This British corsair became famous for his raids in the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean. Truly one of the creepiest characters among pirates. Daniel Defoe, the enlightened author of Robinson Crusoe, was simply obsessed with the topic of pirates and even created an entire study (A General History of Pirates) dedicated to them; according to his authoritative testimony, Blackbeard was a devil in the flesh, not a man. Defoe writes: “During the battle, he hooked a rifle belt over his shoulder in the manner of a bandaliera, from which three pairs of pistols in holsters hung down, and thrust lit matches under the edges of his hat, and when they illuminated his face from two sides, his eyes seemed truly ferocious. and wild, and all this, taken together, gave him such a look that the human imagination could not give rise to an infernal fury, whose appearance would be more frightening. Most likely, Daniel Defoe exaggerates to some extent. Edward Teach was a man, what can I say, but he was distinguished by high growth, great strength and incredible authority, really terrifying the pirates under his command. Perhaps it would not be an exaggeration to say that Blackbeard had almost the most well-trained crew, who sacredly honored discipline and unquestioningly obeyed any order of their captain. Apparently, this also affected the results: despite a very short career (only some 15 months!), A fair amount of production allowed Edward Teach to enter the top ten most successful pirates in history.
Edward Teach (1680 - November 28, 1718) was born in Bristol. It was a medium-sized port city in Britain. This circumstance, as well as the fact that his father himself was a corsair and very well established himself in the Caribbean, was reflected in the choice of young Tich of his career. Of course, he dreamed of becoming a pirate! The father's residence was located in Port Royal (Jamaica). This city still exists - however, already at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. Port-Royal was given 36 years of earthly life - from 1656 to 1692. It was literally the pirate capital of the world. It grew with lightning speed, wealth flowed into it from everywhere. More than one and a half thousand pirates were permanent residents of the city (among them was Blackbeard's father). The Catholic Church has identified Port Royal as the most ungodly place on earth. And on June 7, 1692, a monstrous earthquake suddenly occurred, and the city, including its inhabitants, was almost completely absorbed by the raging water element ...
Edward Teach began to serve on the ship from an early age. And although the beginning of his service took place on the warships of the Royal British Navy, there was always hope for Tich to fulfill his cherished dream of a pirate fate. After all, the captains of some ships were issued special licenses that turned them into privateers and allowed them to stop and rob Spanish ships. From here to the deck of a real pirate ship was within easy reach!
Edward Teach, in fact, did just that. He left the Royal Navy and moved to a small ship that made regular voyages to Jamaica. In Jamaica, Teach managed to make an acquaintance with the famous and influential pirate captain, Benjamin Hornigold. Teach fervently begged Hornigold to take him on the team. He, looking at the stately figure of Tich, thought that such a fine fellow, who also had real experience of sailing on the sea, could be useful on his ship, and gave his consent. His choice turned out to be a damn good one. The official entry of Tich on the pirate path was in 1716.
Edward Teach, with all the impulse of youth, devoted himself with all his heart to his beloved work. He showed himself so convincingly in the case that Hornigold, almost on the next voyage, appointed Tich as the captain of the newly captured sloop. Hornigold and Teach subsequently made joint raids, usually successful. The year 1717 turned out to be especially good for them. In addition to a whole series of ships they boarded off the Caribbean coast and off the coast of America, the pirates got a giant merchant ship, the Concorde, which sailed between Martinique and Africa. The size of the booty that the pirates got this time could shake any imagination! There was everything: mountains of golden sand, bags of gold and silver coins, jewelry.
What happened had significant consequences. Hornigold, considering that Teach was quite ready to act independently, seriously thought about the fact that it would be more expedient for them to part. For his part, Teach himself, although he had great gratitude to Hornigold for the recent inclusion in the pirate team, felt inside that the time for apprenticeship had passed, and it was time for him to become the leader of the pirates himself. And then in parallel, as if by order, there was a change of power: instead of the overly cautious and prudent Hornigold rejected by the majority of the team, the frantic Samuel Bellamy led the squadron. There was a fair division of the booty (moreover, the conquered giant ship went to Tichu!), A farewell friendly party took place, and after that each of the pirates followed their own path.
Edward Teach rechristened the new, now truly his ship: “Queen Anne's Revenge”; 40 guns were installed on board, which made the ship a formidable opponent for most ships that could meet on the way. Tich's first trophy as a captain was a British merchant ship; careless British fell into the hands of pirates near the island of St. Vincent, 320 kilometers north of the coast of Venezuela. Teach emptied the holds, moved the team to his side, and burned the ship itself without regret. He subsequently landed the prisoners on land, without burdening himself with a ransom demand.
In the winter of 1717-1718, Queen Anne's Revenge made active raids in the Caribbean; however, the profit was not too big - a few sloops, and nothing more. The weather was getting bad for further navigation, not to mention the hunt for ships. Parking and inspection of the vessel was necessary. On uninhabited or little visited islands, all this could be arranged quite safely, but it could not be properly carried out. Therefore, Teach, figuratively speaking, decided to stick his head into the mouth of a lion. He brings his ship to Bath (a city on the coast of North Carolina, famous for its winter anchorage conditions) and throws himself at the feet of Governor Eden, repenting of his earlier sins and asking for forgiveness for himself and for the crew. Eden, moved to the depths of his soul, believed Tich, graciously granted his forgiveness and allowed him to wait out the winter in Bath. The pirates solemnly vowed to stop their shameful activities, and they were even allowed to ... keep all the booty!
Having waited for spring in comfort, and at the same time having made good capital on the colonists of Bath, who were happy to acquire many valuables from Tich's treasury, the gloriously rested pirates took to the sea on their completely renovated ship, heading towards the Strait of Honduras. It is clear that they not only did not think about the observance of the oath given to the governor, but completely forgot it. Well done, they missed work so much that they were ready to rob even their own. This is by no means an exaggeration! The Queen Anne's Revenge captured a 10-gun ship owned by the then-not-so-famous pirate Stede Bonnet. The ship Bonnet, by a strange coincidence, was called "Revenge" and had 70 people on board. It was not easy to compete with Tich, so Steed Bonnet gave up and turned from a captain into a forced prisoner in an instant. However, Tich promised that later he would share the booty with him. "Revenge" he attached to his squadron, putting on her captain a certain Roberts. Later, in June 1718, Teach returned to Steed Bonnet his plain "Revenge". The promised share of the booty was not even mentioned. Bonnet got angry and decided to improve his affairs. He surrendered to the governor of North Carolina and asked for a letter of marque from him, giving him the right to attack Spanish ships with impunity. And then, when his request was granted, he went to sea and tried to overtake Tich's flagship in order to get even, taking his share by force. However, he did not succeed in catching up with Queen Anne's Revenge.
By the way, Teach, who had already grown lush facial hair by that time, was called pirates Blackbeard. In the General History of Pirates, Daniel Defoe gives an interesting description: “This beard was black, and he grew it to an incredible length; as for the width, it reached his eyes; he usually braided it into pigtails, intertwining them with ribbons, in the manner of our branched wigs, and twisted these pigtails around his ears.
He soon captured the beautiful sloop Adventure; the crew of the sloop unanimously joined the pirates, and the notorious Israel Hands was appointed captain over them, right hand Ticha.
Then the pirates paid a visit to the Gulf of Honduras.
