One of the most well-known pirates today, and possibly the most notorious of his time, Blackbeard took the notion of inspiring fear and dread in his victims to heart. As if his imposing size and coarse, bushy black beard (which he would braid into small strands and tie with ribbons) weren’t enough to intimidate, many accounts suggest that he often appeared with wreaths of smoke encircling his face, an effect created by tucking slow-burning fuses used to light cannons under the brim of his hat. He is also noted to have had not only two cutlasses but also six pistols strapped across his chest.
Blackbeard used his appearance to intimidate his victims to encourage them to surrender without a fight, but while some consider the tactic was designed to avoid bloodshed, using the fact that he spared the lives of those who didn’t fight back as evidence, one must not forget that he could be brutally violent. For example, to maintain order on his ship and to stave off any thoughts of insurrection, Blackbeard once shot one of his most trusted men, Israel Hand. Hand and one or two other shipmen had gathered in Blackbeard’s cabin for a bout of drinking when Blackbeard drew two of his pistols, blew out the candles, and randomly shot the pistols in the dark. While the others appear to have escaped unscathed, Hand was shot in the kneecap and maimed for life. Blackbeard, according to some accounts, stated that if he didn’t kill one of them now and then, they would forget who he was.
Edward Thatch, or more commonly Blackbeard, acquired a reputation as the most dreaded pirate in the Caribbean and along the Atlantic seaboard of North America. At the height of his career in the early eighteenth century he commanded a small fleet of pirate ships with as many as three hundred pirates. (Jupiterimages)
Little is known about Blackbeard before his two-year reign of terror along the Spanish Main, the area encompassing the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Most likely he was from the port town of Bristol, England, and while he often went by the name Edward Thatch (often rendered Edward Teach), some have suggested he was originally christened Edward Drummond. Having grown up in a port town, it is presumed that Drummond took to the sea as a privateer during Queen Anne’s War (1701–1713) and that having tasted the excitement offered by this experience, chose a life of piracy over the tranquility of a life on land.
Sometime in 1716, Drummond, who had by now taken on the name Edward Thatch, joined the crew of the pirate captain Benjamin Hornigold. In late 1717, Hornigold and his crew captured a French slave ship, La Concorde, off the island of St. Vincent, and Thatch requested that he be given command of the newly acquired ship. Hornigold acquiesced. Thatch thus took over the ship, renaming it Queen Anne’s Revenge, and armed it with forty cannons (it originally had fourteen). It didn’t take long to prove the prowess of his ship and his own fearlessness. Shortly after commandeering his new vessel, Blackbeard took on a large merchantman. Having acquired its freight, Blackbeard set fire to the ship, drawing the attention of the authorities. A thirty-gun British warship was sent to track down the Queen Anne’s Revenge, and Blackbeard directly engaged the warship, exchanging fire for several hours until the battleship eventually withdrew, cementing Blackbeard’s reputation as one of the most dreaded pirates along the North and South American coastlines.
Blackbeard began recruiting and commandeering other ships, and eventually he had a small fleet with as many as three hundred pirates under his command. North Carolina proved hospitable to pirate trade due to its weak economy and need for goods, so Blackbeard took its waters as his headquarters, preferring especially Ocracoke Island for its remoteness. Blackbeard appeared to have had an arrangement with the governor of North Carolina, Charles Eden, who was later accused along with his secretary, Tobias Knight, of receiving goods as payoffs for not prosecuting the pirate.
One of Blackbeard’s most daring feats was holding the entire town of Charleston, South Carolina, hostage. Charleston was perhaps the busiest and most important southern port, and Blackbeard and his flotilla flitted just outside the harbor and attacked ships as they left; within a few days they had captured as many as eight merchant ships, and those that remained docked in the harbor refused to leave. Among the prizes Blackbeard captured was the Crowley, a ship that had many prominent citizens on board, including Samuel Wragg, a member of the Governor’s Council. Realizing that his medical supplies were running low, Blackbeard sent two of his men along with one of the hostages to shore to negotiate a trade: medical supplies in return for the lives of the hostages. Blackbeard gave a two-day deadline, after which he promised to kill the hostages. Despite a delay and some onshore intrigue, the medical supplies were eventually acquired and the hostages returned safely.
Loaded down with booty, Blackbeard and his fleet sailed back to North Carolina, where the Queen Anne’s Revenge and another of his ships ran aground. Some accounts suggest that Blackbeard planned to careen his ships to scrape the hulls, but others consider this a ruse designed to strand most of his men so he could make off with the lion’s share of the goods. Whatever the cause, the sunken ships remained undiscovered until 1996 when a search team discovered a shipwreck near Beaufort Inlet. Among the objects found include a bronze bell dated 1705, large cannon tubes, and two large anchors. More recent excavations uncovered cannonballs, a pewter platter, pottery fragments, and other artifacts, all leading to the conclusion that the ship was none other than the Queen Anne’s Revenge.
