Undoubtedly, Hernan Cortes gave us pirates something to admire and respect, but no pirate could ever come close to the man I am going to tell you about next.  If you were to ask any one on this ship who the most famous of all pirates is, I bet my lucky tooth they would say, "Blackbeard."  This pirate is so famous, even my grandma has heard of him.  In fact, she was the one who told me his stories.  Her mother, Mary Ormond, my great-grandmother, is rumored to be the last wife of Blackbeard, though she was only sixteen at the time they married.  Imagine that.  No wonder I have the heart of a pirate...


Don't be misled, however, by this apparently protective nature.  Though Blackbeard was said to be agreeable and oftentimes forgiving and generous with those who cooperated with him, he had absolutely no problem "dealing with" those who would not comply with his requests.  He was a true believer in striking terror in his victims, not by brutality, but by his appearance.  Most of his enemies surrendered at first sight of him.  Thus, he was called "Blackbeard" because of the huge mass of black hair covering his face.  This beard, said to be woven with hemp and intentionally lit on fire during battle, was wild and unruly, much like his intended demeanor.  Even his crew was afraid of him.


Blackbeard was enticed by treasure, as almost all great pirate legends are.  In fact, he rarely sought to kill his victims...unless they got in the way of his plunder.  There is a story of a man that refused to give Blackbeard his jewelry so, rather than fighting with him, Blackbeard simply cut the man's hand off.  Unfortunately for Blackbeard's crew, however, they would often find themselves being used by Blackbeard to demonstrate his role of authority on the ship.  Oftentimes, this resulted in a crew member's death.  Blackbeard once killed a crew member for drinking in his cabin and when someone asked him why he did it, he simply said, "If  I don't kill one of them now and then, they will forget who I am." 

Another of Blackbeard's downfalls was his love of women.  He was rumored to have around 14 wives and the marriage ceremonies that were performed for him on board were a common-place ritual to the crew.  The only marriage that was said to be legitimate was the one I mentioned earlier between Blackbeard and my great-grandmother, Mary Ormond. 

Blackbeard got his start as a pirate by being an apprentice to a well-known pirate by the name of Benjamin Hornigold.  After Hornigold retired, Blackbeard became the new commander of  the ship which he re-christened Queen Anne's Revenge.  Blackbeard armed his ship with about 40 guns and set out on his adventures at sea, not yet knowing his fate as the greatest of all pirate legends.  Toward the end of Blackbeard's career as a pirate, he settled down in Bath Town, North Carolina, where he received a full pardon form the Governor, Charles Eden. 


The call of his former life was too overwhelming for Blackbeard to ignore and he eventually was welcomed back into the life of piracy, but he would only be allowed to enjoy it for a very short time.  Citizens in the land began to fear the treachery of the pirates and planned a military attack in order to stop the inevitable pillaging.  Their specific mission was to eliminate Blackbeard.  First lieutenant Robert Maynard of H.M.S. Pearl was selected to lead the hunt for Blackbeard and on the morning of November 22, 1718, the battle began among the ships. 


Several blows were traded between Maynard and Blackbeard, but it was ultimately the legendary Blackbeard that suffered the fatal wound.  He was decapitated by a sword blow to the back of the head.  Blackbeard's severed head was hung from Maynard's bowsprit as a trophy and to prove that the legendary pirate, Blackbeard, was indeed dead.






BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1.  This story is a compilation of three different sources on Edward Teach.  I retold in my own words what I learned from these  stories. 

websource # 1:   http://www.aschulze.net/pirates/bios/bio09.htm
This website is a sub-page to a homepage titled "Swashbuckler's Cove" which is sponsored by Nedstadt

websource # 2:   http://www.piratesinfo.com/main.php
This website features information on the history of piracy, details on pirace, and pirate biographies, which is what I used as a reference for this story.  It was created in 1996 by Krzysztof Wikzynski.

websource # 3:   http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/lennon/897/teach.html
This websitee was created under the sponsorship of fortunecity.com


2.   All images on this webpage can be found at Beej's Pirate Image Archive
Websource:   http://www.piratehaven.org/~beej/pirates/

Image # 1 - Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard
Websource:   http://www.piratehaven.org/~beej/pirates/images/teach.gif

Image # 2 - Ocracoke Inlet, Where Blackbeard was Killed
Websource:   http://www.piratehaven.org/~beej/pirates/images/ocacock.jpg

Image # 3 - Blackbeard Meets Robert Maynard, face-to-face
Websource:   http://www.piratehaven.org/~beej/pirates/images/bbmay.jpg

Image # 4 - Blackbeard's Head Swinging From Maynard's Bowsprit
Websource:   http://www.piratehaven.org/~beej/pirates/images/black2.gif

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