Blackbeard

The Hunt for the World's Most Notorious Pirate

Craig Cabell, Graham A. Thomas, Allan Richards

• Publisher: Pen & Sword
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781783469147
• Topic: Tecnología e ingeniería
• Subtopic: Transporte marítimo

Edward Teach Blackbeard-is one of the legends of the so-called golden age of piracy. There have been so many accounts of his short, bloody career that it is hard to see him and his times in a clear historical light. This new study looks for the man behind the legend, and it gives a vivid insight into the nature of piracy and the naval operations that were launched against it.The narrative focuses on the roles played by the Governor of Virginia Alexander Spotswood who masterminded the pursuit of Blackbeard, and Lieutenant Robert Maynard of HMS Pearl who led the pursuit and finally cornered Teach and his crew and, after a vicious fight, saw him killed.In vivid detail, it reveals how the hunt for Blackbeard was orchestrated, how he was tracked down, and the parts played in the drama by the larger-than-life leading characters in this extraordinary story. This freshly researched study of the pursuit of the notorious pirate and his crew—and of the final fight in which Blackbeard lost his life—makes compelling reading.

Chapter 1

The Players

In our hunt for the truth we will look at the basic things that helped to shape the legend of Blackbeard: the key players who influenced him, chased him and killed him; the actions of the man himself; stories told about him from a wide variety of sources such as those members of his crew who were captured and put on trial; along with personal letters, reports and logs taken from some of the people involved.

The main source of information on Blackbeard comes from Captain Charles Johnson whose book, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates has a detailed account of the life of Blackbeard. What makes this book special is that it appeared on the bookshelves in 1724, six years after Blackbeard was killed. It is the closest thing we have to ‘the truth’. ‘Captain Johnson’s book took the lid off a shocking world of crime on the high seas and had all the ingredients for a bestseller.’¹

Another thing that makes Johnson’s source important is its accuracy. Indeed, pirate historian David Cordingly wrote in his preface for the 1998 edition of Johnson’s work that most of the facts in his account of Blackbeard have proven to be broadly accurate, which is true of most of the other accounts in his History. However, Cordingly tells us that Johnson did take a large degree of licence in the biographies when he brings conversation into the mix. For example, his account of the pirate kingdom of Libertalia and his account of Captain Mission are ‘certainly fictitious although it was inspired by the pirate communities on Madagascar’.² That said, what we do know is that his accounts of Blackbeard, Major Stede Bonnet, Jack Rackham and Bartholomew Roberts are accurate. Documents, letters and logbooks found in the Public Records Office the Colonial Office papers have, over the years, corroborated Johnson’s accounts of these men.

Cordingly tells us that Johnson wrote in his introduction to the first edition that where he himself had not been an eyewitness to events, he had interviewed or spoken with the people responsible for capturing the pirates. Adding to that, Johnson says that some of the information also comes from ‘the mouths of the pirates themselves after they were taken’.

So it is from this basis that we start our hunt for the truth, and we will be returning to Johnson on many occasions because it is he who provides us with the basis of the legend of Blackbeard: ‘He provided a sweeping account of what came to be called the “Golden Age of Piracy”.’³

At this point it is necessary to list the key players in the story of Edward Teach. We will go into detail in later chapters but for now, we will set the scene to enable the drama to unfold.

The first key player is Teach himself, better known as Blackbeard. No-one really knows exactly who this pirate was. Even his real name is shrouded in mystery. Despite his fame he was not the most prolific, nor the most powerful, nor were his activities the most widespread. For example, Bartholomew Roberts was active on both sides of the Atlantic and took over 400 prizes, while Cheng I Sao controlled 1,800 vessels and 80,000 pirates.⁴ Yet, what has been his enduring appeal is the persona that surrounded him, the efforts put in place to find and dispose of him and the spectacular way in which he was taken down.

Criminals have come and gone over the centuries but Blackbeard’s legend and fame have managed to live on. Some popular historians say that Captain Kidd is legendary because of his buried treasure, but why is Blackbeard a legend? Was it because of the way in which he was killed, and that his head was cut off and displayed for all to see? We know that by the time of his death he was already of legendary status.

Indeed, the name of Blackbeard continues to thrill to this day and we will try to show that he was a calculating man bent on making a name for himself at the cost of everything the civilised world held dear at the time. Perhaps he was a psychotic, or perhaps deep inside him there was a hole that could never be filled, no matter what outrageous action he performed. Perhaps he was a desperately lonely man inside, and was driven by his desire to be admired and noticed. Perhaps he craved attention and so created his reputation to ensure he always had that attention.

Second to Blackbeard was Alexander Spotswood. This man was the Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia. Although he did not take an active role in the fighting that eventually brought Blackbeard down, he was a key player in the pirate’s life. Some of the legend that we know about Blackbeard today was created by the multitude of letters written by him.⁵ Although the two men never met, Spotswood was the man who set the wheels in motion to capture and kill the pirate. So he is a crucial player and his information is one of our main sources.

So who was he? He was born in the English garrison at Tangier around 1676, the son of an army surgeon who died when he was 4 years old. He came back to England with his mother in 1683 when King Charles II ordered the troops home. When William III plunged England into a nine-year war with France and Spain, Spotswood joined the Earl of Bath’s Regiment in 1693 and distinguished himself as a soldier in Flanders, becoming an infantry captain in 1698. By 1703 Spotswood was a lieutenant-colonel and was appointed to the Duke of Marlborough’s staff where once again he distinguished himself as the quartermaster-general. In 1710 he was selected as lieutenant-governor of the colony of Virginia by the 1st Earl of Orkney, George Hamilton, who was the governor but who never actually set foot in the colony.

In late 1710 Spotswood arrived in Williamsburg to take up his post, and almost from the beginning he faced strong opposition from a radical element within the colony. Indeed, for most of his twelve years in office he faced one crisis after another. Blackbeard was one such crisis and it was one that he could do something about.⁶

Next is Lieutenant Robert Maynard, a Royal Navy officer who led the assault against Blackbeard.⁷ Though he distinguished himself in the battle against Blackbeard and became a captain in the Royal Navy, he seems to have faded into obscurity. By anyone’s standards he was a hero but perhaps his star has fallen for the reasons we mentioned in the foreword – that most people prefer to read about villains rather than heroes? We will go into greater detail on Maynard later when we discuss Blackbeard’s death.

Then we have Charles Eden, Governor of North Carolina and a man whom many scholars have speculated colluded with Blackbeard. The evidence to support this is sketchy. Eden issued a Royal Pardon to the pirate and they knew each other, but the nature of their relationship is crucial in helping us find the truth about the man we call Blackbeard.

In his book, Blackbeard: America’s Most Notorious Pirate, Angus Konstam states the case that Eden was not corrupt but was a little ‘foolhardy’ in his dealings with the pirate. However, there may be evidence against Eden depending on the way in which the facts are interpreted. Blackbeard was supposed to have given up piracy in Eden’s colony, where he was also eventually killed. Items were found in Eden’s possession that were taken from a ship that was possibly stolen by Blackbeard and given to Eden as gifts. We shall look into this in further detail later in the book.

Alongside Eden is Tobias Knight, the Secretary of the Colony for North Carolina. Many historians believe his involvement and collusion with Blackbeard went far deeper than Eden’s, but his guilt could never be proved despite the famous letter he wrote to the pirate just before the final battle. This guarded letter to Blackbeard is open to interpretation. For example, he ends it by saying ‘I have not the time to add save my hearty respects to you, and am your real friend.’⁸ Konstam suggests the letter was a warning to Blackbeard of the coming battle:

If this finds you yet in harbour I would have you make the best of your way up as soon as possible your affairs will let you. I have something more to say to you than at present I can write: the bearer will tell you the end of our Indian Warr, and Ganet can tell you in part what I have to say to you, so refer you in some measure to him.⁹

Whether Knight was complicit or not we will never know, as he died shortly after Blackbeard was killed and nothing was ever proved against him.

Early in Blackbeard’s career we find Benjamin Hornigold, a privateer who turned pirate and is thought to have been Blackbeard’s mentor. Both Hornigold and Blackbeard served together as privateers and it was Hornigold that first turned pirate. They served together as fellow pirates before Hornigold abandoned the pirate’s way of life and accepted the King’s Pardon. Indeed, when the new governor arrived on the island of New Providence, a pirate haven at the time and the place which both Blackbeard and Hornigold used as a base, Hornigold turned away from piracy, accepted the pardon and became pirate-hunter under the command of the newly-arrived Governor, Captain Woodes Rogers.¹⁰

