As fans of the History Guy well know, all good
stories involve pirates. And as far as pirates go, you can hardly find one better known than
Blackbeard, the legendary pirate who a British contemporary writer said, “Frightened America
more than any comet that has appeared there, in a long time.” But as Smithsonian
magazine notes, “The fearsome buccaneer never scared Hollywood producers.” And yet,
the Blackbeard of the movies, and shoot, even of his own time, was more legend than
known fact, and the truth behind the beard might surprise you. The real Blackbeard
the Pirate deserves to be remembered. “Pirates,” former law professor Robert Lee
wrote in his 1974 book, Blackbeard the Pirate, a Reappraisal of his Life and Times, “Rarely
wrote about themselves, and their families.” He notes that such men hope to acquire a vast
fortune and return to their home without having tarnished their family name. Thus pirates quite
often use fictitious surnames. There's reason to suspect that Edward Teach, the name by which
Blackbeard called himself and that in the period was spelled several different ways may not have
been his name at all, we might in fact, never know his birth name. The same can be said of his place
of birth. While his presumed age at the time of his death suggests that he was born around 1680,
exactly where that occurred is a point of dispute. It has long been presumed that he was born in
Bristol and that is the assumption made by Lee, but that assumption is based more on Bristol's
importance as an international seaport than any clear record of his birth. Others have speculated
that he was born in America in North Carolina or Philadelphia, but a 2018 edition of Smithsonian
Magazine notes the research of maritime historian Baylus Brooks, who identified records of
Captain Edward Teach in Jamaica, presumed to have been Blackbeard's father. Following those
records Brook concludes that Teach's oldest son, also named Edward, passed up the inheritance that
he would have received upon his father's death as the eldest son to his stepmother and half
siblings and instead joined the Royal Navy. These newly rediscovered records
might be the first documentation of the life of Blackbeard prior
to becoming a pirate. But there's really no way to know if this, Edward Teach
of Jamaica, and Blackbeard were the same man. Brook's account might explain a
documented fact about Blackbeard however. While often presented as a
bloodthirsty scoundrel, Blackbeard was, Lee notes, “An educated man, for there's
no doubt that he could read and write.” “Furthermore,” Lee writes, “He seemed that he's
not only in the company of villainous ruffians, but also with governors. As if he were accustomed
to moving in high circles.” Brook's description of the son of a sea captain of high status might
explain the education that seems at odds with his ferocious reputation. And service in the Royal
Navy also explains his knowledge of seafaring and navigation, although that is by no means
the only possible explanation for his skills. And then, what next? Again the record is thin. For all the attention
on Blackbeard he notes that he appears in hundreds of history books; the entire record of Blackbeard
the Pirate covers a period of less than two years starting in 1716. Captain Charles Johnson in his
1724 work, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates, wrote
that “Teach sailed sometime out of Jamaica in privateers in the late French War, where he often
distinguished himself for his uncommon boldness and personal courage.” However Johnson makes no
explanation for how he came to that conclusion. A letter written to the governor of New Jersey by
a merchant named John Logan in 1717 says that “The men captured by the pirates operating in Delaware
Bay had a great deal of free discourse with the pirates during their captivity.” The letter offers
a brief insight into Blackbeard's past. “Their commander is one Teach, who was here a mate from
Jamaica about two years ago.” This implies that Teach was an honest mariner from Jamaica sailing
from the Port of Philadelphia as late as 1715. That is, as with much of the rest of
Blackbeard's life, we simply have no record. Ideas that he served time in the Royal
Navy or as a privateer are simply unproven. If however, Johnson is correct, the late war he
references was the 1702-1713 Queen Anne's War, the American theater of the war of Spanish
succession. During the more than decade-long conflict hundreds of privateers from France, the
British Isles and New England operated from Canada to the Caribbean capturing enemy ships in the
war. Fighting as a privateer would provide a good experience for a potential pirate. A 1957 edition
of American Heritage notes, “In Queen Anne's War which involved most of Europe, both English
and Colonial ships worked the Spanish Main. Their shipmasters became familiar with the
hundreds of island hideouts, the inlets, the coves and the rivers that gave shelter for escape
and surprise attack. “Privateering in fact is rather similar to piracy,” as American Heritage
continues, “The privateer was entirely on his own. He was only authorized to capture enemy ships,
but neutral sometimes fell into his hands, and it was easy to explain that the neutral ships were
carrying contraband of war. It would not have been a surprise if such men turned to piracy after the
war.” as American Heritage notes, “The life was so good indeed that when the war was over, the men
who had enjoyed it, became restless.” The point in fact is made in the title of the American Heritage
article, War Makes Thieves, Peace Hangs Them. Lee notes that following the war, the former
privateers formed the loose pirate confederacy called the Brotherhood of the Coast and took
control of New Providence island in the Bahamas where, historian Michael Craton wrote
in the 1986 History of the Bahamas, “All semblance of organized government broke
