Blackbeard was a bold and famous pirate who terrorized the Atlantic coast in the early 18th century.  This was a time called “the golden age of piracy.”  But Blackbeard was not always a pirate.  He was born in 1680 in Bristol, England and his real name was Edward Teach.  Edward came from a well-to-do family and was an educated man who could read and write.  He changed his name to Blackbeard because he committed terrible crimes and didn’t want anyone to know his real name.  He got the nickname Blackbeard because he had a big bushy beard that he would braid into pig tails.  He would loop two of his braids behind his ears and stick lit canon fuses in them so he had smoke coming out and would look more terrifying.

Blackbeard went to sea at an early age.  He served on a British ship during Queen Anne’s War.  In 1713 the war ended and Blackbeard no longer had a job so he became a pirate.  Blackbeard was first a pirate under Captain Hornigold but when Hornigold retired he gave Blackbeard a ship.  Blackbeard renamed the ship the Queen Anne’s Revenge and added 40 guns to it.  Whenever Blackbeard saw another ship he would raise his Jolly Roger.  His Jolly Roger was a flag with the devil holding an hourglass in one hand (that meant time was running out) and holding a spear in his other hand pointing at a bleeding heart.  If the ship surrendered, Blackbeard would take the booty but let the crewmen go with their lives.  If the ship didn’t surrender Blackbeard gave no mercy.

Sometimes Blackbeard’s crew thought he was the devil himself.  One time Blackbeard took some of his mates down into the ship’s hold.  He closed all the hatches and lit several pots of brimstone.  Blackbeard and his men stayed below until they almost suffocated.  When the men cried out that they needed air, Blackbeard finally opened the hatches and then bragged that he held out the longest. 

There are also some legends of Blackbeard, too.  One legend said that whenever Blackbeard buried his treasure he would take one mate with him.  But he would always come back to the ship alone.  The dead body of the mate would be left on top of the buried treasure to scare away treasure hunters.  Another legend said that Blackbeard would shoot a mate every now and then.  He did this so that his crew wouldn’t forget who he was.

The biggest thing that Blackbeard was known for was his blockade of Charleston, South Carolina in May 1718.  By this time Blackbeard had the Queen Anne’s Revenge and three other ships working for him.  Three hundred pirates blocked the port and plundered five ships entering and leaving Charleston.  On one of the ships Blackbeard took a group of important people hostage.  He demanded a chest full of medicine or the prisoners would suffer a slow and painful death.  Blackbeard got the medicine and kept his word.  He let the prisoners go free.  They were unharmed but had no clothes on.

Before Blackbeard retired from pirating, he put all his treasure onto one ship.  Then he sank two ships on purpose and stranded most of his crew on a deserted island.  Blackbeard ran off with most of the loot.  He went to North Carolina where he accepted a pardon from Governor Eden.  Blackbeard retired from pirating and bought a house in Bath, North Carolina.  But Blackbeard became bored so he went back to pirating in June 1718.  After he captured a dozen ships he returned to North Carolina and shared his booty with Governor Eden.

Virginia’s Governor Spotswood didn’t like Blackbeard because he was now terrorizing the Virginia coast.  He sent out Captain Maynard and four ships of men to capture Blackbeard.  Captain Maynard eventually caught Blackbeard by tricking him.  Maynard had most of his crew go down into his ship’s hold.  When Blackbeard approached the ship and saw the empty deck he thought it was safe to board.  Blackbeard was wrong.  Blackbeard and ten of his men boarded Maynard’s ship and a surprise blood thirsty battle began.  On November 22, 1718 Captain Maynard killed Blackbeard and cut off his head.  He hung Blackbeard’s head from his ship’s bow and later stuck it on a stake to warn off other pirates. 

Bibliography:
“Blackbeard.”  (Online) Available http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard, October 25, 2008.
“Blackbeard Picture.”  (Online) Available http://www.metronc.com/images/article_photos/june_tsblack.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.metronc.com/article, October 30, 2008.
Selinger, Gail and W. Thomas Smith Jr.  The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Pirates.  New York:   Penguin Group, 2006.
Vitale, John C.  “Virginia Versus Blackbeard.”  The Iron Worker.  Winter 1964-65, p. 1-7.