital of the Bahamas. The depiction of Nassau’s booming port and the attempts by Vane, Rackham, Bonny, Low, Blackbeard, and other pirates to control the land is historically accurate.
However, many liberties have been taken with the timelines and backstories of the real pirates. The first three seasons depict Vane’s control of Fort Nassau, a historically accurate storyline. As the Spanish and British fight for the treasure found on the genuineUrca de Limacargo ship, real and fictional characters clash in the historically accurate time and place. The brilliance ofthe acclaimed Starz original seriesis how it melds historical facts with imaginary fiction and remains believable.
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How Much Does Black Sails Fictionalize?
While the most iconic real-life pirates are portrayed accurately inBlack Sails, minor characters have been partially fictionalized. For example, almost everything about Blackbeard and his shipQueen Anne’s Revengeremains accurate, save for his death. In the show, Blackbeard is killed via “Kneelhauling,” a nautical term for dragging a person behind a boat until they drown. In reality, Blackbeard was shot five times, stabbed 20 times, and decapitated.
More creative liberties were taken with the supporting pirates, such as Ned Low. For instance, Low didn’t become a pirate until a decade after the events depicted inBlack Sails. But as a prequel toTreasure Island, the facts had to be adjusted to fit the timeline. Meanwhile, Captain Vane’s loss of a ship to a notorious mutiny after the fall of Nassau is left out of the show, although his infamous fireship escape is included. For the most part, the portrayal of real-life pirates is handled honorably and respectfully, including Jack and Anne’s romance and the contributions of Woodes Rogers and Benjamin Hornigold’s time in Nassau.
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The search for theUrca de Limagenuinely occurred, as did Rogers' attempt to calm tensions in Nassau by getting British pardons. Other notable details that genuinely occurred include Rackham creating the Jolly Roger pirate flag and the Maroon Camp located in the Bahamanian jungle. At each turn, the showrunners use history as a jumping-off point to explore fictional backstories and plotlines throughoutBlack Sails.
Black Sailsalso introduces new characters neither rooted in history nor included inTreasure Island. Max’s storyline as a sex worker and empowered madame in New Providence is entirely fabricated for the show. So too is Max’s father, Richard, a rich merchant looking to seize control of the Bahamas, and Max’s relationship with Eleanor as they rise to power. Flint’s close friends, Miranda and Thomas Barlow, are also made up for the show. In a classic example of howBlack Sailsfuses fact and fiction, theWalrusship belonging to Flint is real, but the quartermaster on the show, Hal Gates, is fictional.
So, Is Black Sails Historically Accurate?
While it’s impossible to quantify how historically accurateBlack Sailsis,the seafaring adventure showblends real and made-up characters to tell a fictional story. The time, places, ships, and real-life pirates root the show in history, but the made-up characters also lead to several backstories, subplots, and throughlines created for dramatic purposes. The result is a riveting period adventure that shows viewers what piracy during the Treasure Fleet of 1715 was really like and what it could have been, doing so simultaneously in such a compelling manner that it’s hard to tell the difference at first glance.
Now thatBlack Sailsis available on Netflix, to better gauge the historical accuracy of the series, it’s worth comparing it to the 2021 Netflix docudramaThe Lost Pirate Kingdom.Black Sailsis available to stream on Netflix.