There, Tich's squadron captured many ships in a few months; one of them, assigned to the port of Boston, was generally burned by him. Reason - revenge: Tich became aware of the execution of several pirates. At the end of May, the formidable captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge, with his squadron, which now amounted to 4 ships (including the flagship) with a crew totaling over 400 people, decided to move to the coast of South Carolina, where already in June he dared to boldly block the city of Charleston . Some historians see the reason for the blockade in the syphilis epidemic that suddenly broke out on the ships of Tich. Having demanded medicines, Tich initially received a refusal from the city. Then he began to seize the ships that were in the process of entering the harbor or leaving it. The total number of ships that became victims of pirates was eight or nine; one of them was attended by prominent citizens of Charleston and among them - Samuel Wragg himself, a prominent member of the city council, with his four-year-old son. The pirates again approached the mayor of Charleston, offering a mutually beneficial exchange. The defenders of the city and the mayor had no choice but to satisfy the claims of the pirates; necessary medicines were provided. However, the transfer procedure was somewhat delayed (for two whole days!); Teach began to lose patience and was already ready to kill the captives, but then the skiff with medicines finally arrived. Edward Teach, as promised, released important captives in peace (however, having appropriated their clothes, so that they were practically naked!) And even returned the ship on which they were before the attack of the pirates. And then the Queen Anne's Revenge and the other ships of the pirate squadron left the harbor.
Subsequently, Charlestonians were perplexed for a long time (by the way, this incident still baffles historians of piracy): the cost of the requested medicines was a little over ‡ 400. Why did the pirates suddenly arrange such a meager ransom? After all, they could subject the city to brutal shelling, or even burn it to the ground. Fortunately for the townspeople, everything worked out with little bloodshed. But things could have gone differently, and then the damage could have been enormous. Apparently, there was a reason, and what - we, most likely, will never know.
Teach, with his small squadron of four ships, then decided to return to the coast of North Carolina after that. And there, in June 1718, another incident occurred that still makes one wonder. In fact, it so happened that in the Beaufort Strait, Edward "Blackbeard" Teach proved to be such a "skillful navigator" that his main ships ("Queen Anne's Revenge" and "Adventure") ... ran aground! Further, more interesting: he ordered to transfer almost all the treasures to a nameless sloop; the fourth ship, previously owned by Steed Bonnet, he returned to the owner, releasing him in peace (though without a single penny). Some part of the crew perished in this incident, while the rest, for the most part, he forcibly lowered ashore. They bitterly cursed him, knowing full well that Blackbeard decided in the most original way to get rid of the need to share the captured good among all members of the team that had grown considerably by that time. Needless to say, their assumption could well correspond to the truth ...
And Blackbeard, with a small team of the most select and devoted to him pirates, set sail and rushed in the direction of Bath, where he had once given a vow to Governor Eden to continue to behave diligently and not to rob at sea. The governor greeted him as a good friend. Blackbeard fell on his face again, begging for forgiveness. And, surprisingly, he got it again. The sloop taken from the English merchants, on which Teach came to Bath, was officially donated to him! So all of Blackbeard's movable property was legalized. And he himself amazed his pirates with an unheard-of act, deciding to buy himself property in Bath. Tich's choice fell on a luxurious mansion, located obliquely from the palace of Governor Eden himself. His legalized sloop bobbed proudly on the waves in the harbor of the offshore island of Ocracoke. The governor darling made a fuss and immediately found a young beauty for Blackbeard as his wife. By the way, Edward Teach was then 38 years old - not such a dilapidated age in those days. Moreover, Eden introduced him to the court, and Teach made acquaintance with almost all the noble and influential families of Bath. They liked each other so much that in the future they were mainly engaged only in giving each other visits! Tich, according to contemporaries, simply loved to arrange receptions for the nobility; the nobles, in turn, did not remain in debt.
On the cloudless horizon, however, there was a small cloud. A Philadelphia court issued an arrest warrant for Teach. The governor promised the pirate to use his connections and recommended that he certainly appear in court in order to put an end to all charges at once. Having fired back at the Philadelphia court, Blackbeard was serenely moving home to Bath, and suddenly, not far from Bermuda, he ran into two French ships; the hold of one would be loaded with sugar, and the other would go light. Blackbeard captured a ship with sugar, and his crew was completely transferred to another ship. After that, he joyfully continued on his way and by September anchored in the harbor of Bath.
Governor Eden instantly realized how everything should be arranged so that Tich's trophy would not cause trouble for him. The vice-admiralty court was urgently convened. Tobias Knight himself, Chief Justice of the colony, came to preside over this trial. The ruling of the court, made with enchanting swiftness, was amazing: according to it, Edward Teach, having accidentally met a ship with sugar abandoned for some unknown reason, decided to bring it to the colonies. The court verdict ordered Tich to immediately unload the ship and immediately burn it, which he did. For the performance of the judicial procedure, officials were marked by Blackbeard with small souvenirs: the governor got 60 barrels of excellent sugar, and Chief Justice Knight - 20.
After that, Tich only had to live for his own pleasure. He was alternately in his mansion, then on a sloop in the harbor at the southern tip of the islet of Ocracoke. There he was visited by some noble pirates, such as Charles Vane, distinguished by his luck. The pirates and their crews came together and made such a “jam session” on the island that all the surroundings shuddered. The noise of the merriment was said to have been so loud that Governor Eden could not sleep a wink. However, he was glad that his friend took his soul to glory. Everything went serenely, and no one guessed that trouble was already close.
And this trouble could be easily personified. The man who wanted to destroy Blackbeard was named Alexander Sportswood. He was the governor of Virginia. Despite the fact that Ocracoke and Bath were outside his jurisdiction, Sportswood decided to send a punitive expedition there. He ordered Lieutenant Robert Maynard to head it, promising him as a bonus for the successful outcome of the enterprise ‡ 100; in addition, small incentives were promised to all the sailors of his crew.
What, in fact, prompted the governor of Virginia to start this operation?
The answer is simple.
Several former members of Tich's team, who were once abandoned on the shores of Beaufort Bay, fell into his hands (among them - William Howard, a former quartermaster). They informed the governor about the huge treasures with which Teach fled. Sportswood was a greedy man and immediately set on fire with the idea to appropriate these treasures for himself, believing that he was much more worthy to own them than some vile pirate. In addition, his pride was still hurt to some extent here: the governor of Virginia also could not reconcile himself with the idea that, although not directly in his possessions, but relatively close to them, the famous pirate settled with impunity, ruining many ships. The insidious Sportswood correctly assessed the capabilities of Tich's small vessel, capable of entering any water and, among other things, not getting stuck even in shallow water. Therefore, he did not equip large military frigates, but limited himself to a couple of small, maneuverable sloops. To these, upon mature reflection, two more were eventually added. Everything was financed by the personal funds of Alexander Sportswood, since he did not want any of the officials to get wind of his idea. And he hoped to cover all the costs after he managed to get the treasures of Blackbeard.
The punitive expedition sailed on November 11, 1718, and on the evening of November 21, it already approached the island of Ocracoke, where Edward Teach was with a team of nineteen people; six of them were blacks. Robert Maynard, according to documentary sources, had 30 people on the Pearl, 25 on the Lime; about the same number of crew was on the "Ranger" and "Jane". Maynard, an experienced warrior, decided not to attack at once. It was already getting dark, and the pirates, who were much better acquainted with the fairway than the Virginians, had a clear advantage over them. Maynard decided to wait until dawn. It was also played into his hands by the fact that the pirates were drinking with might and main on their ship, clearly not expecting an attack. However, when Maynard sent out a reconnaissance boat (and it was already completely dark!), She was fired upon, and she was forced to return.
