Blackbeard the Pirate
Biography and the Classical Pirate Image
Sep 14, 2009 Alex Graham-Heggie
His real name was Edward Teach, though depending on what ports he appeared in, he had such diverse aliases as Tack, Thatch, Tash, and, “for some reason,” Drummond.
Details of his early life are unclear, apart from the fact his birthplace was the English port city of Bristol, in approximately 1680. His earliest known exploits were as a first mate of a privateer in the Caribbean, in the commission of Queen Anne, during the War of Spanish Succession in 1717.
From Officer to Pirate
After the war, he continued to go pirating, and the governor of South Carolina had seen Teach’s profitable ventures, and thus permitted him to continue freelance piracy in sugar, indigo, cocoa and cotton that were produced in the Caribbean islands and the North American colonies. He also allowed Blackbeard to anchor discreetly, and go amongst the plantation owners for conviviality and supplied.
Blackbeard’s Terror and Image
All this made his piratical career: his reputation was made in part of his own devising: he grew his famous black beard long, and used slow-burning matches hung in his hair to create a miasma of smoke around himself. Lore has it that he favoured the blunderbuss as a weapon; a heavy musket that fired a mass of pistol bullets, it was known for its devastation
The Royal Navy and Blackbeard’s Downfall
However, while he had the officials of North Carolina in his pocket, the South Carolina and Virginia colonies had been ravaged in their turns by Blackbeard. The height of his audacity had him blockade Charleston, and hold a local official and his child hostage for four days before receiving a ransom of medicines for his ship’s stores.
More unnerving still is his reputation for unpredictability. Sometimes he would make merry with the local people of his Carolinian bases. Other times he would rob them. He might treat the crews of ships he had captured mildly. He also sliced off a prisoner’s fingers to get their rings. Playing a game of cards with his men, he allegedly attacked the man who called his bluff, Israel Hands.
The Governor of Virginia, having received a royal proclamation and a promised reward for any pirates slain, enlisted two sloops of the navy to hunt Blackbeard down. Blackbeard had retreated to his hideout at Ocracoke Inlet. Blackbeard had to rally quickly, the navy having caught him off-guard. His ship dealt an initial defeat to the navy sloops, destroying one, but as they closed to the apparently deserted lead ship, the crew surprised and boarded Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge.
Death and Legend
The boarding action and Blackbeard’s defeat in combat with Lieutenant Maynard, the commander of the force sent after him, is the stuff of legend. Recollections of the time say that Blackbeard was shot five times and twenty times wounded by cutlass blade before he was finally beheaded. His head was hung Maynard’s yardarm. His surviving crew numbered sixteen, of whom all but two hanged.
Blackbeard’s wild appearance and psychopathic disposition have made him the most renowned and notorious pirates in history. Add to that it was claimed at the trial of his men that he had spoken of treasure he had hidden and bequeathed to the last survivor of his crew. None such is known to have been found. But by his life and death Blackbeard embodies much of what we moderns associate with the title ‘pirate.’
Sources:
Pirates! Dir. Henry Chancellor, Discovery Civilization Channel, 2000
Platt, Richard, Pirate, Eyewitness Books, 2007.
Johnson, Captain Charles, “Blackbeard,” in The Mammoth Book of Pirates edited by Jon E. Lewis, Carroll and Grant, 2006.
“Blackbeard: Pirate Terror at Sea,” National Geographic
What do you think about this article?
More in History
Latest Articles