Earthblog

 The outer Banks has a long history of pirates... one of the most famous being BlackBeard ... ahhh matey !!!

 source: Wikopedia    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard

Edward Thatch   1680 - 1718, better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate in the Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic during the early 18th century, a period referred to as the Golden Age of Piracy.  His best known vessel was the Queen Anne's Revenge, which is believed to have run aground near Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina in 1718.

Blackbeard often fought, or simply showed himself, wearing a big feathered tricorn, and having multiple swords, knives, and pistols at his disposal.  It was reported in "A General Historie of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates" that he had hemp and lit matches woven into his enormous black beard during battle to intimidate his enemies.  Blackbeard is often regarded as the archetypal image of the seafaring pirate.

Nothing is known about Blackbeard's early life.  While his real name is usually given as "Edward Teach," most primary source documents actually record it as "Edward Thatch", including letters written by those who knew the pirate.  Some sources claim "Edward Drummond".  Most think Blackbeard was born in Bristol, but other documentation suggests that he was from either London, Jamaica, Philadelphia, or Accomack County, Virginia.  Edward went to sea at an early age.  He served on a British ship in the War of the Spanish Succession which also included Queen Anne's War, privateering in the Spanish West Indies and along the Spanish Main.  After Britain withdrew from the war in 1713, Teach, like many other privateers, turned to piracy.  He got his first taste of piracy from the pirate Benjamin Hornigold, who was based out of Jamaica.  When Hornigold decided to retire from piracy after King George I offered the two pardons, Blackbeard refused the pardon.  Blackbeard took over one of Hornigold's recently captured ships, French slave-ship named Le Concorde.  He renamed it Queen Anne's Revenge; the 300-ton vessel was built by Britain in 1710.  It was re-captured by the French a year later, upgraded with the latest technology and increased storage space, and renamed for a third time, again as "Le Concorde". Queen Anne's Revenge was armed with 40 guns and used to conduct Blackbeard's most significant campaigns from 1717 through 1718.

Blackbeard would plunder merchant ships, forcing them to allow his crew to board their ship.  The pirates would seize all of the valuables, food, liquor, and weapons.  Despite his ferocious reputation, there are no verified accounts of him actually killing anyone.  He deliberately cultivated his barbaric reputation, and so could prevail by terror alone.

However, colorful legends and vivid contemporary newspaper portrayals had him committing acts of cruelty and terror.  One tale claims he shot his own first mate, saying "if he didn’t shoot one or two crewmen now and then, they’d forget who he was."  Another legend is that having had too much to drink, he said to his crew, "Come, let us make a hell of our own, and try how long we can bear it."  Going into the ship's hold, they closed the hatches, filled several pots with brimstone and set it on fire.  Soon the men were coughing and gasping for air from the sulphurous fumes.  All except Blackbeard scrambled out for fresh air.  When Blackbeard emerged, he snarled, "Damn ye, ye yellow-bellied sapsuckers! I'm a better man than all ye milksops put together!"  

Teach had headquarters in both the Bahamas and the Carolinas.  He lived on the island of Nassau where he was named the magistrate of the "Privateers Republic".  Legends circulate that Governor Charles Eden of North Carolina received booty from Teach in return for unofficial protection. 

Blackbeard's chief claim to fame is his blockade of Charleston, South Carolina. In approximately late May 1718, Blackbeard entered the mouth of Charleston harbour with the Queen Anne's Revenge and three lighter vessels.  He plundered five merchant freighters attempting to enter or leave the port.  No other vessels could transit the harbour for fear of encountering the pirate squadron.

Aboard one of the ships that Blackbeard captured in the harbor mouth was a group of prominent Charleston citizens, including Samuel Wragg.  Blackbeard held these hostages for ransom, making an unusual demand: a chest of medicines. He sent a deputation ashore to negotiate this ransom.  Due partly to his envoys' preference for carousing rather than bargaining, the ransom took some days to be delivered, and Blackbeard evidently came close to murdering his prisoners. Eventually, the medicines were turned over, and Blackbeard released the hostages, without their clothing, but otherwise unharmed.  Blackbeard's whole squadron then escaped northward.