So the plan of surprise attack disgracefully failed. Edward Teach, instantly sober, did not close his eyes all night, waiting for what Maynard would do. The day has come. As Maynard hesitated, waiting, Edward Teach decided to make the first move. He ordered to cut the anchor and quickly moved into a narrow channel. Maynard immediately gave the order to move in pursuit, which was done. However, trying to use the speed qualities of his ships in unfamiliar waters, Maynard did not save himself and ran them aground. Tich rejoiced, and a shootout ensued. Blackbeard's threats and curses reached the Virginian ships; Teach yelled at the top of his lungs that he would never surrender to cowardly puppies - that's how he called Maynard's sailors. Meanwhile, the tide had begun. Maynard's ships refloated safely and were able to continue their pursuit. When the sloops of the Virginians got close to Blackbeard's ship (the Jane is the closest), they were met by a monstrous cannon salvo. Captain Hyde, who was heading for the Jane, was killed instantly. His team also lost six more people; while more than a dozen sailors were seriously injured. "Jane" could now be discounted.
The pirates rejoiced.
Maynard continued his pursuit in the Ranger. He directed his ship in such a way that he forced the pirates to make a mistake, and they washed ashore. "Ranger" quickly went to convergence; Maynard gave the order for everyone to be ready for hand-to-hand combat. However, Blackbeard was difficult to embarrass. After waiting until the Virginians approached, he ordered a bunch of "grenades" to be thrown onto the deck - these were bottles generously stuffed with gunpowder, small shot and pieces of lead; all this deadly contents were diluted with rum, and at the neck there was a special instant igniter. Their widespread use by pirates began thanks to Edward Teach, but he was by no means the inventor of grenades, as many mistakenly believe. Such "shells" were already in use in the 17th century, and they were especially often used during the siege of fortified forts. Edward Teach, thus, only paid tribute to tradition. True, the grenades that landed on the deck of the Ranger did not explode for some reason, but only expelled a cloud of gray smoke, briefly disorienting the attackers. In addition, the entire deck of the Virginian sloop was covered in shards of glass. But Maynard's fighters came to their senses, and a battle ensued. And on board the Ranger! Blackbeard and Robert Maynard personally met in a saber duel (by the way, there are several descriptions of this duel; one is based on eyewitness accounts, and the other is contained in Maynard's personal letter; we find it necessary to acquaint you with both options).
Maynard made a quick lunge, but the tip of his blade pierced Tich's bandolier. (By the way, Blackbeard was simply obsessed with weapons. He always had several different pistols tucked into his belt.) Parrying Maynard's blow, Teach blew Maynard's blade almost at the hilt with a powerful blow, seriously injuring several fingers. But Maynard jumped back and, throwing away the useless handle, drew his pistol and fired a shot, seriously injuring Tich. And then a certain Abraham Demelt from Maynard's team stuck himself between them and cut Tich's cheek with a blow of his saber, though not too seriously. The hot battle of the crews brought a pause into the duel of the captains; while Teach, using it, tried to load his gun, he died from a large loss of blood.
According to another version, when Teach injured Maynard's hand, he rushed forward, intending to finally finish him off. It was at this moment that a certain Virginian vilely attacked him from behind, wounding him in the neck. Blood flowed profusely from the wound; however, this did not at all moderate the courage of Blackbeard. He, without even thinking about releasing the saber from his hands, attacked the enemies. Since he spoke openly, he unwittingly became an easy target. Five bullets hit him; triumphant Virginians surrounded the weakening leader of the pirates and inflicted about twenty cut wounds on him. And then the forces finally left Tich, and he fell.
The descriptions of the duel, as you can see, are for the most part drastically different, but they are similar in their ending. Maynard approached Edward Teach, who had fallen unconscious, and cut off his head, later placing it on the bowsprit of the Ranger.
According to eyewitnesses, although this is more of a pure legend, when the headless body of Edward Teach was thrown overboard, it swam around the pirate ship seven times and only then sank. The fight had not yet ended, and Maynard, hastily bandaging his hand, rushed to the ship of Tich, who had been killed by him, because he perfectly remembered the task entrusted to him by the governor of Virginia. When he reached the captain's cabin, he found ‡ 2238.
But only!
There were no other valuables on the ship ... the main objective the expedition, started by Alexander Sportswood, was not achieved. He, in fact, did not even manage to recoup his expenses.
The captured pirates from Blackbeard's crew were taken to Williamsburg; their execution was scheduled for March 1719. The decree applied to all fifteen captives. However, only thirteen pirates were hanged. One (it's almost impossible to imagine) was... acquitted! And just before the end of the execution, a personal royal decree was suddenly delivered, which kept all the pirates alive. At that time, only the bloodthirsty Israel Hands, Edward Teach's closest assistant, remained alive.
Teach's head and ‡ 2238 were delivered by Maynard to the governor of Virginia. Maynard was sure that Sportswood, appreciating his courage and honesty, would significantly increase the size of the award. However, his calculations did not materialize. Upon learning that Maynard had never been able to find the pirate cache with the main booty, the governor dryly thanked Maynard, accepted his money and head, and then, handing over the promised ‡ 100, noted that he was no longer detaining him.
You can be sure that when Maynard left the governor's chambers with a bag of guineas in his hands, his soul was by no means overwhelmed with delight. And the governor, gloomily admiring the head of Edward Teach, ordered it to be put on public display on the north bank of the Hampton River - as a warning to those madmen who cherish in their souls the absurd dream of being at the helm of a pirate brig.
Time has put everything in its place.
Who remembers Gov. Sportswood now?
And in Virginia, in the Hamptons, the Blackbeard Festival is held annually. Incredible popularity among tourists and locals is played out scenes depicting the most significant events from the life of Edward Teach.
Edward Teach (ur. Edward Teach) nicknamed "Blackbeard" (Eng. blackbeard; 1680-1718) - the famous English pirate who operated in the Caribbean in 1716-1718.
Arguably the most famous pirate, Blackbeard became a legend thanks to his biographer, Johnson. If we abandon the demonized portrait created by Johnson and turn to other sources, then we will be able to fairly reliably recreate his image.
One of Blackbeard's victims described him in 1717 as "a tall, lean man with a long black beard." Teach, apparently, was broad in the shoulders, and according to the testimony of Lieutenant Maynard, who killed him, he tied his beard with black ribbons.
Johnson reports that Blackbeard wore a sling with three pairs of pistols over his shoulder, apparently the author is telling the truth here, considering how limited the possibilities of firearms were at that time.
Being a natural leader, Blackbeard was smart and cunning.
Due to Tich's outstanding appearance and eccentric behavior, history made him one of the most famous pirates of the "Golden Age" of Caribbean piracy, despite the fact that his "career" was rather short, and his success and scale of activity were much smaller than those of many of his contemporaries-pirates. In the future, many rumors and legends arose associated with the name of Tich, which it is no longer possible to confirm or refute.
Teach served as the prototype for the image of the pirate Flint in the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. 
Born presumably in 1680 in Bristol or London. Blackbeard's real surname is not exactly known, the most common being Edward Drummond. Edward Drummond). Nothing is known about childhood and adolescence. There is a hypothesis that before piracy, he was an instructor in the English fleet, as evidenced by the pseudonym "Tich" (from the English. teach- teach). But in most primary sources, his pseudonym is indicated as "Thatch", which is not strange, given the characteristic appearance of "Blackbeard" (Eng. thatch- thick hair).