down, and the pirates were in undisputed control.” They called their outpost, The Republic of
Pirates, although there was no record of course ,the pirates obviously not very much for
record keeping. Lee speculates that Teach would have located his base there, and that is where
he would have met Benjamin Hornigold leading to the first confirmed record of Blackbeard the
Pirate. Multiple reports in 1716 mention Hornigold operating from New Providence. A merchant by the
name of Henry Timberlake reported that two pirate sloops attacked his vessel, and their captain's
names were Benjamin Hornigold and Edward Teach. What is not known is if Edward was working
on the command of Hornigold or if they were working independently and simply aiding one
another, they were seen splitting the food they plundered between the two crews. It is rumored
that he had worked under Hornigold for around two years before he was given his own crew to
command. On July 5th 1717, Captain Matthew Munth, a pirate hunter sent to investigate New Providence
by the deputy governor of South Carolina sent a report that listed both Hornigold
with a sloop with 10 guns and about 80 men, and Teach with a sloop of
six guns and about 70 men. But Teach and Hornigold parted ways shortly
thereafter, some argue because Hornigold refused to attack British ships. Hornigold gave
up piracy and in 1718 accepted the King's pardon, but Teach set himself on that path that
would, as Time magazine argued in 2018, “Make him arguably the best known
pirate from the Golden Age of Piracy.” His acts of piracy are well documented. For
example a letter dated October 1717 written by Philadelphia merchant John Dickinson and held in
a collection of merchants correspondents in the historical society of Philadelphia, and quoted
in the 2010 edition of the Pennsylvania Journal of History and Biography writes “Thou mentions
the pirating trade with you from the beginning of this month and until within the week. One
Captain Teach alias Blackbeard is in a sloop which they called the Revengers. Revenge,
about 130 men, 12 or 14 guns having lain off our Capes and taken six or seven vessels inward
and outward bound.” An article in the newspaper, The Boston Newsletter the same year records
Teach in his sloop capturing the ship of a merchant named Cod. In a speech to the Provincial
Council in 1718, William Keith the Governor of Pennsylvania called Teach, “A noted pirate who has
done the greatest mischief of any to this place.” And while there is a relatively robust
record of Blackbeard the Pirate after 1716, still much of what we think we know
about Blackbird is likely a myth. For example, Blackbeard's famous pirate flag. Blackbeard's notorious flag was of a skeleton
wearing a crown, symbolic of the King of the Dead, also known as Satan. The skeleton was seen
holding a goblet toasting the devil himself and stabbing a heart with an arrow. This was
thought to represent how Blackbeard's true love was piracy. We can make assertions about
Blackbeard's true love, but was that really his flag? The Ocracoke North Carolina Observer
reported in 2021, “Absolutely no record from Blackbeard's time described his flag as having a
two-horn skeleton holding an hourglass and a spear or dart pointed at a bleeding heart.” Historian
E.T Fox argues in his book, Jolly Rogers The True History of Pirate Flags, that the image of this
flag being tied to any pirate didn't appear until 1912 when it appeared in the journal Mariner's
Mirror. According to the journal, a pirate named John Quelch flew the terrifying flag that
was not claimed to belong to Blackbeard until the late 20th century. In fact Teach was more
likely to have flown a simple black flag with a white skull. Rather than representing
Blackbeard's true love, it represented a signal that any captain of the era would
recognize, that he was being attacked by a pirate. Another part of the Blackbeard legend was his
womanizing. Captain Johnson's General History of Pirates asserts that in his two years
of piracy, Blackbeard was married up to 14 times by his first mate aboard his ship. Another
ongoing rumor is that each time he made port he would find a new wife, and then have her killed
before he left again. Some say that this way he was not having premarital relations, others say
it was the pirate in him not wanting to share. This might represent simple cavorting with
prostitutes rather than actual marriages, but as with much reported in Johnson's book
there are no records to support the claim. There is record however of one marriage. Following
Blackbeard's two years of piracy he purported to repent and to seek to lead a normal life, secured
a pardon from North Carolina governor Charles Eden in June of 1718 under the stipulation that he
not only renounce piracy, but also be married and settle down. Mary Ormond was the daughter of
William Ormond who owned a plantation in Bath, North Carolina and the wedding was attended
by the royal secretary for North Carolina. Despite the legends of 14 wives, she was the only
woman with a record of having become the wife of the notorious pirate. But Blackbeard returned
to piracy and there's no documentation of what happened to Mary following their marriage. There
is a legend that after returning to piracy he gave Mary to his crew as a present, but again,
there's no documented account of this happening. Teach left Bath and never returned,
in fact was killed shortly thereafter. And what happened to Mary is a historical mystery. Perhaps the most enduring part of the Blackbeard
legend was his brutality, a cold-blooded killer. But again is the reputation reality. There are
contemporary newspaper accounts of his brutality, the Boston Newsletter wrote in November 1717
that Teach and his crew very barbarously used Mr Richardson, merchant of the Sea Nymph. But
Trent University Professor Arne Bialuschewski noted in the April 2010 edition of the
