Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies.
31 Facts About Blackbeard
2.
Blackbeard's nickname derived from his thick black beard and fearsome appearance; he was reported to have tied lit fuses under his hat to frighten his enemies.
3.
Blackbeard formed an alliance of pirates and blockaded the port of Charles Town, South Carolina, ransoming the port's inhabitants.
4.
Blackbeard then ran Queen Anne's Revenge aground on a sandbar near Beaufort, North Carolina.
5.
Blackbeard parted company with Stede Bonnet and settled in Bath, North Carolina, known as Bath Town, where he accepted a royal pardon.
6.
Blackbeard was romanticized after his death and became the inspiration for an archetypal pirate in works of fiction across many genres.
7.
Blackbeard took Ranger and one of the sloops, leaving Teach with Revenge and the remaining sloop.
8.
Blackbeard ordered her to move closer to the shore, disembarked her crew and emptied her cargo holds, and then burned and sank the vessel.
9.
Blackbeard returned to his base of operations on Saint Christopher Island and reported the matter to Governor Walter Hamilton, who requested that he sign an affidavit about the encounter.
10.
Blackbeard wore knee-length boots and dark clothing, topped with a wide hat and sometimes a long coat of brightly coloured silk or velvet.
11.
Blackbeard was stopped and her captain, Harriot, invited to join the pirates.
12.
Blackbeard's passengers were questioned about the vessels still in port and then locked below decks for about half a day.
13.
Blackbeard then called a meeting of his fellow sailors and moved eight ships into the harbour, causing panic within the town.
14.
Blackbeard then travelled back to Beaufort Inlet to collect the Revenge and the remainder of his crew, intending to sail to Saint Thomas Island to receive a commission.
15.
Blackbeard suggested that Bonnet do the same, and as war between the Quadruple Alliance of 1718 and Spain was threatening, to consider taking a privateer's commission from England.
16.
Blackbeard settled in Bath, on the eastern side of Bath Creek at Plum Point, near Eden's home.
17.
Blackbeard took two French ships leaving the Caribbean, moved one crew across to the other, and sailed the remaining ship back to Ocracoke.
18.
Blackbeard had been pursued by Teach's old commander, Benjamin Hornigold, who was by then a pirate hunter.
19.
Blackbeard wrote to the Lords of Trade, suggesting that the Crown might benefit financially from Teach's capture.
20.
Blackbeard ordered Captains Gordon and Brand of HMS Pearl and HMS Lyme to travel overland to Bath.
21.
Blackbeard had ascertained their position from ships he had stopped along his journey, but being unfamiliar with the local channels and shoals he decided to wait until the following morning to make his attack.
22.
Blackbeard's sloop was so badly damaged that it played no further role in the attack.
23.
Blackbeard found several items of correspondence, including a letter from Tobias Knight.
24.
Blackbeard claimed that during a drinking session Teach had shot him in the knee, and that he was still covered by the royal pardon.
25.
Blackbeard defended his actions, writing to Lord Carteret, a shareholder of the Province of Carolina, that he might benefit from the sale of the seized property and reminding the Earl of the number of Virginians who had died to protect his interests.
26.
Blackbeard argued for the secrecy of the operation by suggesting that Eden "could contribute nothing to the Success of the Design", and told Eden that his authority to capture the pirates came from the king.
27.
Blackbeard claimed that Israel Hands had talked under duress, and that under North Carolinian law the other witness, an African, was unable to testify.
28.
Blackbeard's will named one of Spotswood's opponents, John Holloway, a beneficiary.
29.
The name of Blackbeard has been attached to many local attractions, such as Charleston's Blackbeard's Cove.
30.
Blackbeard is the main subject of Matilda Douglas's fictional 1835 work Blackbeard: A page from the colonial history of Philadelphia.
31.
Blackbeard is portrayed as a central character in three TV series: by John Malkovich in Crossbones, by Ray Stevenson in seasons three and four of Black Sails, and by Taika Waititi in Our Flag Means Death.