Formerly the Quarter Master for the
pirate Captain Benjamin Hornigold, Thatch has only been an
independent captain for about two years. During that time has earned
a reputation for personal courage, daring, ruthlessness, charismatic
leadership and a keen intellect as well as bouts of erratic and
violent behavior.
His early history is murky.
Originally
from Bristol he is in his late thirties or early forties. He served
as a privateer on several ships during the War of the Spanish
Succession before disappearing into the Jamaican hinterlands for a
year or so. He reappeared as part of Hornigolds crew and was present
when Hornigold captured the slave ship La Concorde near the island of
Martinique. Hornigold gave the ship to Thatch who renamed her 'Queen
Annes Revenge' and promptly modified her to allow more guns.
Blackbeard, as he soon came to be
known
to the shipping community and the public at large, spent his time
ashore in Port Royal, and later in New Providence, as the Chief
Magistrate of the Privateer Republic, helping to settle disputes
between the various Captains and crew members. He could be found
holding court under a large wild fig tree, a barrel of wine or rum
beside him. He would command passerbys to drink with him and if they
refused he would sometimes shoot them.
Thatch's ruthlessness and erratic
behavior is widely discussed amongst the pirates, though never in the
presence of Blackbeard or any of his men, and is a matter of much
rumor and speculation. One story tells that one day at sea he said
to a few of his men, “come, let us make a hell of our own, and try
how long we can bear it.” He took them below, closed up the
hatches and set on fire several pots filled with brimstone and other
acrid matter. One by one, close to suffocation, the men were forced
to seek the upper deck. Blackbeard held out the longest and was quite
pleased to announce that "he was better fitted to live in hell
than the others."
Then there was the time while drinking with his sailing master, Israel
Hands and his pilot Marshall, he drew two pistols, crossed them under
the table and fired, apparently at random. Hands was shot through
the knee. When asked why he had done this, Thatch said, “Damn you
all! Unless I now and then kill one of my men, they will forget who I
am”. (Shortly after this Israel Hands left Thatch to
sail with Flint.)
Blackbeard is no stranger to killing his own men. During one
cruise, Blackbeard punished some mutinous crew members by
marooning them on Dead Man’s Chest, a small remote island in the
British Virgin Islands chain, without water or landing places. Each was
given a cutlass and a bottle of rum and Teach’s hope was that they
would kill each other, but when he returned at the end of 30 days he
found that 15 had survived.
Blackbeard's practice of braiding burning slow match into his beard is
considered by most a colorful method of intimidation. Some
whisper that there are more sinister reasons, though none are willing
to talk about it in any detail, merely making a sign of protection from
evil before taking a stout drink.
There are dark rumors about Thatch. Rumors that he is an initiate
in the secrets of Vodoun, a Bokor (Boccur) who has bound himself, and
his crew, to the Baron Samedi and through this has gained powers that
make your blood run cold.
Blackbeard's ship, the 'Queen Anne's Revenge' is a former slave ship,
built in 1710, that has been modified to carry an extra twenty guns and
now rates as a 300-ton frigate armed with 40 guns. It is
one of the most powerful pirate ships in the Caribbean.
Blackbeard's Flag