Rogers, like so many other men of this time, was an ex-privateer who had been given a commission as Colonial Governor of New Providence. The difference between him and men like Hornigold and Blackbeard is that he never turned pirate. Although his role may at first appear to be superficial, it is in fact very prominent. It is more than likely that his arrival in the previously lawless New Providence may have been the trigger that encouraged Blackbeard to move northwards in search of a new base of operations; a move that eventually brought him into the path of Alexander Spotswood.¹¹

Of course, we must also look at Johnson as a key player in the story because he documented Blackbeard’s life with considerable detail and accuracy. We don’t just use Johnson’s History as a major source; we also need to look at him as a player in the overall scheme of things. In his 1724 edition, Johnson thanks the many persons who had been taken by the pirates as well as those people who were involved in the taking for giving him detailed facts. He also drew on accounts of pirates written in the London newspapers and other journals, with the Boston News Letter being a rich source of pirate stories from America.

As with Blackbeard, no-one really knows who Johnson was. For decades historians believed that he was Daniel Defoe, the famous author of Robinson Crusoe, but that theory has recently been exploded. Cordingly states that it is likely that Johnson was an ex-privateer or even a pirate himself because of his extensive knowledge of the sea.¹²

So while we don’t really look into the man we know as Captain Charles Johnson, his presence permeates this book and just about every other book on Blackbeard because we know the facts in his account are largely accurate. That means Johnson’s story of Blackbeard is the closest we have to an eye-witness account and so should be believed.

The story that culminated in Blackbeard’s death was a story that only lasted a couple of years. It encompassed the east coast of North America, from the Caribbean to Delaware. As we hunt for the truth about the man and his legend these key players will help us paint a picture of the pirate and his nemesis – Spotswood.

Each lonely scene shall thee restore;
For thee the tear be duly shed:
Belov’d, till life could charm no more;
And mourn’d, till pity’s self be dead.

 

Cymbeline, William Shakespeare

Chapter 2

The Man and the Myth

It was his custom to invite five or six of his
brutal companions to come ashore, and
he would force her to prostitute herself
to them all, one after another, before his face.¹³

Captain Charles Johnson, 1724

The early life of Blackbeard is a mystery. Like many of his contemporaries, the years before he became a pirate are shrouded in the swirling mists of time.

Most historians believe he was born in Bristol, although the date of his birth is uncertain. The best guess we can make comes from pictures, drawn at the time of his death, alluding to a man in his mid-30s. This places his birth in the 1680s. Indeed, Johnson states that ‘Edward Teach was a Bristol man born but had sailed some time out of Jamaica in privateers.’¹⁴

Let’s start with the basics – the name he was born with – but that too is uncertain. While there are many different variations of it the most commonly-held version today is Edward Teach, although Edward Thatch, Edward Tach, Edward Thack and Edward Thache are also likely candidates. For example, Captain Mathew Musson – perhaps the first to encounter the pirate – wrote to the Council of Trade and Plantations, and used the spelling Thatch.¹⁵ Even Edouard Titche has appeared in a document of the era as a possible spelling.¹⁶

The principal nemesis of Blackbeard – Alexander Spotswood, who we shall look at in more detail later – clouds the issue of the correct surname. He refers to the pirate by the name of Tach, as in ‘Tach’s crew’ and in the very next sentence uses the spelling Tache, as in ‘Tache’s Quarter Master’.¹⁷

To complicate the issue even further, the first person to make a detailed char...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 - The Players
• Chapter 2 - The Man and the Myth
• Chapter 3 - Nemesis – Alexander Spotswood
• Chapter 4 - Contemporaries and the Times
• Chapter 5 - The New Pirate Captain
• Chapter 6 - Flagship
• Chapter 7 - Blackbeard’s Victims
• Chapter 8 - The Adventure Continues
• Chapter 9 - Charles Town
• Chapter 10 - Death of the Queen
• Chapter 11 - Pardon
• Chapter 12 - The Beginning of the End
• Chapter 13 - Lies, Damn Lies and Politics
• Chapter 14 - Battle Plan
• Chapter 15 - Showdown
• Chapter 16 - Trials and Tribulations
• Chapter 17 - Fate and Collusion
• Chapter 18 - Legacy
• Further Reading & Information
• Appendix I - Spotswood’s Version of the Truth
• Appendix II - Unhappiness in the Colonies: Various Letters
• Appendix III - Spotswood Timeline
• Notes
• Index