After sinking his ships, Blackbeard made straight for Bath, North Carolina, and, presenting himself before Governor Charles Eden, he claimed the clemency promised for pirates who pledged to reform. For a time, Blackbeard settled into a life of luxury, purchasing a nice house, throwing lavish parties, and providing his neighbors with gifts of rum and sugar. During this brief period, the fancy lifestyle of the pirate attracted the attention of a sixteen-year-old girl, and she agreed to marry him—becoming his fourteenth wife.
But reform evidently wasn’t Blackbeard’s intention. Shortly after he was married, he began prostituting out his young wife to his men. Then, his fortune dwindling, Blackbeard acquired a small ship, Adventure, and under the pretense of going on a trading expedition to the West Indies, he gathered some of his former crew and set sail. Within a few weeks, he returned with a French ship laden with sugar, cocoa, spices, and other merchandise. He claimed he found the ship drifting in the sea, unmanned, and a court convened by Governor Eden rendered that the ship was legitimately seized. Evidently, he and Tobias Knight received a portion of the cargo in payment.
Blackbeard now focused his attentions on smuggling, staying closer to shore where he could easily escape larger ships in the shallower coves and rivers. He also established and began fortifying a refuge for himself on Ocracoke Island where other pirates, including the likes of “Calico Jack” Rackham and Charles Vane, often gathered for huge parties with lots of drinking, music, and women. Fearing that Ocracoke Island would become a haven for pirates, area residents, knowing that they couldn’t count on Governor Eden, appealed to the governor of Virginia for help. Virginia governor Alexander Spotswood revoked the certificate of clemency for Blackbeard and made his own proclamation, offering a reward for apprehending or killing pirates, naming Blackbeard specifically.
Governor Spotswood engaged two Royal Navy officers and their crew to man two small sloops, necessary to be able to maneuver the shallow waters where Blackbeard often hid. Having tracked down Blackbeard, one of the boats ran aground, leaving that under the command of Lieutenant Maynard to fight Blackbeard and his men. After a heavy exchange of fire, Maynard’s boat was disabled and Blackbeard readied to board it, throwing homemade grenades made of black powder and small shot in glass bottles onto the deck. When the ship was boarded, Blackbeard, trying to peer through the smoke of the grenades, was attacked by Maynard. But while Maynard eventually killed him, it was not before Blackbeard had reportedly received twenty-five serious wounds, five of them from pistol shots, a testament to the brute strength of the pirate. Maynard then cut off Blackbeard’s head and hung it from the bowsprit of the ship, throwing his body overboard. Legend has it that Blackbeard’s body swam around the ship several times before it sank.
Now, on clear nights around Blackbeard’s refuge on Ocracoke Island, one can occasionally see strange lights upon the waters. According to some, if you follow the lights you will find Blackbeard’s treasure, but beware: Blackbeard’s body swims these waters looking for his head and protecting his treasure.
W. Todd Martin
See also Bellamy, Samuel “Black Sam”; Hornigold, Benjamin; Kidd, Captain William; Lafitte, Jean; Rackham, John “Calico Jack”
Further Reading
Defoe, Daniel. 1999 (1724). A General History of the Pyrates, edited by Manuel Schonhorn. Mineola, NY: Dover.
Pennell, C. R., ed. 2001. Bandits at Sea: A Pirates Reader. New York: New York University Press.
Rankin, Hugh F. 1976. The Pirates of Colonial North Carolina. Raleigh, NC: Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History.
Woodard, Colin. 2007. The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down. Orlando, FL: Harvest Books.
Zepke, Terrance. 2000. Pirates of the Carolinas. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press.
Thatch, Edward “Blackbeard”—Primary Document
Account of the Death of Edward “Blackbeard” Thatch (1724)
Stories about pirates in the early eighteenth century gripped readers throughout the Atlantic world. These accounts were inflated by breathless newspaper reports of piracy and pirate-hunting by the British Navy. Charles Johnson’s book, A General History of the Pyrates (1724), did more than any other work of literature in propagating the pirate legends. This passage describes the final days of Blackbeard, who was hunted down and killed in 1718 by Lieutenant Robert Maynard and the crew of his two ships, the HMS Jane and HMS Ranger.
By this time Black-beard’s Sloop fleeted, as Mr. Maynard’s Sloops were rowing towards him, which being not above a Foot high in the Waste, and consequently the Men all exposed, as they came near together, (there being hitherto little or no Execution done, on either Side,) the Pyrate fired a Broadside, charged with all Manner of small Shot. ——A fatal Stroke to them! The Sloop the Lieutenant was in, having twenty Men killed and wounded, and the other Sloop nine. This could not be help’d, for there being no Wind, they were oblig’d to keep to their Oars, otherwise the Pyrate would have got away from him, which, it seems, the Lieutenant was resolute to prevent.
