Welcome to Friday with Chairman Joe.
On this day in 1718 the pirate Blackbeard was killed by British sailors near one of the Outer Banks islands off the coast of North Carolina. He was between 35 and 40 years old. We don't know much about Blackbeard's early life. He probably came from the port city of Bristol which in those days was Britain's second largest city and her opening to the new colonies in the Caribbean and North America.
His real name was Edward Teach, though that was spelled eight different ways. One historian thought his name was Drummond. Pirates often used fictitious names keep the family name unsullied.
What we do know comes mostly from the reports of captains whose ships he plundered. He is described as being a tall, broad shouldered man with long hair worn in braids and a thick, black beard. When attacking a merchant ship, he wore slow burning fuses in his hat. He used his scary appearance rather than bluster to cow his victims. It seems to have worked. There are no reports of Blackbeard personally murdering anyone, though there was a fair amount of collateral damage from his cannonballs.
What is surprising is how short his pirate career was: stretching over the years 1716 to 1718. Before that time he was probably a privateer which was a form of legalized piracy. The nations of Europe were constantly fighting balance-of-power wars. When war was on, each nation would issue licenses for privately owned ship to arm themselves and go after the ships of their enemies. The former pirates became the naval reserve.
The period of peace after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1714 put an end to privateering. The British didn't care if the pirates went after Spanish or French ships, but the British ships loaded with slaves going west and sugar going back to England proved too tempting. The pirates used the uninhabited island of New Providence in the Bahamas as their base. They could rest and refit there unmolested, and fence their stolen goods.
Blackbeard worked his way up to commanding a ship in the fleet of another pirate. These two fell out and agreed to go their separate ways. Blackbeard left the Caribbean and made his way north to North Carolina's Outer Banks where he could prey on the rich coastal shipping.
From time to time England offered pardons to the pirates if they promised to quit their evil ways. England knew she would need their services in the next war. Most pirates would accept these pardons and try to be good. But if you've been a hard living, lusty pirate, you're not going to settle down as a grocer or farmer. If war didn't break out soon, most pirates returned to what they knew.
Blackbeard liked North Carolina because that colony had almost no military force to bother him. Virginia just to the north was irritated by Blackbeard preying on their shipping and they had the means to do something about it. Virginia's governor sent a detachment of soldiers to Blackbeard's home in Bath which was then North Carolina's capital to attempt to arrest him there. Virginia also sent two armed ships to Ocracoke Island where Blackbeard was know to anchor.
Blackbeard had grown overconfident. He had set no lookout. and half his crew was in town. The rest were partying on the island. Once the Virginia ships were sighted, Blackbeard got aboard his ship and put up a good fight, but it was to be his last. He was shot, stabbed, and beheaded. His body was thrown overboard and his head was attached to the bowsprit of the Virginia ship so the bounty could be collected. This incursion by Virginia in North Carolinian territory was completely illegal and led to lawsuits in the aftermath.
Blackbeard's legend has grown mightily since his death two centuries ago. His flagship Queen Anne's Revenge has been discovered. Most of its artifact's are now in the North Carolina Maritime Museum. Don't bother looking for his (or any other pirate's) treasure. Pirates were not the saving type. It was an expensive lifestyle. "Take from the rich to live it up today," was their motto.
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| Inspiration for Captain Jack Sparrow? Sure, why not. |
I immediately saw an amazing resemblance between the image of Blackbeard and another individual, with whom I'm intimately familiar, who, upon realizing he was to set sail on the Atlantic Ocean on a rickety scow such as that, at the eternal persistent insistence of an elder friend who said they just had to go for the experience of sailing with that particular captain, even if maybe, yes, we suffer under the lash, chafe at galley & head cleaning, stand crow's nest duty (Why isn't it called the Gull's Nest?) for days and nights on end, endure endless seasickness, have to eat Spam, and all that; and then three years and eleven months later, Captain Jerry sails on without crew. That bearded guy was sad for the loss of the captain, but happy for the experience of sailing with him.
ReplyDeleteStrange: I,too, recognized someone very close to me in the Blackbeard portrait. So close, in fact, that it IS a portrayal of yours truly. The eyes, so piercing, often see more then they wish to. The fiery steam exuding from the ears, so poignant for hearing what should rather stay silent. Yes, my friends, truly, with my black hair, I'm the only one who could be portrayed in this rendering. If I were of a different gender, my beard would be black as well. The rest of you are various shades of brown and blonde. (Full disclosure: Wednesday's pate might be covered with dark hair if he ever let it grow.)
ReplyDeleteOh, and crows are known to be one of the first harbingers of land. Seagulls, not so much. JPSavage