essay on blackbeard the pirate

Nicholas Graham, November 22, 1718 - The Death of Blackbeard, This Month in North Carolina History, Nov. 2003. Illustration of “Blackbeard the Pirate.” Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates, Fourth Edition, volume one. London: T. Woodward, 1726. pp. 87-88. About the illustration The 1710s have been called the “golden age of piracy.” Pirate ships roamed the Atlantic Ocean, preying upon busy commercial ports in the West Indies and along the coast of North America. One of the most notorious of the pirates, Edward Teach, better known as “Blackbeard,” was a frequent visitor to North Carolina and it was here, in November 1718, that he was captured and killed. Edward Teach was from Bristol, England, a town on the Avon River in southwest England, which produced many pirates. Teach served on a privateer during Queen Anne’s War (1701–1714). Privateering was, in a sense, legalized piracy. The British government authorized private ships to attack and capture enemy merchant vessels, with the proceeds divided between the Queen and the crew of the privateer. When the war ended, Teach was faced with the prospect of losing his livelihood and the great potential for adventure and profit that it promised. Along with many others in the same position, he turned to piracy. Teach served for several years on a pirate ship under another captain before, in 1717, he stole a ship for himself and formed a crew of his own. Teach and his crew, aboard the “Queen Anne’s Revenge,” captured a number of valuable cargoes off of the coasts of Virginia and the Carolinas. In what would become one of his most famous acts, Teach sailed boldly into Charleston, South Carolina, captured several prominent citizens, and held them hostage until the city agreed to exchange them for costly medical supplies. While he was terrorizing commercial ports along the coast of North America, Teach became known as.
Only available on StudyMode Read full document → Save to my library Throughout history pirates have terrorized the world's seas. There are few men that have been feared as much as pirates were. Names such as pirate, buccaneer, and privateer were given to these men and women that terrorized the seas. Black Sam Bellamy, Bartholomew Roberts, Jean Lafitte, Stede Bonnet, and Ann Bonny are some of the most feared names know to man. These were the names of pirates that dominated the seas during the 1600's and 1700's, a time known as the Golden Age of Piracy. However, one of the greatest pirates of all time was the great Edward Teach, alias Blackbeard. He terrorized the seas for most of his gruesome life during this era. The Golden Age of Piracy marked a time when sea travel was unsafe for everyone, with Blackbeard being one of the lead factors. The history of piracy dates back more than 3000 years. It appears that the word pirate (peirato) was first used in about 140 BC by the Roman historian Polybius. The Greek historian Plutarch, writing in about 100 A.D., gave the oldest clear definition of piracy. He described pirates as those who attack without legal authority not only ships, but also maritime cities ( The most common meaning of the word pirate recognizes them as an outlaw and a thief. Anyone who was caught and tried with the act of piracy would be sentenced to death. Most people are familiar with the words pirate, privateer, and buccaneer. These words are all names given to groups of pirates. They were all essentially the same thing, with slight differences. In one case, however, you could be considered a legal pirate. These men were called privateers. A privateer was a pirate who by commission or letter of marque from the government was authorized to seize or destroy a merchant vessel of another nation.
Edward Blackbeard Teach (1680-1718) was a legend in his own time. Born in England, he plundered ships traveling to and from the American colonies—as well as vessels in the Caribbean Sea. Although his reign of terror lasted only two years, he became one of the best-known sea robbers in all of history. Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard the pirate, was probably born somewhere near Bristol, England. Little is known of his early life—except that he went to sea as a young man. As a privateer (legalized pirate) during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13), he robbed ships in the West Indies. When the war ended in 1713, he turned to piracy, like many former privateers.By 1716, Teach was serving under the command of Benjamin Thornigold, a pirate captain. On Thornigold's ship, he sailed from the pirate colony of New Providence in the West Indies to the American mainland. The pirates captured a number of ships, whose cargo ranged from flour and wine to silk and gold bullion (gold still in raw or unrefined form). In 1717, after the pirate crew attacked a large merchant ship headed for the French island of Martinique, Teach took over as the captured vessel's captain. Equipping the boat as a warship, he added some forty guns and renamed it the Queen Anne's Revenge.Shortly after Teach became the captain of his own ship, Thornigold gave up piracy. Captain Woodes Rogers, the British-appointed governor of the Bahamas, had been given the power to pardon pirates who agreed to mend their ways. Thornigold—and other members of Blackbeard's circle— sailed to New Providence to accept the King's pardon. Edward Teach, however, had just begun his short but active career as a pirate.Smoking Black BeardA tall man with a booming voice, Teach deliberately developed a terrifying appearance. He had an enormous black beard, which he tied up with black ribbons and twisted into braids.