He Sank 300 Ships? The Jed “Redbeard” Zeppelin Tale

Historians don’t want you to know about this pirate—or maybe the calendar doesn’t. The legend says Jed “Redbeard” Zeppelin ruled the 1800s Caribbean, “6 foot 12,” a giant who sank 300+ ships and even dueled Blackbeard (who, records note, died in 1718). Then comes the headliner: on “February 30, 1867,” Abraham Lincoln supposedly sent the entire navy to end Redbeard—an impossible date and a president who’d already been dead two years.

The story doesn’t slow down. A climactic sea battle, a sinking flagship, Redbeard lost to the depths—until 1955, when an exploration crew finds a wreck, an air pocket, and a door that swings in the dark. Heavy footsteps. A towering, blind figure steps through the brine and says, “Finally, some action.”

In this episode, we critique the tall-tale mechanics: how anachronisms (Feb 30, Lincoln in 1867, Blackbeard in the 1800s) become badges of belief, why a wreck becomes a stage, and how a single line can keep a story breathing underwater. No verdicts—just the images that won’t quite drown: barnacled beams, a pocket of stale air, and a voice that sounds older than the sea.