After this unlucky Blow, Black-beard’s Sloop fell Broadside to the Shore; Mr. Maynard’s other Sloop, which was called the Ranger, fell a-stern, being, for the present, disabled; so the Lieutenant finding his own Sloop had Way, and would soon be on Board of Teach, he ordered all his Men down, for fear of another Broadside, which must have been their Destruction, and the loss of their Expedition. Mr. Maynard was the only Person that kept the Deck, except the Man at the Helm, whom he directed to lye down snug, and the Men in the Hold were ordered to get their Pistols and their Swords ready for close fighting, and to come up at his Command; in order to which, two Ladders were placed in the Hatch-Way for the more Expedition. When the Lieutenant’s Sloop boarded the other, Captain Teach’s Men threw in several new fashioned sort of Grenadoes, viz. Case Bottles fill’d with Powder, and small Shot, Slugs, and Pieces of Lead or Iron, with a quick Match in the Mouth of it, which being lighted without Side, presently runs into the Bottle to the Powder, and as it is instantly thrown on Board, generally does great Execution, besides putting all the Crew into a Confusion; but by good Providence, they had not that Effect here; the Men being in the Hold, and Black-beard seeing few or no Hands aboard, told his Men, That they were all knock’d on the Head, except three or four; and therefore, says he, let’s jump on Board, and cut them to Pieces.
Whereupon, under the Smoak of one of the Bottles just mentioned, Black-beard enters with fourteen Men, over the Bows of Maynard’s Sloop, and were not seen by him till the Air cleared; however, he just then gave a Signal to his Men, who all rose in an Instant, and attack’d the Pyrates with as much Bravery as ever was done upon such an Occasion: Black-beard and the Lieutenant fired the first Pistol at each other, by which the Pyrate received a Wound, and then engaged with Swords, till the Lieutenant’s unluckily broke, and stepping back to cock a Pistol, Black-beard, with his Cutlash, was striking at that Instant, that one of Maynard’s Men gave him a terrible Wound in the Neck and Throat, by which the Lieutenant came off with a small Cut over his Fingers.
They were now closely and warmly engaged, the Lieutenant and twelve Men, against Black-beard and fourteen, till the Sea was tinctur’d with Blood round the Vessel; Black-beard received a Shot into his Body from the Pistol that Lieutenant Maynard discharg’d, yet he stood his Ground, and fought with great Fury, till he received five and twenty Wounds, and five of them by Shot. At length, as he was cocking another Pistol, having fired several before, he fell down dead; by which Time eight more out of the fourteen dropp’d, and all the rest, much wounded, jump’d over-board, and call’d out for Quarters, which was granted, tho’ it was only prolonging their Lives for a few Days. The Sloop Ranger came up, and attack’d the Men that remain’d in Black-beard’s Sloop, with equal Bravery, till they likewise cry’d for Quarters.
Here was an End of that couragious Brute, who might have pass’d in the World for a Heroe, had he been employ’d in a good Cause; his Destruction, which was of such Consequence to the Plantations, was entirely owing to the Conduct and Bravery of Lieutenant Maynard and his Men, who might have destroy’d him with much less Loss, had they had a Vessel with great Guns; but they were obliged to use small Vessels, because the Holes and Places he lurk’d in, would not admit of others of greater Draught; and it was no small Difficulty for this Gentleman to get to him, having grounded his Vessel, at least, a hundred times, in getting up the River, besides other Discouragements, enough to have turn’d back any Gentleman without Dishonour, who was less resolute and bold than this Lieutenant. The Broadside that did so much Mischief before they boarded, in all Probability saved the rest from Destruction; for before that Teach had little or no Hopes of escaping, and therefore had posted a resolute Fellow, a Negroe whom he had bred up, with a lighted Match, in the Powder-Room, with Commands to blow up when he should give him Orders, which was as soon as the Lieutenant and his Men could have entered, that so he might have destroy’d his Conquerors: and when the Negro found how it went with Black-beard, he could hardly be perswaded from the rash Action, by two Prisoners that were then in the Hold of the Sloop.
What seems a little odd, is, that some of these Men, who behaved so bravely against Black-beard, went afterwards a pyrating themselves, and one of them was taken along with Roberts; but I do not find that any of them were provided for, except one that was hanged; but this is a Digression.
The Lieutenant caused Black-beard’s Head to be severed from his Body, and hung up at the Bolt-sprit End, then he sailed to Bath-Town, to get Relief for his wounded Men.
Source: Johnson, Charles. A General History of the Pyrates. London: T. Warner, 1724.