The first documentary mention of Tich refers to October 1717 (newspaper "Boston Newsletter"), when he was already pirating under Captain Benjamin Hornigold (Eng. Benjamin Hornigold), who robbed Spanish and French ships, first as a privateer (a private person who received a license from the state (letter, patent, certificate, commission) to capture and destroy ships of enemy and neutral countries in exchange for a promise to share with the employer), and then on his own fear and risk. Historians suggest that Teach participated in the War for Spanish inheritance(also known as Queen Anne's War) as a privateer, and after the signing of the Peace of Utrecht, not wanting to give up his favorite profession, he joined Hornigold's filibusters. This indirectly confirms the name that Teach later gave the flagship of his pirate fleet - "Queen Anne's Revenge"(English) Queen Anne's Revenge).
While in Hornigold's command, Teach took part in a large number of privateer operations against the French. Taking advantage of the fact that England was at war with France, filibusters freely used the island of Jamaica as their base.
At the end of 1716, Hornigold gave Tich personal command of a sloop captured from the French during one of the raids. By this point, Teach already had a reputation as a fearless and furious pirate.
At the beginning of 1717, Teach (possibly in company with Hornigold) set off for the shores of North America. After leaving the island of New Providence, the pirates captured the barque, which was under the command of Captain Turbar from Bermuda. There were 120 barrels of flour on board the barque, but the pirates took only wine from it and let it go. Then they managed to capture a ship with rich booty, sailing to South Carolina from Madera. After the repair and maintenance of their courts on the coast of Virginia, the pirates returned to the West Indies.
In November 1717, Tich's sloops attacked and, after a fleeting battle, captured a large French ship near the island of St. Vincent. At this point, the Blackbeard fleet consisted of two sloops: one with 12 guns and 120 crew members, the second with 8 guns and 30 crew members. Captured vessel turned out to be a slaver's sloop "Concord"(fr. La Concorde), who sailed from Guinea to Martinique under the command of Captain Dosset. Pirates led "Concord" to the island of Bequia in the Grenadines, where they landed the French and African slaves ashore. The French cabin boy Lewis Arot and several other members of the crew voluntarily joined the pirates and pointed out to them the valuable cargo that was secretly transported on the ship. As a result, the booty from the ship turned out to be very rich, among other things, a fair amount of golden sand and precious stones were found on it.
The pirates gave the smaller of the two sloops to the French, while they themselves switched to "Concord", which Teach fortified, equipped with 40 guns and renamed "Queen Anne's Revenge".
In 1717, the new governor of the Bahamas, Woods Rogers, announced the beginning of a ruthless fight against piracy. Hornigold, with part of his team, decided to surrender to the mercy of the British authorities and receive the amnesty promised by royal decree. Teach refused to stop his craft and raised over "Queen Anne's Revenge" black flag, thereby finally placing himself outside the law.
Turning his ship with guns to the victim, Thatch, as a rule, was in no hurry to shoot. His main weapon was not made of steel. First, he raised a pirate flag on a yardarm, demonstrating predatory intentions. Blackbeard understood and relied on the strong effect that he was supposed to have on the opposing team. Therefore, he thought over the grave color background and the image on the flag to the details.
Traveling along the Lesser Antilles, Teach attacked and robbed all oncoming merchant ships (attacks were recorded near the islands of St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Nevis, Antigua). In the vicinity of the island of St. Vincent, pirates captured a large English merchant ship under the command of Christoph Taylor. Having taken everything that was of value, the pirates landed the team on the island, and the ship itself was set on fire.
In December 1717, Tich's fleet left Puerto Rico towards Saman Bay on the island of Hispaniola.
By January 1718, the Tich team already had about 300 people. Cruising in the vicinity of the islands of St. Christopher and Crab, the pirates captured several more British sloops. In the end of January "Queen Anne's Revenge" anchored near the city of Battown (Eng. Bathtown) in North Carolina. This small town, whose population at that time did not exceed 8 thousand people, was a good refuge for ships coming from the Atlantic. The settlers happily bought up the cargo looted by the pirates, so Teach liked Bathtown as a rear base, and he repeatedly returned to it.
In April 1718, in the Gulf of Honduras, Teach captured a sloop "Adventure"(English) Adventure) and forced its captain, David Harriot, to join the pirates (according to another version, Harriot, being a pirate himself, voluntarily joined Teach's fleet, but was subsequently removed from command of his ship).
The pirates went further east, passed by the Cayman Islands and captured a Spanish sloop coming from Cuba, which they also attached to their flotilla. Turning north, they passed the Bahamas and approached the shores of North America. 
In May 1718 "Queen Anne's Revenge" and three smaller pirate sloops approached the city of Charlestown in South Carolina. They anchored off the coast of Charlestown, setting up an ambush. Thus, in a few days, 9 ships were captured, the most influential passengers were taken as hostages. Having received a huge ransom for them with money and medicines, Teach went to North Carolina. He bribed the governor of North Carolina, Charles Eden, and continued to engage in robbery.
Blackbeard liked to strike terror into his enemies. During the battle, he weaved ignition wicks into his beard and in clouds of smoke, like Satan from the underworld, burst into the ranks of the enemy.
Then Teach returned to Bath Town, but at the same time lost the Queen Anne's Revenge, which ran aground. Teach sold the booty, bought a house, and received yet another forgiveness from Governor Eden.
The governor even bothered to register ownership of the captured ships on Tich. However, dissatisfaction with the pirates grew everywhere, and merchants began to avoid the dangerous area. In October, Teach was visited by Charles Vane. This caused a new surge of discontent. 
In the fall of 1718, Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood published a proclamation called the Pirate Destruction Act, which promised a reward of 100 British pounds to anyone who captures or kills Teach, as well as smaller sums for ordinary pirates.
Hired by Spotswood, English lieutenant Robert Maynard (eng. Robert Maynard) went to destroy Tich.
On November 22, 1718, a boarding battle took place between the teams of Teach and Maynard, during which Blackbeard and most of his pirates were killed.
Events unfolded as follows...
Edward Teach (Blackbeard) was taken by surprise in his lair at the mouth of Okrakouk by a naval detachment, consisting of two sloops and led by Lieutenant Maynard. Many pirates were on leave in Bath Town. Only 60 people remained at the disposal of the Black Head. Government troops had a threefold numerical advantage.
At the disposal of Tich was the sloop "Adventure", armed with nine guns. This sloop had at least some kind of team, so Teach decided to break into the sea on it, abandoning the other two ships. Maynard's sloops began the pursuit, taking advantage of the tide. Teach turned and fired a side salvo with grapeshot, killing a midshipman on the Ranger sloop, and also killing and wounding several sailors. Lieutenant Maynard's sloop lost its course.
Teach, underestimating the size of the team on the second sloop, decided to take it on board. Maynard, prudently, hid most of the crew below deck, and when the fight began, the British easily defeated the pirates, thanks to their numerical superiority.
During the battle, Maynard met in a duel with Tich. They exchanged pistol shots (this is exactly the moment depicted in the picture below), and then took up sabers. Both of them fenced for some time in the middle of the battle, until a certain Scot came to the rescue of Maynard. 
Behind Tich, one of his pirates, nicknamed Black Caesar, tried to blow up the ship's cruise chamber by throwing a grenade into it. This attempt failed: Black Caesar passed out before he could throw the grenade.
When, after the battle, the body of Blackbeard was discovered, five bullet and twenty-five saber wounds were counted on it ...
Maynard cut off Tich's head and ordered to hang it on the yardarm of his ship. All thirteen pirates captured alive were convicted in Williamsburg and executed by hanging.
Maynard made his way to Bath Town, repaired his ships, and sailed back to Williamsburg.
For a long time, there were rumors among pirates and just adventurers that shortly before his death, Teach hid a large amount of gold and other wealth on some uninhabited island. Perhaps it was the legend of the Blackbeard treasure that prompted R. Stevenson to write the famous novel.
