Blackbeard Crew's Ninth Map

Blackbeard Crew's Ninth Map is one of nine numbered treasure maps in Windrose, each pointing to a buried cache hidden by the historical Blackbeard's crew somewhere across the archipelago. The map is a one-time use item: opening it places a dig marker on the world map at a procedurally generated spot, and the marker is consumed once the cache is uncovered.

In-Game Description

A map that can lead its owner to treasures hidden in the archipelago by Blackbeard's crew.

A second flavour line sometimes appears on inspection: "X marks the spot."

How to Obtain

Maps drop from treasure chests inside pirate camps, which begin spawning across the archipelago once the player leaves the starting island and unlocks open-sea travel through the early main quest I Need a Bigger Boat. Pirate camps tend to cluster near coves, hidden beaches, and small uncharted islands, so taking time to scout coastline detail on a Brig or Frigate with a Spyglass is the most reliable way to find them. Defeating the camp's defenders and looting the central chest is what rolls the map drop.

How to Use

Right-click the map in the inventory to read it. The map text describes a landmark at the dig site (a cliff overlook, a stretch of shoreline, a ruined tower, etc.), and on use a marker drops onto the world map showing the rough region. Sail to that area and the marker tightens to a small radius. Inside that radius the dig spot is spotted by a small grave or a fresh mound of dirt with a skeleton lying nearby. The skeleton is the visual confirmation that the player is standing in the right place.

Maps are single-use. Once the cache is dug up the dig marker disappears and the map is consumed.

Required Tool

Digging is only possible with a crafted Shovel, made at the Workbench from 3 Copper Ingots and 10 Wood. The Shovel recipe does not appear in the Workbench menu by default; it unlocks the moment the player removes a Copper Ingot from a Smelting Furnace for the first time. Carry the Shovel before sailing out to read the map, since the dig spot will not always be near a base.

Rewards

Each buried cache opened from a Blackbeard map follows the same reward pattern as the rest of the Blackbeard Treasure Maps chain. Each dig typically yields 3 Tumbaga Ingots, the material spent at the Weaponsmith Workshop to ascend a Rare weapon to Epic, plus at least one Epic-tier item. Caches commonly carry supplementary loot on top of that core reward:

3 Tumbaga Ingots, the weapon-ascension material used at the Weaponsmith Workshop to push a Rare weapon up to Epic.
At least one Epic-tier item, the headline drop in every cache in the chain.
Piastres used to trade and barter at Faction Merchants.
Silver Ingot stacks suitable for buying mid-tier ship upgrades.
Ship cosmetic Style Books, often skewed toward the Privateer and Brethren sets.
Journal notes that fill in the lore around Blackbeard's crew and the spots they hid loot at.

Tips

Dig at the exact centre of the marker. The shovel cone is shallow and a foot or two off-centre will miss the chest entirely.
Pack healing supplies before opening any chest. A small ambush wave of pirates regularly spawns at Blackbeard caches the moment the chest is broken open.
Sail back with cargo space to spare. The Silver Ingots and Piastre stacks from a single map can fill a backpack quickly, especially on early-game ships.
Map locations are procedurally generated per world, so screenshots of dig spots from other characters do not transfer. Read the landmark description on the map and search the rough area, not exact coordinates.

Trivia

The flavour line "X marks the spot" is a centuries-old shorthand for buried treasure that became inseparable from pirate fiction after Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel Treasure Island, where Long John Silver's chart famously placed a red X on the cache. The Blackbeard maps in Windrose use the same convention as a wink to the genre.

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