Edward Teach (Blackbeard)
Blackbeard is one of the great pirate legends. But unlike Captain Hook and Long John Silver, he was real - a fierce buccaneer who appreciated the value of a nasty reputation.
Not much is known of his early life, except that he likely was born in England before 1690, possibly in Bristol or London. His name is usually given as Edward Teach, although there is primary source material identifying him as Edward Thatch. There's no question, though, that once he became a pirate he took on the name Blackbeard - a reference to his long, black beard, which he apparently liked to decorate with black ribbons.
It's believed that like many pirates, Blackbeard started out as a privateer, a member of a ship's crew authorized during the Queen Anne's War to attack vessels belonging to France, Spain or any other enemies of England. Also, like many pirates, he stayed at sea after the war ended in 1713 and joined a pirate crew captained by Ben Hornigold.
When Hornigold took advantage of an amnesty offer and retired in 1717, Blackbeard took over his main vessel, a former French slave ship known as the Concorde. Blackbeard added more cannon and renamed her Queen Anne's Revenge. With as many as 300 men sailing with his small fleet, he spent most of the next year taking "prizes" from among the ships doing business in the Caribbean and along the lower East Coast of America. Before he was through, he would attack as many as 40 ships.
But just how terrible was he? Legend has it that he once made a prisoner eat his own ears and that he chopped off the finger of one captive who refused to give up a ring. There is, however, no documentation of either incident or, for that matter, of any cold-blooded murder of anyone who wasn't intent on killing him. But Blackbeard didn't hesitate to do anything that would make him an imposing figure. He was a tall man, his face almost covered with dark hair, and he was known to string smoking fuses through his beard to give him an even more demonic look in battle. Blackbeard knew that the more he became known as a devil of the high seas, the more likely ship captains would surrender to him without a fight.
The fact is Blackbeard's most notable act of terrorism was probably his week-long blockade of Charleston, South Carolina in May 1718. His ships raided vessels heading into and out of the harbor, taking as hostages a group of well-to-do travelers. The pirates threatened to hang their prisoners unless the town delivered a chest of medical supplies, including treatments for syphilis. The exchange was made only minutes before the killings were supposed to begin. But not before Blackbeard and his men took the liberty of taking jewelry, money and the clothes of their hostages.
Within a week, Blackbeard lost his flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, and another one of his sloops when they ran aground near the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Fortunately for him, Blackbeard had time to salvage any treasure on board before the ships went under. Blackbeard's pirates continued their marauding through that summer and fall and were known to host a drunken feast that drew many pirates to the Outer Banks that September.
By then, the governor of the colony of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood, had had enough. He sent two sloops under the command of Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard to deal with Blackbeard. They caught up with the pirate at Ocracoke Inlet on November 21, and the next day the battle began. Blackbeard scored the first blow, killing and injuring a number of men on one of the British sloops with a cannon shot. But Maynard was a worthy foe. He tricked Blackbeard into thinking that most of his crew was killed by telling his men to hide in the hold. When Blackbeard and his crew boarded the British vessel, they were ambushed.
Appropriately, Blackbeard and Maynard faced each other and waged a terrific duel. Maynard was known to wound Blackbeard several times, both with his sword and his pistol, but it wasn't until another member of the British crew sliced the famous pirate's throat that he finally fell. Maynard cut Blackbeard's head off and hung it from the front of his ship for the victorious trip back to Virginia, a suitable ending for a demon of the sea.