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, that reports of brutal treatment of prisoners are
notably missing from first-hand accounts of Teach. Professor Bialuschewsk writes, “It is interesting
to note that the brutal treatment of victims is only mentioned, in similar words, in the
newspaper accounts of Blackbeard. In fact the image of Blackbeard as a fearsome and ruthless
villain was created by the news media of the day.” That his nature was perhaps less
brutal than it has been described shows in perhaps his most famous pirate endeavor. In May of 1718, he held the Port of Charleston,
then pronounced Charles Town, South Carolina, hostage. Four ships including the infamous Queen
Anne's Revenge holding a crew of around 400 men were commanded by Blackbeard to blockade the
port. Any ships trying to enter or leave were captured and a ransom was demanded. But while
the ships captured were certainly looted for their valuables, the ransom demanded was something
less than barbaric. Blackbeard demanded medicine, apparently for crew members infected with
syphilis. When a prominent citizen named Samuel Wigg was taken prisoner the ransom in medicines
was quickly paid by Royal Governor Robert Johnson, and the prisoners were all freed. In
fact there are no first-hand accounts of Blackbeard killing another person until
the event that resulted in his death, and even there, legend might surpass
reality. Owing to his notorious reputation, a british naval expedition led by British naval
Lieutenant Robert Maynard was funded by Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood to hunt down the
fearsome pirate and put an end to his exploits. The Boston News Letter published an account that
included an exchange wherein, “Maynard answered that it was Blackbeard he wanted, and that he
would have him dead or alive, or else it would cost him his life.” whereupon Teach called for
a glass of wine and swore “Damnation to himself, if he either took, or gave quarter.” After
firing his cannon Blackbeard and his crew boarded Maynard’s sloop The Jane where they were defeated
in hand to hand combat and Blackbeard killed. As with much of the Blackbeard legend the battle
has been highly dramatized. The News Letter wrote, “Maynard and Teach themselves two begun
the fight with their swords. Maynard made a thrust to the point of his sword against
Teach's cartridge box and bent it to the hilt. Teach broke the guard of it and wounded
Maynard's fingers but did not disable him. Whereupon he jumped back and threw
away his sword, and fired his pistol which wounded Teach. Demelt struck in between them
with his sword and cut Teach’s face pretty much. One of Maynard's men, being a Scottish highlander,
engaged Teach with his broadsword which gave Teach a cut on the neck. Teach saying "Well done lad!”
The highlander replied, “If it be not well done, I'll do it better.” And with that he gave
him a second stroke, which cut off his head, laying it flat on his shoulder. It is quite a
dramatic telling given that Maynard's own account, the only first-hand account of the battle
known, says merely of Blackbeard's death, “He fell with five shot in him, and 20
dismal cuts in several parts of his body.” Rather than a dramatic beheading by
a Scottish crewman, Maynard wrote, “I have cut Blackbeard's head off which
I put on my bowsprit in order to carry it to Virginia.” Blackbeard's life of piracy
was over, but his legend had just begun. So why is it that the legend of Blackbeard is
so much larger than the actual documentation. Well there might be several reasons. Newspapers
might have had reason to exaggerate the legend in order to sell more papers, or perhaps to try
to convince the British government to become involved in fighting pirates. But there's even
motive for Blackbeard himself who went months at a time without bathing or combing his hair
in order to appear more fearsome and repulsive to embrace a legend that would have meant that his
potential victims were more likely to surrender rather than face his legendary wrath. But
a lot of it has to do with Captain Johnson. A General History of the Robberies and Murders of
the Most Notorious Pirates has been so influential that British naval historian David Cordingly wrote
in the preface to a 2010 publication of the then 286 year old work, “It has been said, and
there seems no reason to question this, that Captain Johnson created the modern conception
of pirates.” And the British Royal Armories notes, “That most of what we know about Blackbeard and
his fellow pirates comes from this one source.” But while it is largely agreed that the modern
conception of pirates came from Captain Johnson, the accuracy of that conception is demonstrated
by the fact that there is no record of any actual Captain Johnson, which is almost certainly
a pseudonym. Professor Bialuschewsk puts it simply, “This book is not a reliable
source. The chapter on Blackbeard is particularly riddled with exaggerations,
misunderstandings and factual errors.” And so, aside from a few sparse newspaper accounts
about him taking ships off the American coast, the record of his wedding and Maynard's description
of his death, almost everything we know about Blackbeard the pirate comes from a disreputable
source that was subject to exaggeration. And maybe that's really the secret, maybe all good stories
involve pirates, because they really are just stories. And as maritime historian Donald Shomette
told National Public Radio in 2018, “The outlaw, the bad guy, is almost always the most interesting
character in the story.” Mark Twain perhaps summed up our fascination with pirates best in his
1883 work, Life on the Mississippi, “Every now and again we had a hope that if we lived, and
were good. God would permit us to be pirates.” I hope you enjoyed this episode of the
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