{"id":745,"date":"2015-08-02T19:46:08","date_gmt":"2015-08-02T23:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pirates.blkline.com\/?page_id=745"},"modified":"2015-08-06T14:59:33","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T18:59:33","slug":"blackbeard","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pirates.missiledine.com\/index.php\/blackbeard\/","title":{"rendered":"BlackBeard"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Blackbeard\"

Captain Edward”Blackbeard” Teach<\/p><\/div>\n

Known to his victims as ‘Blackbeard’ to his fellow pirates as ‘Thatch’ and to the Royal Navy as Edward Teach, this pirate competes with only a handful of others for the title of the most ruthless and blood thirsty pirate in the Caribbean.
\nFormerly 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 Hornigold’s 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.<\/big><\/p>\n

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.<\/big><\/p>\n

<\/big>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 rumour and speculation. One story tells that one day at sea he said to a few of his men, \u201ccome, let us make a hell of our own, and try how long we can bear it.\u201d 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.”<\/big><\/p>\n


\nThen 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.\u00a0 Hands was shot through the knee.\u00a0 When asked why he had done this, Thatch said, \u201cDamn you all! Unless I now and then kill one of my men, they will forget who I am\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (Shortly after this Israel Hands left Thatch to sail with Flint.)
\nBlackbeard is no stranger to killing his own men.\u00a0 During one cruise,\u00a0he punished some mutinous crew members by marooning them on Dead Man\u2019s 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\u2019s hope was that they would kill each other, but when he returned at the end of 30 days he found that 15 had survived.
\nBlackbeard’s practice of braiding burning slow match into his beard is considered by most a colorful method of intimidation.\u00a0 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. <\/big><\/p>\n

There are dark rumors about Thatch.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0 a 300-ton frigate armed with 40 guns.\u00a0 It is one of the most powerful pirate ships in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\"Queen

Queen Anne’s Revenge<\/p><\/div>\n

Blackbeard has, in addition to the Queen Anne’s Revenge, three other ships, an armed schooner and two sloops, with their own Captains, that sail under Thatch’s flag and follow his orders and share their plunder with him.\u00a0 All told Thatch has about four hundred pirates under his command.\u00a0 The principal crew members are as follows:<\/p>\n

Crew of the Queen Anne’s Revenge<\/strong>(40 guns\u00a0 260 total crew)
\nThatch, Captain QAR
\nGarret Gibbens, boatswain,\u00a0 QAR
\nThomas Miller, quartermaster, QAR
\nPhilip Morton, gunner, QAR
\nOwen Roberts, carpenter, QAR
\nJoseph Brooks, sailing master, QAR
\nJames White
\nJohn Gills
\nCaesar, runaway slave
\nThere are 251 other pirates in the crew of the Queen Anne’s Revenge<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Blackbeard's<\/a>

Blackbeard’s Jolly Roger<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Schooner Jezabelle <\/strong>(26 guns 72 total crew)
\nJoseph Curtice, Captain Jezabelle
\nNathaniel Jackson\u00a0 boatswain Jezabelle
\nJohn Husk, gunner\u00a0 Jezabelle
\nJohn Carnes
\nJames Blake
\nThere are 67 other pirates in the crew of the Jezabelle.<\/p>\n

Sloop Adventure<\/strong> (18 guns\u00a0 51 total crew)
\nThomas Gates, Captain\u00a0 Adventure
\nRichard Stiles, boatswain\u00a0 Adventure
\nJoseph Philips, gunner\u00a0 Adventure
\nJohn Martin
\nStephen Daniel
\nJoseph Brooks (2)<\/p>\n

There are 45 other pirates in the crew of the Brindle<\/p>\n

Sloop Roanoke<\/strong>(16 guns\u00a0 45 total crew)
\nJames Robbins, Captain\u00a0 Roanoke
\nEdward Salter, boatswain\u00a0 Roanoke
\nRichard Greensail, gunner\u00a0\u00a0 Roanoke
\nThere are 42 other pirates in the crew of the Roanoke<\/p>\n

In total Blackbeard has 428 pirates under his command<\/p>\n

Blackbeard has an alliance with another pirate captain, Stede Bonnet<\/strong><\/a>, and they often sail together and cooperate in large raids.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Known to his victims as ‘Blackbeard’ to his fellow pirates as ‘Thatch’ and to the Royal Navy as Edward Teach,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirates.missiledine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/745"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirates.missiledine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirates.missiledine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirates.missiledine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirates.missiledine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/pirates.missiledine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1354,"href":"https:\/\/pirates.missiledine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/745\/revisions\/1354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirates.missiledine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}