BLACKBEARD: The Man and the Myth by Julie Ann Powers Reprinted from Coastwatch, a bimonthly magazine of North Carolina Sea Grant. For more information, write Coastwatch, NCSU Box 8605, Raleigh, NC 27695-8605, or check the Sea Grant website: http://www.ncsu.edu/seagrant Despite a fierce reputation that has survived nearly three centuries, Blackbeard wouldn't be called a successful pirate. Those were rich men who died a quiet death at an old age. But Blackbeard certainly was notorious. He was born Edward Drummond around 1680 in Bristol, England, according to history brooks. He assumed the surname Teach, also spelled Thatch, Tache or Tatch, as a pirate. His more well-known nickname came from his dark, bushy whiskers. Legend says that Blackbeard, a big man with a formidable countenance, used his beard to heighten any pirate's biggest weapon - the ability to engender fear. Before battle, he supposedly braided his whiskers into pigtails and tucked slow-burning matches amongst them or behind his ears, spending curls of smoke around his face. Blackbeard was always armed with an array of daggers, swords and loaded pistols, though some historians say there's no evidence he killed anyone until the day of his own death. His nautical bad-guy career began during Queen Anne's War, as a privateer sailing out of Jamaica to attack French merchant ships. After the war ended in 1713, Blackbeard crewed for another pirate in the Bahamas. he captured the French slaver, Concorde, in 1717. When he was rewarded with its command, he renamed it Queen Anne's Revenge. At its largest, his force included four ships and 300 or more men. The fleet assaulted mariners from the Caribbean to New England. North Carolina's coast offered several hideouts from colonial and British authorities. An anchorage at Ocracoke is still called Teach's Hole. Bath was another Blackbeard haunt. North Carolina's Gov. Charles Eden reportedly shrugged at pirate activity and possibly shared in Blackbeard's booty. Eden pardoned the pirate in June 1718. Blackbeard supposedly was semi-retired in November 1718 when he met his end at Ocracoke. In fact, some historians theorize the losses of Queen Anne's Revenge and a smaller sloop, Adventure, in June 1718, were intentional. Grounding the vessels in Beaufort Inlet might have been the pirate's way of "downsizing" his business. Pirate attacks off the colonial coast continued, however, and Virginia's Gov. Alexander Spotswood blamed Blackbeard. Not so forgiving as Eden, he put a price on Blackbeard's head and urged the British military, the Virginia Assembly and Eden's opponents to help capture him. Blackbeard was tricked into battle by Lt. Robert Maynard off Ocracoke Nov. 22, 1718, on a British sloop. According to legend, the pirate fought on even after being shot, stabbed and slashed across the throat, until he died while cocking a pistol. It was the custom of the times to display dead pirates as a deterrent to the occupation. Blackbeard's severed head was hung from the bowspirit of Maynard's ship. Blackbeard'sTreasure        During the “Golden Age of Piracy”, the Spanish were plundering all of the gold, silver, and jewelry they could find in Mexico and South America.  The pirates were always on the lookout for these rich treasure ships that were sailing back to Spain.      Although on occasion pirates would bury their loot, most often the plunder was sold and the profits divided and quickly spent in the many taverns of the Caribbean.  Some pirates had families and would send their share home.      Gold and silver was not the only treasure being taken by the pirates.  Goods such as sugar, rum, and cocoa were the prize.  The pirates could resell these items at a very low price without the high taxes being levied by the governments of Europe.  Unfortunately, the easy resale of goods only encouraged the act of piracy.      When Blackbeard was killed, 25 hogshead of sugar, 11 tierces (casks containing about 304 -330 pounds) and 145 bags of cocoa, a barrel of indigo, and a bale of cotton was confiscated by Lt. Maynard to be taken back to Virginia and sold at auction.      “Teach's Oak” near Oriental, “Holiday’s Island” in the Chowan River, “The Old Brick House” near Elizabeth City, and the southern end of Ocracoke Island are among the places in North Carolina that Blackbeard was supposed to have buried his treasure.      On the night before the final battle, one of Blackbeard’s crew asked him if Mrs. Teach knew where he had buried his money.  His reply was that “nobody but himself and the devil knew where it was and the longest liver should take it all”.      Blackbeard was a notorious spendthrift and it is unlikely that any treasure he may have buried stayed buried for very long.  No large cache of gold or money has ever been found. Flags of Terror      No one knows the origin of the name "Jolly Roger"; it may have come from the French word "joli rouge" meaning pretty red, a description of the bloody banner flown by early privateers. This term was corrupted to "Jolly Roger" by English buccaneers and was later applied to the black flag.       The earliest record of a Jolly Roger occurred around 1700 when the French pirate, Emanuel Wynne, flew a sable ensign with cross-bones, a death's head and an hour glass, during an engagement with an English man-of-war off Jamaica. The hour glass may have been a hint that there was not much time for deliberation, a point reinforced by the skull and bones, a traditional symbol of death.       Blackbeard's flag was one of the more unusual flags flown by the pirates. His flag had a skeleton holding an hour glass in one hand to signify that your time was running out. A dagger in the other hand and the heart with three drops of blood signified that blood would be drawn if you did not surrender. Horns and cloven feet on the skeleton signified that he was in league with the devil. Pirate Flags   Home