According to modern data, Tich's team really kept their savings on the uninhabited island of Amelia, but no significant values were subsequently found there.
But to this day, Thatch is a popular character in many books and films. On the picturesque island of St. Thomas, a museum dedicated to him has been organized, and the local brewery produces a dark thick beer named after him. And in the Virginian city of Hampton, every year in November, a festival is held on the warship Ranger, dedicated to both the pirate Blackbeard himself and the memorable day of his final defeat. In honor of the revered event, a religious mass and a banquet are held for the general public.
The source of information:
1. Wikipedia site
2. "12 Riddles of Pirate Blackbeard"
3. magazine "New Soldier" No. 105
History of Captain Blackbeard
Edward Teach - aka Blackbeard (born c. 1680 - death November 22, 1718) - an English pirate who hunted in the waters of North America and the West Indies in 1713-1718. He was one of the most odious figures in the history of sea robbery. Became the hero of American folklore, many novels and films. Legends about the treasures he buried to this day excite the imagination of seekers of pirate treasures.
What is known about Edward Teach
Presumably born in Bristol in a family of respectable merchants. Some of the historians say that Teach was an orphan, others - illegitimate. Teach's childhood was bleak and ended in 1692, when Edward, who was barely 12 years old, entered the navy as a cabin boy.
Many distinguished sailors various countries began their service at the age of 10-12 years. Continuing to serve in the navy, he took part in the war for the so-called "Spanish Succession" as a young man, on privateer ships operating in the West Indies. When it ended, Teach moved to the island of New Providence and made privateering his main profession.
In the Bahamas, he received a ship under his command and turned to full force their gifts. And nature generously rewarded him. Tich was smart enough, bold and decisive, and, as life has shown, turned out to be an excellent navigator. The only thing that repelled people from him was his unbridled character. He often flew into a rage and in this state literally did not remember himself, doing things that did not fit into any human norms. Other pirates also did not have a humble disposition, but they never dreamed of what Teach did.
The second distinguishing feature of Tich was his exorbitant craving for alcohol. He simply could not be in a sober state, and therefore in his cabin there was always a truly inexhaustible supply of gin and rum. Pirates did not encourage drunkenness on the ship, this was stated in the agreements that they signed before going to sea, but Tich was simply unbridled. Possessing great physical strength, he without further ado dealt with those who accused him of drunkenness, and becoming a captain, he turned into a real despot, with whom not everyone dared to swim. However, they decided, because Teach, being good at marine science, was lucky, which attracted the most desperate thugs to him.
Piracy
Teach made his first independent robberies off the coast of North America. In a short time, 7 different ships were boarded, carrying various cargoes: flour and wine, leather and palm oil. All this was sold to resellers either in the Bahamas or the Antilles, after which a week or two of wild life followed, and then a new campaign.
One of the voyages simply enriched Edward Teach. He captured a ship with slaves, for which the planters of Jamaica, Barbados and other West Indian colonies paid the pirates a tidy sum. To such an extent round that many of Tich's associates decided to put an end to piracy and, taking advantage of the just announced amnesty, settled on the shore.
Tich did not like this prospect. His elements were the sea, ships, fights, wine and women, and he, having recruited a new team, went to new robberies. It was then that the Allan the Great was captured. Having reloaded the booty from it onto his ship, Tich ordered the "Englishman" to be set on fire and, admiring the fireworks, headed for Venezuela.
Several ships were also robbed there, while some of them, seeing a bearded man with a saber on the bow of a pirate sloop, surrendered without a fight - such was the sinister glory of Tich. And he supported this glory and tried to convince the team and coastal authorities that he was not just a man, but the incarnation of the devil. Hence the truly masquerade look that Teach invented and tried in every possible way to support.
Pirate "Blackbeard"
The main element of his "image" was a beard. She grew at Tich from the eyes and reached the waist. Burning black, never knowing a comb or scissors, she was the subject of particular pride of a pirate. She was very well complemented by her hair - the same as a beard, black and lush. Tich was nicknamed Chenaya Beard.
He braided his hair into pigtails, which he laid behind his ears. Add to the description all the time red eyes from Roma, and you get his portrait. His costume consisted of a bright red jacket, the same pantaloons and a black hat, as well as a specially made leather sash, on which hung - no less - six pistols! And when Teach, in all this attire, with bloodshot eyes and a disheveled beard, rushed at the head of his people to board, few could resist him.
Companions
In the Gulf of Honduras, Blackbeard met a man who became one of his closest associates.
This man was called Stud Bonnet, he came from a respectable English family and served in the military from a young age. He received the rank of major and, having retired, married. For a while, the young lived in England, but then, for unknown reasons, left for the West Indies. On the island of Barbados, Bonnet purchased a sugar plantation and took up farming.
Bonnet went to the Gulf of Honduras at the insistence of the team, because the bay was the place where pirates from all over the Caribbean met from time to time in order to repair their ships in specially designated places, stock up on provisions and fresh water, and most importantly, have plenty of fun, hang around for women and play cards.
It was in one of these haunted places that Bonnet met Blackbeard. An unexpected friendship developed between them, which turned into cooperation. It is not known what considerations Edward Teach was guided by, but Bonnet was pushed into his arms by the desire to learn nautical science. Having never sailed before, Bonnet, becoming a captain, very often found himself in positions from which he got out only thanks to Fortune. And then a man met who was, by all accounts, the best sailor in all the West Indies.
Siege of Charlestown
We will not describe all the adventures of the companions, we will dwell on only one - the blockade of Charleston. The city at that time was the main port of the English colony of South Carolina and had a convenient harbor where many merchant ships gathered. Not far from the entrance to the harbor, Bonnet and Blackbeard took up their positions. In essence, they blockaded Charleston, intercepting all ships entering and leaving its harbor. There were no English warships nearby, and the pirates were able to turn around with might and main. Over the course of one week, 10 different ships were captured, on one of which Bonnet and Blackbeard took a large cargo of cotton, several thousand gold and silver dollars, and about 10 wealthy citizens of Charleston, for whom you could get a good ransom.
Life in Charleston was completely paralyzed, but, fortunately for its inhabitants, illness began among the pirates. At the same time, of the kind that in a decent society it is customary to speak in a whisper. Apparently, the stop in Nassau, where Blackbeard and Bonnet stopped before heading to Charleston, and where the sailors spent whole days in brothels and visiting houses, had an effect. And now venereal diseases put half of the crews out of action.
Of course, the pirates had no medicines, and Blackbeard had no choice but to send an order to the governor of South Carolina to deliver the necessary medicines to the ships. In case of disobedience, the pirate threatened not only to kill the hostages, but also to cut off the ears of the governor himself.
Of course, Blackbeard's demand was met, and the pirates lifted the blockade. Both ships - Teach himself and Bonnet - were bursting with prey that was to be divided. And then Edward Teach showed all the vileness of his nature - he not only robbed Bonnet, but also left his companion and his people to their fate, sending them by deception to shallow water, where they the ship ran aground. Some of the pirates died while the rest managed to escape with great difficulty.
So there was a gap, and Bonnet began to swim alone, hoping that sooner or later he would meet with Blackbeard and get even for everything.
However, Bonnet and his team were still arrested. Three days after their arrest, on November 8, 1718, 22 of Bonnet's crew were hanged in a suburb of Charleston. And on November 10, the same fate awaited Bonnet himself.
What about Blackbeard?