Shortly afterward, Blackbeard ran two of his vessels aground at Topsail Inlet (now Beaufort Inlet), including the Queen Anne's Revenge, and the ship Adventure when trying to 'save' the grounded ship.  He has been accused by many, including his own crew, of doing this deliberately in order to downsize his crew and increase his own share of the treasure.  Deliberate or not, he stripped three of the ships of all treasure, beached or marooned most of his crew, and went to Bath, North Carolina, where he finally accepted a pardon under the royal Act of Grace.  He then went off to Ocracoke Inlet in the last of his four vessels to enjoy his loot.

Having accepted a pardon, Teach had apparently retired from piracy. Nevertheless, Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia became concerned that the notorious freebooter lived nearby. Spotswood decided to eliminate Blackbeard, even though he lived outside of Spotswood's jurisdiction.

Blackbeard operated in many coastal waters; it was difficult for larger vessels to engage him in battle. Two smaller hired sloops were therefore put under the command of Lieutenant Robert Maynard, with instructions from Spotswood to hunt down and destroy Blackbeard, offering a reward of £100, and smaller sums for the lesser crew members.

Maynard sailed from James River on November 11, 1718, in command of thirty men from HMS Pearl, and twenty-five men and a midshipman of HMS Lyme, and in command of the hired sloops, the Ranger and Jane (temporarily commissioned as His Majesty's Ships to avoid accusations of piracy themselves). Maynard found the pirates anchored in a North Carolina inlet on the inner side of Ocracoke Island, on the evening of November 21.

Maynard and his men decided to wait until the following morning because the tide would be more favourable.  Blackbeard's Adventure had a crew of only nineteen, "Thirteen white and six Negroes", as reported to the Admiralty. A small boat was sent ahead at daybreak, was fired upon, and quickly retreated.  Blackbeard's superior knowledge of the inlet was of much help, although he and his crew had been drinking in his cabin the night prior.  Throughout the night Blackbeard waited for Maynard to make his move.  Blackbeard cut his anchor cable and quickly attempted to move towards a narrow channel. Maynard made chase; however his sloops ran aground, and there was a shouted exchange between captains.  Maynard's account says, "At our first salutation, he drank Damnation to me and my Men, whom he stil'd Cowardly Puppies, saying, He would neither give nor take Quarter", although many different versions of the dialogue exist.

Eventually, Maynard's sloops were able to float freely again, and he began to row towards Blackbeard, since the wind was not strong enough at the time for setting sail.  When they came upon Blackbeard's Adventure, they were hit with a devastating broadside attack.  Midshipman Hyde, captain of the smaller Jane, was killed along with six other men. Ten men were also wounded in the surprise attack. The sloop fell astern and was little help in the following action.  Maynard continued his pursuit in Ranger, managing to blast the Adventure's rigging, forcing it ashore.  Maynard ordered many of his crew into the holds and readied to be boarded.  As his ship approached, Blackbeard saw the mostly empty decks, assumed it was safe to board, and did so with ten men.  Blackbeard's assault was preceded by several grenades made by filling rum bottles with gunpowder.  Broken glass swept the deck and gunpowder smoke obscured Maynard's view of Blackbeard's boarders.

Maynard's men emerged, and the battle began.  Primary sources disagree about the exact circumstances of Blackbeard's death.  The most quoted account of the following events comes from the Boston News-Letter.  “Maynard and Teach themselves begun the fight with their swords, Maynard making a thrust, the point of his sword against Teach's cartridge box, and bent it to the hilt. Teach broke the guard of it, and wounded Maynard's fingers but did not disable him, whereupon he jumped back and threw away his sword and fired his pistol which wounded Teach.  Abraham Demelt struck in between them with his sword and cut Teach's face; in the interim both companies engaged in Maynard's sloop.  Later during the battle, while Teach was loading his pistol he finally died from blood loss.  Maynard then cut off his head and hung it from his bow. ”

History has romanticised Blackbeard.  Popular contemporary engravings show him with the smoking ends of his pigtails or with lit cannon fuses in his hair and pistols in his bandoliers, and he has been the subject of books, movies, and documentaries.

Teach was prone to burying treasure. He would allegedly take a treasure chest ashore with one sailor in a small boat, and return alone.  The sailor's corpse was said to lie atop the chest in the excavation to discourage the squeamish from continuing the treasure hunt.  In times as difficult as the American Revolution, it was common for the credulous to dig along the beaches in search of hidden treasure.  A wreck believed to be Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge was discovered near Beaufort, North Carolina in 1996 and is now part of a major tourist attraction.

source Wikopedia    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard