Edward Teach (Blackbeard)
Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, was the most famous pirate of the Caribbean and operated for about two years. His origins are obscure; he was probably born in Bristol around 1680 and served on a British privateer during the War of the Spanish Succession, joining Benjamin Hornigold's pirate crew at New Providence in the Bahamas around 1716. He was given his own vessel, and in November 1717 captured a French slave ship, La Concorde, which he refitted with forty guns and renamed the Queen Anne's Revenge. His method was largely theatrical. He cultivated an appearance designed to make resistance seem pointless — a very large black beard tied with ribbons, bandoliers of pistols, and slow-burning fuses tucked under his hat so that his face appeared wreathed in smoke. There is no record of him killing a captive before his final battle, which supports the view that terror was a tool for taking ships without fighting. In May 1718 he blockaded Charleston harbour for a week with a squadron, seizing ships and hostages, and released them in exchange for a chest of medicines. He deliberately ran the Queen Anne's Revenge aground at Beaufort Inlet, apparently to break up the crew and reduce the number of shares, took a pardon from the governor of North Carolina, and returned to raiding. The governor of Virginia sent two sloops under Lieutenant Robert Maynard. On 22 November 1718 at Ocracoke Island, Maynard concealed his men below decks, and Blackbeard boarded into an ambush. He was killed with, by the account, five shot and twenty sword wounds, and his head was hung from the bowsprit.
- Lived: 1680 CE – 1718 CE
- Nationality: English
- Roles: pirate