Having hidden in a safe place the booty captured during the blockade of Charleston, he went to the shores of North Carolina, with the governor of which he had long-standing ties. Because by this time a whole train of various sins was dragging behind Blackbeard, the British Admiralty became closely interested in him. With his robbery actions, Tich inflicted considerable damage on him, and this forced the sea lords to come to grips with the pirate who had become insolent to the limit. And when the Admiralty took on someone, it brought the matter to the end, and those guilty of sins were usually sent to the gallows.
Engraving: Edward Teach in front of his ship
Edward Teach knew this well, and as soon as it became clear that they were interested in him in London, he realized that the most decisive measures must be taken to save him. He had money, and with the help of a substantial bribe and with the assistance of the governor of North Carolina, he won a complete forgiveness. And he immediately obtained a letter of marque from the local authorities, pledging to pay them a certain share of his future income.
1718 summer - Blackbeard spent cruising off the coast of North Carolina and in the Bermuda region. But before that, the pirate got married - for the 14th time. The wedding took place in the capital of the colony, Battown, in the presence of the governor himself, and the priest betrothed the "young" in the church, despite the fact that a dozen of Tich's ex-wives were in perfect health.
Blackbeard robbed every ship in a row. So, three English ships and two French were captured off Bermuda. The latter came with a cargo of cocoa and sugar, which was confiscated and sent as a gift to the governor of North Carolina.
While Tich was outrageous at sea, he got away with everything, but for some time now the pirate began to visit coastal cities more and more often to relax and have fun there. And it became a real disaster for the inhabitants of these cities, because their life with the arrival of the pirates turned into a real hell. Pirate orgies, which lasted for days, were accompanied by drunken shooting and pogroms; it was impossible to walk through the streets without being insulted or even attacked. Fathers and mothers of families trembled for their daughters, whom the pirates raped at every opportunity.
Pirate hunting
Finally, representatives of various classes turned to the authorities for help, but they received generous handouts from Edward Teach and did not react to complaints in any way. Desperate to achieve justice in their native land, the inhabitants of North Carolina secretly turned to the governors of neighboring colonies - South Carolina and Virginia for assistance.
It is not known what kind of bribe the governors of these regions received, but they agreed to help their neighbors. They decided to liquidate Blackbeard, for which the governor of Virginia allocated two ships - "Pearl" and "Lima". But their commanders refused to take part in such a dangerous, in their opinion, enterprise, and then other ships were sent on the expedition, the sloops "Henry" and "Ranger", the crews of which consisted mainly of volunteers from the navy. All of them, in the event of a successful completion of the operation, were promised monetary rewards. The head of the expedition was the senior assistant of the "Pearl" Lieutenant Robert Maynard, a brave man and an excellent sailor. The expedition itself was prepared in the strictest confidence - only a few people knew about it.
And yet Teach found out about the preparations. He received this information from the office of the governor of North Carolina and from the governor of Bermuda, with whom he also kept in touch.
The captain himself was at that time in a small bay, located 15 miles from Cape Hatteras. The approaches to it were extremely difficult in terms of navigation, and therefore the pirate felt absolutely safe.
1718, November - "Henry" and "Ranger" went out to search for pirates. At the same time, spies were sent in all directions, who a few days later discovered Tich's refuge. Maynard sent his ships to the passage to the bay, but it turned out that in many places it was blocked by small and stony reefs. It was necessary to determine the fairway, and Maynard's men began to measure the depths.
The pirate followed the actions of the enemy with a frank grin. He did not believe that Maynard would be able to find the fairway, and, showing complete nonchalance, he was doing his favorite thing - drinking.
In the meantime, Maynard finished sounding the depths and outlined the fairway. Following the boat containing the surveyors, the Henry and the Ranger moved cautiously towards the place where Blackbeard's ships were. There was little water in the passage - the changeable current either caught up or drove it away - and the ships literally scratched the bottom with their keels. Maynard ordered that all excess cargo be thrown overboard: even a supply of fresh water, and the sloops were eventually able to approach Blackbeard's ships within cannon shot.
But Blackbeard, who had already realized that a fight could not be avoided, vigilantly followed the progress of Henry and Ranger, and as soon as they were at the required distance, the pirates fired a broadside. It turned out to be extremely successful - 20 people were killed and wounded on the Ranger, including the ship's commander.
Maynard's situation immediately became more complicated, but then nature itself came to the rescue - the current, changing direction, drove Blackbeard's ship to the shore, threatening to throw it aground. Teach was too experienced a sailor to be confused in such a situation. He, like Maynard before this, freed himself from the ballast and safely passed the shallow place.
Blackbeard and Maynard
Meanwhile, the Ranger overtook Blackbeard's brigantine and crashed into her stern. But the sailors of the Ranger failed to board the pirate: preventing a fight, the pirate ordered several barrels filled with gunpowder and nails to be thrown onto the deck of the British. Burning wicks were inserted into the barrels: they blew up gunpowder, and the explosion blew the filling - nails - in all directions. No worse than buckshot, they disabled everyone who was at the time of the explosion on top of the ship.
At the same time, the pirates fired their cannons, and Maynard, fearing great losses, ordered the crew to lie down on deck. He himself hurried to the aid of the sailor at the helm, who in the whirlpools of the current could hardly cope with the control of the ship. The two of them leveled the Henry and aimed it at pirate ship.
But he vigilantly followed all the maneuvers of his opponents, and as soon as "Henry" was nearby, Edward Teach put up a smoke screen - set fire to barrels filled with sulfur. The wind carried the smoke to Maynard's ship. People began to choke and cough, there was a threat of failure of the boarding, but Maynard, having gathered all his strength, did not stop approaching the enemy.
And then a gust of wind scattered the smoke, and Maynard saw his opponent. Blackbeard, as always, stood at the bow of the ship and held a saber in one hand, and a mug of rum in the other. Before Maynard's men could get up from the deck, Blackbeard, throwing away his mug, jumped aboard the Henry. He was followed by about 15 pirates. A fierce battle broke out on the deck of the British.
Blackbeard and Maynard found themselves face to face. Both grabbed their pistols and fired at each other. The pirate missed, Maynard's bullet hit Tich, but he, without reacting to the wound, swung his saber. Defending himself, Maynard put his under attack, but it broke, while the Englishman had one finger cut off on his right hand.
Without letting Maynard come to his senses, Blackbeard again raised his saber, and the commander of the "Henry" would certainly have been killed, but one of the sailors rescued him. Dodging, he stabbed the pirate in the neck with his saber. This made the pirate hesitate, and Maynard took advantage of this, immediately picking up someone's broadsword from the deck. The duel continued.
Death of Blackbeard
Not noticing the wound, Blackbeard took out a pistol from his holster and pointed it at Maynard, but then the pirate's strength left. The pistol fell from his hand and he stooped to pick it up, but collapsed dead on the deck. Seeing the death of their captain, the rest of the pirates surrendered to the mercy of the victors.
The pirates lost 14 people in this battle, Maynard - 10 killed and 24 wounded.
Having put himself and his people in order, Maynard ordered a search of the pirate ship, as well as its parking lot on the shore. Documents were found in Blackbeard's cabin that irrefutably proved Edward Teach's connection with the governors of North Carolina and Bermuda, as well as with some New York trading offices. All this was subsequently attached to the court case of those pirates from the Blackbeard crew who were taken prisoner. Among them was, for example, one Negro who, during the battle, hid in the powder magazine of a pirate brigantine. The Negro had an order from Blackbeard to blow up the ship if the pirates were defeated. But he didn't have the heart to do it.
