Damnation, Seize my Soul if I Give You Quarters

• Edward "Blackbeard" Teach is undoubtedly the most infamous pirate, despite not being by any means the most successful.

  • He began as an English privateer during Queen Anne's War (1702–13), but when hostilities ended, he became a pirate.

• In 1716, Blackbeard visited Nassau in the Bahamas, the "pirate's republic."

  • He encountered Captain Benjamin Hornigold there, who gave him command of a sloop.

  • Together the pair looted vessels in the waters around Bermuda and Cuba, and along America's East Coast.

• The Barbadian pirate "Gentleman" Stede Bonnet, who had suffered serious injuries fighting a Spanish man-of-war, was soon encountered by Hornigold and Teach.

  • The remaining 70 members of Bonnet's crew had lost faith in his ability to lead after 50 of them had perished.

  • The three men teamed up, with Bonnet giving Blackbeard temporary control of his sloop, the Revenge.

Taking Charge

• In November 1717, Hornigold captured the 200-ton frigate La Concord de Nantes during a raid close to Martinique.

  • Hornigold gave Blackbeard command of this valuable ship. It was named Queen Anne's Revenge by Blackbeard.

• In December, King George I issued the Indemnity Act, which absolved any pirate who officially abandoned his lifestyle.

  • After voting against the decision to attack any ship, Hornigold, who had been supplanted as captain by his and Blackbeard's combined crews, accepted the King's pardon and broke off his association with Blackbeard.

  • Eventually, Bonnet's men chose to serve under Blackbeard's leadership instead of remaining with him.

• Blackbeard kept Bonnet on his ship as a "guest" and appointed a stand-in as captain of the Revenge.

  • After that, Blackbeard proceeded to North Carolina and blockaded the port of Charleston there, seizing nine ships and holding a wealthy trader and politician as hostage.

• The Queen Anne's Revenge hit a rocky shore after leaving Charleston.

  • In June 1718, Bonnet and Blackbeard anchored their fleet at Topsail Inlet and traveled ashore to Bath, North Carolina, where Governor Charles Eden released them from their prison sentences.

  • Blackbeard, however, sneaked back to the fleet while Bonnet was still there, looted the Revenge and two other ships, then transferred the loot to his sloop, the Adventure.

• Blackbeard now had a hefty bounty on his head for breaking the terms of his pardon.

  • On 22 November, 1718, the Adventure was seen at Ocracoke Harbor by two Royal Navy sloops under Lieutenant Robert Maynard's command.

Last Stand

• Blackbeard outmaneuvered the ships of the Royal Navy and lured them onto a sandbar.

  • He launched two broadside attacks at Maynard's ship instead of fleeing.

  • The lieutenant and a small number of the crew were the only ones still on deck when the smoke cleared.

  • Blackbeard gave the order for his crew of 23 pirates to board the ship.

• A bloody battle broke out as his men climbed onto the ship as 30 armed sailors emerged from below decks.

  • Both Maynard and Blackbeard fired shots from their flintlock pistols at one another.

  • Blackbeard's shot was blocked, but Maynard's grazed him in the abdomen.

  • However, Blackbeard recovered and used a powerful blow from his cutlass to sever Maynard's sword in two.

  • Blackbeard had a brief advantage, but one of Maynard's men rammed a pike into his shoulder before he could seize it.

  • Blackbeard's crew conceded because they were outnumbered and outgunned, but he persisted in battle.

  • After sustaining five gunshot wounds and twenty sword wounds, he eventually passed away.

• Blackbeard's head should be suspended from the bowsprit, Maynard commanded his men. As a warning to other pirates, it was hung on a spike close to the Hampton River.

Legal Piracy

• For a long time, sociologists have understood that crime and deviance are situational, meaning that they vary over time and from one place to another. A good illustration of this phenomenon is piracy.

• In the mid-13th century, Privateering commissions were first issued by Henry III of England, allowing sailors to raid and pillage enemy ships.

• After 1295, these licenses were referred to as letters of marques.

• In the 16th to 18th centuries, the number of privateers significantly increased.

• During Queen Anne’s War, Spanish and French ships were frequently looted by British privateers.

• These professional plunderers, however, unexpectedly found themselves on the wrong side of the law when hostilities between the nations ceased.

• It is obvious that what constitutes criminal behavior depends on evolving social structures, which are in turn shaped by more generalized political and economic realities.

Related Crime

• In 1667–83, Admiral Sir Henry Morgan, a Welsh privateer who eventually served in the Royal Navy, became well-known for his attacks against Spanish towns in the Caribbean.

• In 1689–96, a well-known Scottish privateer and pirate hunter named Captain William Kidd plunders Caribbean ships and islands.

• In 1717–18, Stede Bonnet, a Barbadian pirate known as "Gentleman," was formerly a prosperous landowner and is known for plundering ships in the Caribbean.

• In 1719–22, a Welsh pirate named Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts robs countless ships in West Africa and the Americas.