Blackbeard the Pirate - a reign of terror in the Caribbean

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Blackbeard the Pirate - a reign of terror in the Caribbean

Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies from around 1700. He is probably the most infamous pirate in history.

Little is known of Edward Teach before his rise to Pirate captain. He was born around 1680 and is thought to have begun his life at sea as a British privateer in the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1713). As a privateer, he would have plundered Spanish ships in the West Indies for the British government.

After the war, his privateering turned to piracy and in 1717, Teach took control of a frigate, which he renamed Queen Anne’s Revenge. This became his flagship vessel. Though this vessel was only in use for a year, Teach sailed to the Caribbean and captured multiple ships, building his flotilla and fortune. Few could compete with him and the Queen Anne’s Revenge which boasted 40 guns and a crew of 300.

In 1718, Blackbeard scuttled the ship near Charleston, North Carolina and moved his crew onto a smaller sloop, named the Adventure. He formed a base on Ocracoke Island just off North Carolina, and continued his acts of piracy from there. In possibly his most brazen act, Teach used his flotilla to blockade the port of Charlestown. Over the course of a week, nine vessels were stopped and plundered as they attempted to sail out of the harbour, where Teach's fleet was moored.

Teach informed some of his prisoners that his fleet required medical supplies from the colonial government of South Carolina and that if none were provided, all would be beheaded and their ships burned. Two pirates and a prisoner were sent to the town, but when they did not return he moved eight ships into the harbour, causing panic and looting within the town. Shortly after, his supplies were delivered and the prisoners released, after being robbed of all valuables.

Teach inspired fear in those who came face to face with his daunting appearance. With an enormous black beard reaching his waist, Teach lit fuses in his long hair, giving him a crazed and frightening appearance. Tales of torturing prisoners, even turning on his own crew with no warning were rife, and provided the pirate captain with an excellent method of maintaining order. This added to the image of terror and strengthened his position with both his crew and enemies.

His flag depicted a skeleton stabbing a heart with its spear and toasting the Devil with a glass in the other hand.

His story came to an end when the governor of Virginia hired pirate-hunters to overpower Blackbeard’s forces. The main pirate hunting ships were the HMS Pearl and HMS Lyme under the command of Lieutenant Robert Maynard. Upon locating Teach and his pirates on Ocracoke Island, Maynard blocked all exits and entered the inlet hoping to surprise Teach and his crew. However, Teach spotted the ships and cut his anchor, attacking the ships outright with his cannons and destroying a third of the force in seconds. 

When the ships closed in, grappling hooks, smoke, and explosive grenades were thrown, and the pirates boarded them. Maynard had prepared for this eventuality by hiding the majority of his troops below deck and ambushing the pirate boarders. The ambush proved a success and the pirates were overwhelmed.

Teach and Maynard are reported to have fought man to man with pistol and swords. Teach was eventually wounded by one of Maynard’s soldiers and overwhelmed by the rest of the crew. After the battle, it was noted Edward Teach had been shot at least five times and received over twenty blade wounds, making it difficult to tell which blow had killed him. The head of the infamous Blackbeard was hung from the mast of Maynard's ship, and all but two of the captured pirates were eventually hanged.

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