And Blackbeard was treated vilely. Already dead, they cut off his head and hoisted it on the bowsprit of the Henry. With this trophy, the ship arrived in the capital of North Carolina, making a great impression on the residents of the city. But the matter did not end there. Tich's head was impaled on a stake and exhibited in other cities - to intimidate those who were still in the pirate ranks, and those who intended to replenish them.
Pirates who were taken prisoner were judged by the Admiralty Court. The number of these people is unknown, but it is documented that only two of them were lucky enough to escape punishment. The rest were hanged "for piracy, because they did not feel the fear of God and the respect due to His Majesty."
In the years 1713-1718.
| Blackbeard | |
|---|---|
| English Edward Teach | |
| Aliases | Blackbeard |
| Date of Birth | OK. |
| Place of Birth | Bristol (presumably), England |
| Citizenship | England |
| Date of death | November 22(1718-11-22 ) |
| A place of death |
|
| Cause of death | multiple wounds |
| Occupation | pirate, smuggler |
| Media files at Wikimedia Commons | |
In most primary sources, his pseudonym is indicated as "Tetch", which corresponds to the characteristic appearance of Blackbeard (English thatch - thick hair).
The shrewd and calculating Captain Edward Teach eschewed the use of force, relying on his formidable image to instill fear in those he intended to rob. Edward managed the crew wisely and fairly. Not a single evidence of the murder or torture of prisoners on his ship has been preserved. After his death, Teach was romanticized and served as a prototype for many works about pirates in various genres.
Biography
early years
As suggested by Robert Earl Lee ( Robert Earl Lee), Edward Teach was born into a wealthy representative family. It is believed that Tich was literate, as he communicated with merchants; in addition, a letter was found addressed to him from Chief Justice and Secretary of the Province of Carolina Tobias Knight. Perhaps Edward Teach arrived in the Caribbean in last years XVII century on a merchant ship or slave ship. Teach's contemporary, a certain Captain Charles Johnson, claims that Blackbeard was a sailor on a privateer ship in Jamaica during the Queen Anne's War and "has repeatedly shown his extraordinary courage and personal courage." It is not exactly established at what point Teach entered into fighting.
Filibuster
The first documentary mention of Tich refers to October 1717 (newspaper "Boston Newsletter"), when he was already pirating under the command of Captain Benjamin Hornigold, who plundered Spanish and French ships, first as a privateer, and then at his own peril and risk. Historians suggest that Teach participated in the War of the Spanish Succession (also known as Queen Anne's War) as a privateer, and after the signing of the Peace of Utrecht, not wanting to give up his favorite profession, he joined Hornigold's filibusters. This indirectly confirms the name that Teach later gave the flagship of his pirate fleet - "Queen Anne's Revenge".
While in Hornigold's command, Teach took part in a large number of privateer operations against the French. Taking advantage of the fact that England was at war with France, filibusters freely used the island of Jamaica as their base. At the end of 1716, Hornigold gave Tich personal command of the sloop, captured from the French during one of the raids. By this point, Teach already had a reputation as a fearless and furious pirate.
Early in 1717, Teach (perhaps in company with Hornigold) set sail for the shores of North America. After leaving the island of New Providence, the pirates captured a barque that was under the command of Captain Turbar from Bermuda. There were 120 barrels of flour on board the barque, but the pirates took only wine from it and let it go. Then they managed to capture a ship with rich booty, sailing to South Carolina from Madera. After repairing and maintaining their ships on the coast of Virginia, the pirates returned to the West Indies.
In November 1717, Tich's sloops attacked and, after a fleeting battle, captured a large French ship near the island of St. Vincent. At this point, the Blackbeard fleet consisted of two sloops: one with 12 guns and 120 crew members, the second with 8 guns and 30 crew members. Slave frigate found to be hijacked "Concord"(fr. La Concorde), sailing from Guinea to Martinique under the command of Captain Dosset. Pirates led "Concord" to the island of Bequia in the Grenadines, where the French and African slaves were landed ashore. The French cabin boy Lewis Arot and several other members of the team voluntarily joined the pirates and pointed out to them the valuable cargo that was secretly transported on the ship. As a result, the booty from the ship turned out to be very rich - among other things, a fair amount of golden sand and precious stones were found on it.
The pirates gave the smaller of the two sloops to the French, while they themselves switched to "Concord", which Teach fortified, equipped with 40 guns and renamed "Queen Anne's Revenge".
Pirate "Blackbeard"
By January 1718, the Tich team already had about 300 people. Cruising in the vicinity of the islands of St. Christopher and Crab, the pirates captured several more British sloops. In the end of January "Queen Anne's Revenge" anchored near the city of Bathtown (Eng. Bathtown) in North Carolina. This small town, whose population at that time did not exceed 8 thousand people, was a good refuge for ships coming from the Atlantic. The settlers happily bought up the cargo looted by the pirates, so Teach liked Bathtown as a rear base, and he repeatedly returned to it.
“Fifteen men for a dead man's chest. Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” - these lines from a pirate song are known to everyone who has read Treasure Island or seen at least one of the film adaptations of the novel Robert Louis Stevenson.
But not everyone knows that the pirates of the Caribbean really sang this song and it is dedicated to the story that supposedly happened on a very real ship.
On the pirate ship Queen Anne's Revenge, a mutiny broke out against the captain, who, however, was put down. Fifteen instigators of the rebellion were landed on a desert island called the "Dead Man's Chest". Each of the rebels landing on the island was given a bottle of rum, apparently in order to have fun - all the pirates knew that rum does not quench, but increases thirst. After that, the captain took the ship away, leaving the rebels to perish.
Pirate ship captain Edward Teach, better known as "Blackbeard" - perhaps the most legendary person among the "gentlemen of fortune".
Jung from Bristol
Very little is known about the real life of Edward Teach, especially about his youth - the pirate himself did not like to indulge in memories and did not leave memoirs.
According to the most common version, he was born in England, in the vicinity of Bristol, in 1680. He came from a poor family of commoners, it is possible that he was orphaned early and at the age of 12 he entered the navy as a cabin boy.
A similar path in life then chose many young poor people from Bristol. Service in the Navy was difficult, the officers subjected the sailors to severe punishments for the slightest offense, the lower ranks were practically powerless. But it was still better than death from hunger and poverty on the streets of his native city.
Undoubtedly, during the years of service in the navy, Edward Teach perfectly mastered the sea craft, which was very useful to him during the years of his pirate career.
However, over time, the freedom-loving sailor got tired of military discipline and began to seek service with freer orders.
Pirate's Apprentice
In 1716, Teach joined the team of an English pirate. Benjamin Hornigold who plundered Spanish and French frigates off the Caribbean islands. Hornigold was a privateer, or privateer - that is, an official pirate who had a patent from English king to attacks on merchant ships of states hostile to Britain.
The recruit of the pirate crew was very quickly singled out by Hornigold among others. Teach knew maritime science well, was physically hardy, bold and tireless in boarding battles.
At the end of 1716, Hornigold gave Tich personal command of a sloop captured from the French during one of the raids.
And already next year in America they started talking about a new scary pirate nicknamed "Blackbeard", distinguished by desperate courage and extreme cruelty.
Soon the war between England and France ended, and Hornigold's patent for piracy was cancelled. Then Hornigold and his student continued to rob merchant ships at their own peril and risk.
Their activities were more than successful, which alarmed the British authorities. In 1717 the new governor of the Bahamas Woods Rogers announced the beginning of a ruthless fight against piracy. Those who surrendered voluntarily were promised amnesty.
The more experienced Hornigold, having weighed everything, decided to surrender with the team. Edward Teach, however, was not going to give up and raised a black flag on his ship - a sign of disobedience to any authorities, including the British.
