Everyone gather around! I am going to tell you
one of the most amazing
stories about my grandfather, Edward Teach . Some of you
might know
of him by the alias Blackbeard. Blackbeard was not one of the
most
loved people in America's history, but he had some of the most amazing
adventures in his life.
Blackbeard stood 6 feet 5 inches tall
and weighed over 250 pounds. He was given his name because of his
long,
coarse black beard that reached down to his waist. It was known
that
if you were to touch his beard, he would cut off the hand that touched
it. He would wear a gun belt with five different guns on it, and
another belt for the ammo for each gun. Blackbeard carried a
sword
that was custom made from one of the most famous blacksmiths in
America, and it was known as the sharpest blade of the Caribbean.
No one could help but to fear his presence, it was as if he was
always around, ready to attack anyone who sailed the oceans.
For
over two and a half years, my grandfather terrorized any ship that
sailed in the Caribbean and Atlantic seas. He would wait until it
was
foggy outside, and hang up a "friendly" flag of a regular cargo ship to
make people think he and his crew were harmless. The fog is so
bad in
the Caribbean Sea that it makes it nearly impossible to see anything
unless you approach to about 50 feet or so. Blackbeard used this
to his
advantage, when he got close enough to another ship, he would raise a
unique pirate flag- a flag with a beard around the jaw of the
skull- and then he would attack. My grandfather showed no
mercy. He
would take everything valuable from the attacked ships, and he would
make all of the crew members walk the plank. He was the most
notorious
pirate known to man.
I hope that I have painted a good picture
of my grandfather for you. Now, I want to tell you about the
creepy
story of his lingering ghost.
One day, Blackbeard decided enough
was enough. He was going to go on one more raid, and it was going
to
be the the biggest raid of all. After the raid was finished, he
and
his crew were going to go back to his secret hide out, "The Black
Hole," and have a celebration. After their deeds were done, they
were
going to call an end to their pirating career. Little did
Blackbeard
know, his number one enemy was aware of his plans.
Blackbeard's
nemesis, Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy, had been trying
to
take down Blackbeard and his crew for months. Blackbeard has been
able
to evade every attempt that Maynard made to capture him.
Robert Maynard's plan was to allow Blackbeard and his crew to attack
their
last ship without stopping them, and then allow Blackbeard's crew to go
back to "The Black Hole" to celebrate. The Royal Navy was going
to
follow them back to their secret hideout and wait for the pirates to
get drunk on their rum. The plan was going to be the
destruction
of Blackbeard and his crew.
So, the day came. It was a foggy,
gloomy day with terrible weather, making it difficult to sail.
This
was not going to stop Blackbeard from making his retirement
plans.
Blackbeard and his crew set out to sail and attacked and boarded a ship
that had
more loot than they could have imagined. They took more than
thirty
chests
of gold, and fifteen barrels of rum for celebration.
Maynard was
anchored off in the distance, away from the attack. He waited
patiently
and
followed the pirates back to the hideout. As the Royal Army
planned,
they
waited for the pirates to get drunk before they attacked.
The
weather was starting to get worse. It was even making it hard for
Maynard and his crew to anchor outside of the hideout. But, they
waited patiently for three hours before they approached the cave.
The Royal Army rushed into the pirate's hideout, firing their guns to
let the pirates know that they were under attack. There were over
one hundred and fifty
adrenaline-rushed men running at the small group of just twenty five
pirates.
The
pirates gave a good fight, but it did not take long for the army to
kill them off. Blackbeard was standing tall, killing every man
that
stood in his way. He has never met his match in a battle, at
least not
yet.
My grandfather locked eyes with Lieutenant Maynard
and
walked
straight towards him. They both drew their pistols and fired at
each
other. The pirate fired first, only grazing Maynard's ear.
Blackbeard was not this lucky. Maynard's shot was a direct
hit into the
pirate's shoulder. The gun shot looked like it barely fazed
him. In fact, it seemed to only make him more angry.
Maynard's
army saw that Blackbeard was not going down. Two men rushed
Blackbeard
from behind and stabbed him in the back. Blackbeard drew his
sword and
chopped off the heads of both of his attackers. Suddenly, the
excitement
stopped. The weather has gotten extremely worse.
Hurricane
waves were crashing against the rocks. Maynard saw that the
pirate was
bleeding to death on the ground and decided to let him bleed out and
die. The Lieutenant ordered everyone to get back to the ships
before
the rocks crashed down on everyone.
Maynard's soldiers rushed back to
the ships and made it just in time before the rocks went tumbling down
on the pirate. Everyone believed that the pirate was dead, but it
wasn't long until they heard about his lingering ghost.
From
that day on, every full moon would bring out Blackbeard's ghost.
The story goes that his ghost screams at the top of his lungs because
of
his bitterness of the unfair fight. His ghost remains in these
rocks
today, and people still fear approaching the remains of his hideout.
In the original story that I read, Blackbeard was chased down and
trapped in a narrow canal by Maynard and his forces. The story
was
told
that Blackbeard was shot and stabbed numerous times before he
died.
Also, the story said that they did not believe that he was dead unless
they cut his head off. So, they cut his head off and tossed
Blackbeard's body in the sea.
I kept my story pretty similar, but
changed a lot as well. I made Maynard and his men end
Blackbeard's
life, but they left him bleeding to die when the hurricane waters hit
their hideout. The story that I read did mention that Blackbeard
threw a party in his hideout, so I made that party into the scene of
Blackbeard's death. I liked this idea and
kept
it the same, except for the name of their hideout. In the
original
story, Blackbeard's headless body haunted the old hideout, and in my
story I just made his regular body haunt the old hideout only on nights
with a full moon. I changed this part of the story because I
thought that keeping the decapitation idea in the story would not allow
me to be creative. I kept the basic idea of an ambush by Maynard,
but changed specific details in my story.
Bibliography:
Blackbeard's Ghost, retold by S.E. Schlosser "Blackbeard's
Ghost" - (American Folklore Website)