Ahoy there! Ready to embark on a historic treasure hunt through the Lowcountry? Scroll on to learn 5 fun facts you (probably) didn’t know about Charleston, then grab your crew and prepare for an adventure with Charleston Pirate Tours!

1. Early Charles Towne was established with the help of pirates and their spending of Spanish gold and silver with local merchants when they came into town.

2. The source of rice in South Carolina came by way of pirates from Madagascar. Rice seed was given to Governor Landgrave Thomas Smith, who planted the seed in his home garden on Longitude Lane. Rice seed became the biggest cash crop in South Carolina.

3. John Boone of Boone Hall Plantation was removed from the Governor’s Council for doing business with pirates.

4. The ship “Bachelor’s Delight” was a Dutch vessel captained by George Raynor. The ship left Charles Towne for a voyage to the Red Sea and returned with approximately 1 million English Pounds of gold and silver captured from the Spanish. Raynor settled on Johns Island following life as a pirate and owned what is now Kiawah Island.

5. Two signers of the United States Constitution, Charles Pinckney and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, can trace the foundation of the family fortune back to piracy as Thomas Pinckney was a member of George Raynor’s crew.

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