BLACKBEARD

1. The most famous pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy was born Edward Thach (more likely than Teach) in Bristol, Great Britain in 1680.
2. He was a privateer (a legally sanctioned pirate encouraged to attack enemy shipping) during Queen Anne’s War. When the war ended he joined a pirate named Benjamin Hornigold in the Caribbean.  Hornigold was his mentor and soon gave him his own ship.  Before long, he set off on his own.
3. He became a celebrity after taking fifteen ships off the east coast of America in 1717. Newspapers wrote about his fearsome appearance.  He became known as Blackbeard.  He dressed in black and had several pistols across his breast.  He put slow burning fuses (or candles) in his hair to light up his face.  Despite the look, it is believed that he never killed anyone until his final battle.
4. His famous ship was the Queen Anne’s Revenge. It had been a French slaver.  It was a large ship, especially for a pirate ship.  Blackbeard crammed it with 56 cannons.  It had a crew of 75.  Many of them were slaves who volunteered when Blackbeard took their slave ships.  Others were auctioned off at the nearest port.
5. In 1718, he blockaded Charles Town, South Carolina. He captured several ships coming in or going out.  He took a governing council member and his son captive and held them hostage.  All of this was to get medical supplies.
6. Later that year, the Queen Anne’s Revenge ran aground and sank. Blackbeard took that as a sign and accepted a pardon from the Governor of North Carolina and settled down in Bath.  He got married, but couldn’t quite settle down.  One day, he sailed out of the harbor and returned with a loot-filled French ship that he claimed to have found abandoned.  Some believe he had an arrangement with the Governor to share his “findings”.
7. Blackbeard was once visited by another notorious pirate. The two crews staged an epic days-long party on an island near Bath.
8. His career came to an end on Nov. 22, 1718. The Governor of Virginia had enough of his piracy and decided that despite the “protection” from the Governor of North Carolina, Blackbeard needed to be stopped.  He sent two ships under Royal Navy Lt. Robert Maynard to end the pirate’s reign.  Maynard found Blackbeard’s ship anchored, expecting no trouble.  Although Blackbeard was on board (after a night of heavy drinking), he had only 18 men with him.  When Maynard’s ship (the Jane) approached, Blackbeard fired a broadside that killed and wounded many of the crew.  Maynard, expecting to be boarded, ordered his uninjured men below decks to lay a trap.  When Blackbeard led a boarding party, Maynard came swarming up to meet them.  A six-minute melee ensued.   Maynard and Blackbeard dueled amidst the chaos.  When the smoke cleared, Blackbeard was dead with 20 sword cuts and 5 bullet wounds.  He was beheaded and the body was thrown overboard.  According to legend, the body swam around the ship three times before sinking.  The head was tied to the bowsprit and later put up on a tall pole at the intersection of the Hampton and James Rivers, where it stayed for a few years.

https://royalarmouries.org/stories/popular-culture/blackbeard-facts/

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/531982/facts-about-pirate-blackbeard

https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/10-facts-about-blackbeard/