Blackbeard the Pirate

Blackbeard the Pirate

Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was one of the most infamous pirates on the East Coast. Cultivating fear by strapping on six pistols and six knives and, legend has it, by lighting matches under his hat to give the illusion that his head was smoking, Blackbeard attacked ships in the Caribbean and settlements along the coasts of Virginia and the Carolinas.

After a reign of terror that included taking the city of Charleston hostage, Blackbeard accepted a pardon from North Carolina's governor and retired. He bought a little place in Bath, on the mainland, and wooed a local girl. Mr. and Mrs. Blackbeard settled down to the good life, visiting and occasionally robbing terrified neighbors. With help from the governor's secretary, Blackbeard soon returned to piracy, setting up camp on Ocracoke Island.

In 1720, Blackbeard and some pirate friends swiped a few pigs, uncorked a few kegs of rum, and cranked up the band. Virginia's governor developed a bad case of the jitters. On November 21, long after the party fizzled, the governor's navy struck. Lt. Robert Maynard slipped two ships into the inlet as Blackbeard drank the night away.

Maynard approached at dawn. Blackbeard toasted the lieutenant's damnation, and Maynard attacked. Blackbeard crippled one ship and blasted the other.

Before the smoke could clear, Maynard sent his crew below. As Blackbeard and his pirates swarmed the gunwales, Maynard's men burst on deck, firing. Blackbeard and Maynard met face-to-face, pistols drawn. They fired; Blackbeard staggered. They drew their swords; Maynard's snapped. As Blackbeard raised his cutlass for the final blow, he was ambushed and decapitated by one of Maynard's men. Maynard sailed home with Blackbeard's head swinging from his bowsprit.

At least three of Blackbeard's ships sank in North Carolina's waters; archaeologists are retrieving artifacts from what is likely the flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, which ran aground on a sandbar near Beaufort Inlet in May of 1718.