Time seems to have worked in Blackbeard's benefit as from a cruel pirate in real life, he came to be a romantic character nowadays. The article shows you more about him so you can see the other side of the coin as well. Not much is known about the life of the dreaded pirate Blackbeard, his real name is not Blackbeard at all but rather Edward Teach and there are a lot of conflicting reports about where he was born; some say, London, Jamaica, Bristol and even Philadelphia. Like most lads his age he went to sea at a young age, he worked on a privateer ship during the war of 1713, and as soon as the war was over, he turned pirate.The name of his captain was Benjamin Hornigold; right after Hornigold retired, Blackbeard became captain of his own ship and quickly became known for his cruelty. Like any typical pirate, Blackbeard plundered ships and took everything that could be of any use. He fast became known back on the home front where newspapers had him committing terrible acts%u2026one claimed that he shot his first mate to remind the crew who was boss, another states that in an attempt to make his own little hell, Blackbeard locked himself and his crew in the ship's hold and with several pots full of brimstone, lit them on fire. The only one able to stand it until the end was (of course) Blackbeard.
Something else that helped to create the image of Blackbeard were the reports of him weaving lighted matches into his great black beard, this evidently would freak people out when they saw him. Blackbeard had safe havens in the Bahamas and the Carolinas, he was pronounced magistrate of the privateer's republic on the island of Nassau and received an unofficial pardon form Governor Charles Eden in return for booty. He later left Nassau in an attempt to avoid a royal governor that was coming. This made him stand out yet again because most pirates welcomed the royal governor as he brought royal pardons with him whenever he visited.
One of most famous things Blackbeard did, was the time when he setup a blockade in the mouth of the Charleston harbor with four of his ships, he took over five different merchant ships that were trying to come in to the harbor and he even managed to take hostage some very prominent citizens. When Blackbeard realized who they were he held them for ransom, but he did not ask for gold or jewels; for the return of the men, all he wanted was a box of medicine, and he got it eventually. It took some time because the people of Charleston did not trust Blackbeard that much, understandably.
Before going to accept the pardon Blackbeard ran several of his ships aground and marooned most of his crew so that he could have a more loot, then he sailed on to North Carolina and got his pardon. After doing this, he went off into the sunset to enjoy the life of comfort that his loot would bring. A certain Governor decided that he did not like the fact that Blackbeard got away so easily, so he sent some men after Blackbeard and after a fierce battle, Blackbeard's head was taken back to the governor as proof of his death%u2026the privateer who killed the pirate received 100 pounds.
Time has been kinder to Blackbeard then real life, nowadays he is seen as a romantic pirate that sailed the seas in search of adventure. But in real life, he was anything but romantic, he was the kind of person that you would not want your kids around. A while ago, a ship was found and they believe it might have been Blackbeard's so they put it up as a tourist attraction that in recent years has become very popular.
Another thing of note is that there have been many rabid treasure hunters that have looked for Blackbeard's buried treasure but nobody has found it, it probably does not even exists but I guess you can't tell them that because they will not believe you, just like the believers in Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster, everybody needs something to believe in. For a great site on pirates, pirate history, pirate ships and pirate terms, click here.
Compliments of Claudia Miclaus
