The Golden Age Of Pirates

When one recalls the Golden Age of Pirates, many names come to mind; names of great and often feared men such as Henry Morgan, “Black Sam” Bellamy, Stede Bonnet, Calico Jack, Black Bart, and Edward Low. Among these, however, only one man has received consistent acclaim as “perhaps the most notorious pirate among English-speaking nations”.

There is only a small amount of information available about the early life of Edward Teach. In fact, information has proven scant to the point that experts can’t exactly pinpoint the exact spelling of his last name. These include Teach (the post popular and widely accepted form), Thatch, Theach, and others. It is also hard to tell exactly how old Teach was when he died, because the date of his birth is unknown as well. Experts believe he was born around the year 1680 (according to the approximate age upon his death) in Bristol, England. This helped expose Teach to the sea, as Bristol was a large port with tremendous amounts of trade, which meant ships were always in and out, and he never wanted for seafarers to learn from. He was also literate, perhaps due to the fact that he was raised in the second-largest city in England. During Queen Anne’s War, he became a privateer for the English.

After the war, he followed the usual path of privateers who found themselves suddenly without work and turned to piracy. After a time, he joined the crew of Benjamin Hornigold, a pirate who had already made a name for himself in New Providence, where he based his operations. Around 1716, after seeing potential in Teach, he was awarded with a ship of his own command. He eventually became known as Blackbeard, and came across Stede Bonnet, an unlikely pirate who was a military officer and landowner from Barba...

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...came up from behind and cut Blackbeard’s throat. Soon after, the remaining pirates surrendered. While examining his body, Maynard found that Blackbeard has been shot 5 times and suffered over 20 sword cuts during the battle. He then severed Blackbeard’s head and tied it to the bowsprit of his ship, returning to Virginia.

Even though he was not the most successful pirate, he was certainly one of the most feared, and his reputation grew larger than that of those who were more successful. For example, Black Bart had taken five times the amount that Teach had, but Blackbeard is still more famous. It has been said that after his head was removed, Blackbeard’s body jumped overboard and swam thrice around the ship. He was treated as an almost god-like pirate, and men who sailed with him were automatically given places of honor and authority among the crews of other ships.