On this day, off the coast of North Carolina, Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard the Pirate, met his end during a fierce confrontation with the British Navy.
Originating from England, Blackbeard embarked on his pirating journey in 1713. He served as a crewman under the command of pirate Benjamin Horngold in 1717. However, when Horngold was offered amnesty by Britain, he chose to retire from piracy. During this period, Teach managed to seize a French merchant ship, reinforce its armaments, and rename it ‘Queen Anne’s Revenge’.
The nickname Blackbeard is derived from the color of his beard, which he often augmented with lit fuses to strike fear into his adversaries.
Blackbeard instilled terror across the Caribbean and North America, and those pirates who followed him were notorious for their brutality.
In May 1718, the Queen Anne’s Revenge along with another ship met with disaster, compelling Blackbeard to abandon a third vessel and many of his crew due to dwindling supplies. With the one remaining ship, Blackbeard proceeded to Bath in North Carolina, where he encountered Governor Charles Eden. In return for a share of his considerable loot, Eden consented to grant Blackbeard a pardon.
Responding to the appeals of North Carolina planters, Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia sent a British naval contingent under Lieutenant Robert Maynard to confront Blackbeard. On November 22, Blackbeard’s forces were ultimately vanquished, leading to his demise at the bloody battle of Ocracoke Island.
Surprising Teach and his men, Maynard’s forces caught the pirates off guard with their assault. Teach rallied his crew while both sides clashed on the deck, which was already drenched in blood from prior combat. The two adversaries exchanged shots from their flintlock pistols before discarding them. Teach unsheathed his cutlass and managed to shatter Maynard’s sword. Despite facing superior training and slightly larger numbers, the pirates were driven back toward the bow, effectively cornering Maynard and Teach, who had by then become entirely isolated. As Maynard prepared to fire again, Teach charged at him but received a gash across the neck from one of Maynard’s men. Severely injured, he was subsequently attacked and slain by several other members of Maynard’s crew. The remaining pirates promptly surrendered.
Maynard later inspected Teach’s corpse and recorded that it had sustained no fewer than five gunshot wounds and approximately twenty cuts. Among the belongings, he discovered several letters, including one addressed to Teach from Tobias Knight. Teach’s body was discarded into the inlet, while his head was displayed from the bowsprit of Maynard’s sloop to claim the bounty.
According to legend, Blackbeard seized control of more than 30 ships during his short-lived pirating existence.
by Professor P.T. Brown
