-
Pirate and Proud of It
Blackbeard's early life is
shrouded in mystery. Academics
argue over his birth place, birth date and even his original
name, which has at least three variations: Edward Teach, Edward
Thatch or even Edward Drummond. In Bristol his memory is
a mixture of both denial and proud son but, despite this, local
legend persists that he was born in Redcliffe.
Blackbeard casting
his fearful eyes over Bristol’s hugely successful ‘Festival
of the Sea’ in 1996
What is known isn’t very savoury. He was
thought to have 14 wives, but how many were “port wives” isn’t
clear. He served with Benjamin Hornigold and was given
command of one of his prizes, a French slave ship named La Concorde
which he renamed Queen Anne’s Revenge (some pirates had
Jacobite sympathies). He made the Bahamas his home during
its “Pirate
Republic” heyday, two years prior to Woodes Rogers’ arrival
(Woodes Rogers’ first task as Royal Governor was to clear
out the nest of pirates).
Captain Johnson enjoyed describing Blackbeard, and the following
description originates in his “General History …”. Decency prevents me from using the anecdote regarding the
pirate’s
last wife, a fifteen year old plantation owner’s daughter.
A rare, 1724, image of Blackbeard from Capt.
Johnson’s book, note the infamous
‘3 brace of pistols’ and their early design
(no proper handles).
“Teach,
the most colourful and well-known of all the pirates is a never-dying
legend. He was a massive man noted for his boldness, fiendish
appearance and roguish ways. With cutlasses and three brace
of pistols slung about him, he resembled a walking arsenal.
His long black beard was twisted with brightly coloured ribbons
and turned about his ears. Slow burning fuses (or matches)
tucked under his hat wreathed his head with demonic smoke.
All this, together with his fierce and wild eyes made him such
a figure that imagination cannot form an idea of a fury from
hell to look more frightful.”
Blackbeard’s Jolly Roger –
a death figure with devils’ horns,
an hour glass (with time running out),
and a pierced heart.
One day at sea he said to a few of his men, “come,
let us make a hell of our own, and try how long we can bear it.” He
took them below, closed up the hatches and set on fire several
pots filled with brimstone and other acrid matter. One
by one, close to suffocation, the men were forced to seek the
upper deck. Blackbeard
held out the longest and was quite pleased that he was better
fitted to live in hell than the others.
On another cruise in the early 1700s Blackbeard punished a mutinous
crew by marooning them on Dead Man’s Chest, a small remote
island in the British Virgin Islands chain, without water or
landing places. Each was given a cutlass and a bottle of rum
and Teach’s
hope was that they would kill each other, but when he returned
at the end of 30 days he found that 15 had survived.
This would explain in full the verse: Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest, Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest, Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum!
This of course was immortalised in Stevenson’s Treasure
Island.
Blackbeard holding court
At the edge of the township in the Bahamas, Blackbeard
held his court under a wild fig tree. He used to sit in
council amongst his banditti, concerting or promulgating and
exercising the authority of a magistrate. It is said
that under the tree he kept a barrel of rum from which all who passed by
were invited to drink. Those who hesitated were given a choice
of drinking or being shot. Amazingly several wild fig trees
grow today in Bristol, one of which is opposite the old Georges
Brewery in Castle Park (actually growing out of the river wall).
Hornigold
took Rogers' pardon in 1718, but Blackbeard carried on
his reign of terror in Virginia. There, with his ship's
master Israel Hands, they caused havoc all around: one of their
more notorious acts was to blockade harbours for days on end
to obtain goods and ransom money. In the end Governor Spottiswood
brought in the Royal Navy to finish Blackbeard off.
Immediately prior to this, Israel and Blackbeard's pilot,
Marshall, were drinking together, and without provocation Teach
drew out a pair of pistols and cocked them under the table. When
he was ready, he crossed them and fired. Hands was shot through
the knee and so missed the last engagement. When asked why
he had done this, Teach said, “Damn you all! Unless I now
and then kill one of my men, they will forget who I am”.
Fight to the death – one
of Maynard’s men
The man sent by the Royal Navy to terminate Blackbeard’s
career was Lieutenant Robert Maynard in his sloop the Pearl, and
on 22nd November 1718 Maynard tricked him into battle off Ocracoke.
After a savage encounter, in which he sustained over 20 cuts and
at least 5 shots, he was killed and decapitated. His headless body
was thrown overboard and allegedly swam round his ship 3 times
before disappearing. Of Maynard’s men, 10 were killed and
24 were wounded.
As was the custom with a pirate, his head was hung from the bowsprit,
and the skull ended up as a drinking vessel in a tavern in Williamsburg.
The authorities caught up with Hands and would have hanged him
as well had he not been reprieved at the last minute by a proclamation
prolonging the pirates’ pardon. He finished his days in
London a poor lame beggar.
According to Captain Johnson, here are the names of the pirates
killed in the engagement:-
Edward Teach, Commander
Philip Morton, Gunner
Garret Gibbens, Boatswain
Owen Roberts, Carpenter
Thomas Miller, Quartermaster
John Husk
Joseph Curtice
Joseph Brookes (1)
Nathaniel Jackson
All the rest, except the two last, were wounded and afterwards
hanged in Virginia:-
John Carnes
Joseph Brooks (2)
James Blake
John Gills
Thomas Gates
James White
Richard Stiles
Caesar
Joseph Philips
James Robbins
John Martin
Edward Salter
Stephen Daniel
Richard Greensail
Samuel Odel, Acquitted
Israel Hands, Pardoned
The prize for Maynard’s brave men who risked
life and limb was £2,500 divided equally amongst the companies
of his two ships, the Lime and the Pearl. The money was the proceeds
of Blackbeard’s ‘Treasure’ – 25 hogsheads
of sugar, 11 tierces, 145 bags of cocoa, a barrel of Indigo and
a bale of cotton, along with the sale of Blackbeard’s
sloop and monies from the Governor and his Secretary (pursuant
to their proclamation).
There have been calls for a statue of Blackbeard in his home town,
but some have said that a cycle path named in his honour might
be more appropriate.