Captain Teach special effects
The career of "Blackbeard" from that moment until his death lasted less than two years, but this was enough for Edward Teach to go down in history forever.
The most famous ship of the Blackbeard was the sloop Queen Anne's Revenge. So Teach renamed the French ship Concorde, captured from slave traders in November 1717.
A ship captured near the island of St. Vincent was brought to the island of Bequia, where the French and African slaves were landed on the shore. Interestingly, the Blackbeard did not abandon the French to the mercy of fate - they were given one of the Tich ships, which was inferior to the Concorde in size. In addition, part of the French team voluntarily joined the pirates.
The glory of "Blackbeard" brought dashing boarding attacks, which were accompanied by special effects designed to frighten the victims and paralyze their will to resist.
Edward Teach was tall and powerful figure. His face was decorated with a long black beard, which, in fact, became the cause of the nickname. He masterfully owned a saber, in addition, he carried a musket and several pistols. During the battle, he weaved fuses into his beard and burst aboard the captured ship, literally in fire and smoke. At the sight of such a monster, many sailors immediately surrendered.
Not so merciless, not so bloodthirsty
By January 1718, under the command of Blackbeard, more than 300 sailors operated on several ships. The pirate even acquired a rear base, which was the town of Battown in North Carolina. The population of the town willingly bought captured goods from the pirates, and Blackbeard's crew felt almost at home here.
By the spring of 1718, Blackbeard's career had reached its peak. In May 1718, the Queen Anne's Revenge and three other pirate sloops approached the city of Charlestown in South Carolina. They anchored off the coast of Charlestown, setting up an ambush. In a few days, nine ships and a large number of wealthy hostages fell into the hands of Blackbeard at once. Having achieved the payment of the ransom, Blackbeard's ships went to the shores of North Carolina, where Captain Teach simply bought the benevolence of the local governor, who turned a blind eye to the actions of the pirates.
Already after the death of Blackbeard, this pirate was credited with exceptional bloodthirstiness. In fact, this was not entirely true. After the bloody boarding battles, Captain Teach really did not stand on ceremony with the vanquished. He was also ruthless to those of his sailors who dared to show discontent. However, if the crew of a merchant ship surrendered without a fight, Blackbeard not only left the crew alive, but often limited himself to simply seizing the goods, releasing the sailors in peace. Ruthlessness to those who surrendered was not beneficial to the pirate himself - after all, this would force the crews of merchant ships to fight to the end, while rumors of Blackbeard's mercy led the sailors to prefer to sacrifice goods, but save their lives.
This was also hinted at by the flag of Blackbeard, which was somewhat different from the now well-known "Jolly Roger". On the flag of Captain Tich, a skeleton was depicted holding an hourglass in his hands (a symbol of the inevitability of death) and preparing to pierce a human heart with a spear. The flag was supposed to warn oncoming ships - resistance to pirates means inevitable death.
Flag of the Blackbeard Pirates. Photo: Public Domain
Lieutenant Maynard's Expedition
Captain Blackbeard extremely annoyed the British colonial authorities, especially after, having met an English military frigate, he did not hasten to retreat, but accepted the battle, forcing the ship of the Royal Navy to retreat.
In the fall of 1718, Governor of Virginia Alexander Spotswood announced a bounty on Blackbeard's head, as well as members of his team. The expedition against the pirates was led by a lieutenant of the English fleet Robert Maynard, under the command of which were two sloops "Ranger" and "Jane" and 60 volunteers.
It must be said frankly that Lieutenant Maynard did not possess any outstanding qualities and he was very lucky that day. Blackbeard's extreme self-confidence played into his hands.
By this time, Captain Teach in North Carolina was practically legalized thanks to the bribery of the governor, built a house and intended to build a fort, with which he planned to control coastal shipping.
On November 22, Blackbeard did not plan any attacks. The day before, he, while on one of his ships, was drinking with the crew and two local merchants. Most of his people were on the shore, along with Captain Teach, less than 20 people remained, of which six were black servants.
Head like a trophy
The appearance of the "Ranger" and "Jane" Blackbeard perceived as a gift of fate, deciding that he would easily capture the ships. Indeed, the sloops that went hunting for pirates were poorly armed and seriously damaged as a result of the shelling from the guns, which was launched by the team of Captain Tich.
By order of Lieutenant Maynard, most of the soldiers were hidden in the hold, so Blackbeard decided that only a few wounded sailors remained on the ships and it was time to board. But when the pirates landed on Maynard's ship, soldiers poured out of the hold onto the deck.
Most of the pirates were so shocked that they surrendered without a fight. However, Captain Teach himself fought fiercely. A physically strong pirate showed amazing vitality. He continued to fight, even receiving five gunshot wounds and about two dozen saber wounds. Only a massive loss of blood could stop him.
The victorious Maynard cut off the pirate's head with his own hand, tied it to the bowsprit (the protruding part on the bow of the ship) and went home to report on the victory. The headless body of Captain Teach was thrown overboard.
As for his latest command, unlike their captain, she surrendered without a fight. But this did not help the pirates - they were all hanged.
Upon Maynard's return to Virginia, Blackbeard's head was tied to a prominent place at the mouth of the river to intimidate pirates.
Lieutenant Maynard became famous person, festivals in honor of his victory over Blackbeard in Virginia are still held today. Fans of the heroic officer, however, try not to remember that Maynard, having a threefold superiority in manpower over the enemy, who suffered from a severe hangover and did not differ in high morale, lost half of his detachment killed in that battle.
"Only me and the devil know where the treasure is"
Edward Teach was just one of many pirates operating in those years off the islands of the Caribbean. His career turned out to be bright, but very short - his other fellow craftsmen managed to successfully rob merchant ships for much longer. So why exactly did Blackbeard become a legend?
Firstly, this was facilitated by the colorful appearance of Tich and his love for frightening effects. Secondly, the legends about his adventures became widespread thanks to former subordinates - many members of the Blackbeard pirate team happily escaped the gallows and entertained the public with pirate stories and tales for many years to come. And thirdly, to this day, the secret of Blackbeard's treasure excites the minds.
Historians have calculated that Edward Teach managed to capture at least 45 merchant ships. The cost of booty captured by pirates in the modern equivalent is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. Squander and spend all this Blackbeard, distinguished by stinginess, simply could not. Even the construction of his own house, feasts for hundreds of people, the project of building a fort could not deplete the "gold reserve" of Edward Teach. It is believed that Blackbeard buried his treasures in a secret place. Teach is credited with the following words: "Only I and the devil know the place where the treasures are, and the last one left alive will take everything for himself."
Blackbeard's treasure was chased by his contemporaries, and today's adventurers are also hunting for him. It was the legend of this treasure that prompted Robert Louis Stevenson the idea of the novel Treasure Island. By the way, a number of characters in the novel are named after pirates who were actually part of the team of Edward Teach.
Not everyone, however, agrees that the Blackbeard hoard ever existed. Despite the origin of a commoner and a frightening appearance, Edward Teach was a very intelligent person. He acquired strong ties on the coast, had 24 official wives in different ports, that is, Captain Tich had the opportunity to divide his wealth into many parts and entrust the care of them reliable people. It is possible that Lieutenant Maynard, who defeated him, also got some of the treasures of Blackbeard - in any case, he subsequently led a very prosperous life, which did not match the modest salary of a naval officer.
But such a pragmatic option does not suit fans of pirate themes. They believe that Blackbeard could not have acted so mundane and boring and his treasure is still waiting for inquisitive seekers, hidden on a small island with a skeleton as a treasure keeper.
