Blackbeard Blockades Charleston
Blackbeard blockaded Charleston harbour for about a week in late May 1718, seizing every vessel that tried to enter or leave, and demanded a chest of medicine as his ransom. Edward Teach commanded a small squadron led by the Queen Anne's Revenge, a captured French slave ship mounted with forty guns, and perhaps four hundred men. Charleston was the wealthiest port in the southern colonies and had no station ship and no functioning defences. He took at least nine vessels, including the Crowley outbound for London with a number of prominent citizens aboard, among them a member of the governor's council and his young son. His terms were unusual. Pirates blockading a port normally wanted money; Teach asked for a chest of medicines valued at some £300 or £400, and threatened to send the prisoners' heads to the governor if it was not delivered. The likely explanation is that his crews were riddled with syphilis, and the chest recovered from the wreck later contained mercury and a urethral syringe. The delivery was delayed when his own emissaries got drunk ashore. The prisoners were released stripped of their clothes and valuables but unharmed. He then ran the Queen Anne's Revenge aground at Beaufort Inlet, which several of his crew believed was deliberate — a way of shedding most of the men before taking a royal pardon with a smaller share. He accepted the pardon, resumed pirating within weeks, and was killed in November 1718 by a Royal Navy party under Robert Maynard.
- Year: 1718 CE
- Category: Military
