web hosting short URLs photo sharing

[Being a full and frank account lifted in its entirety from Captain Charles Johnson's "A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates".]

Edward Teach was a Bristol man born, but had sailed some time out of Jamaica in privateers in the late French war; yet, though he had often distinguished himself for his uncommon boldness and personal courage, he was never raised to any command till he went a-pirating, which I think was at the latter end of the year 1716, when Captain Benjamin Hornigold put him into a sloop that he had made a prize of, and with whom he continued in consortship till a little while before Hornigold surrendered.

In the spring of the year 1717 Teach and Hornigold sailed from Providence for the Main of America, and took in their way a sloop from the Havana, with 120 barrels of flour, as also a sloop from Bermuda, Thurbar master, from whom they took only some gallons of wine and then let him go; and a ship from Madeira to South Carolina, out of which they got plunder to a considerable value.

After cleaning on the coast of Virginia, they returned to the West Indies, and in the latitude of 24 made prize of a large French Guinea-man, bound to Martinique, which, by Hornigold's consent, Teach went aboard as of captain and took a cruise in her. Hornigold returned with his sloop to Providence, where, at the arrival of Captain Rogers, the Governor, he surrendered to mercy, pursuant to the King's proclamation.

Aboard of this Guinea-man Teach mounted forty guns, and named her the Queen Anne's Revenge; and cruising near the island of St. Vincent took a large ship called the Great Allen, Christopher Taylor commander. The pirates plundered her of what they thought fit, put all the men ashore upon the island above mentioned, and then set fire to the ship.

A few days after, Teach fell in with the Scarborough man-of-war, of 30 guns, who engaged him for some hours; but she, finding the pirate well manned, and having tried her strength, gave over the engagement, and returned to Barbadoes, the place of her station, and Teach sailed towards Spanish America.

In his way he met with a pirate sloop of 10 guns, commanded by one Major Bonnet, lately a gentleman of good reputation and estate in the island of Barbadoes, whom he joined; but in a few days after, Teach, finding that Bonnet knew nothing of a maritime life, with the consent of his own men put in another captain, one Richards, to command Bonnet's sloop, and took the major on aboard his own ship; telling him that as he had not been used to the fatigues and care of such a post, it would be better for him to decline it and live easy, at his pleasure, in such a ship as his, where he should not be obliged to perform duty, but follow his own inclinations.

At Turneffe, ten leagues short of the Bay of Honduras, the pirates took in fresh water; and while they were at anchor there, they saw a sloop coming in. Whereupon Richards, in the sloop called the Revenge, slipped his cable and ran out to meet her; who, upon seeing the Black flag hoisted, struck her sail and came to, under the stern of Teach, the commodore. She was called the Adventure from Jamaica, David Harriot master. They took him and his men aboard the great ship, and sent a number of other hands with Israel Hands, master of Teach's ship, to man the sloop for the piratical account.

The 9th of April they weighed from Turneffe, having lain there about a week, and sailed to the Bay, where they found a ship and four sloops, three of the latter belonging to Jonathan Bernard, of Jamaica, and the other to Captain James. The ship was of Boston, called the Protestant Caesar, Captain Wyar commander. Teach hoisted his black colours and fired a gun, upon which Captain Wyar and all his men left their ship and got ashore in their boat. Teach's quartermaster and eight of his crew took possession of Wyar's ship, and Richards secured all the sloops, one of which they burned, out of spite to the owner; the Protestant Caesar they also burned after they had plundered her, because she belonged to Boston where some men had been hanged for piracy. The three sloops belonging to Bernard they let go.

From hence the rovers sailed to Turkill [Trujillo?], and then to the Grand Cayman, a small island about thirty leagues to the westward of Jamaica, where they took a small turtler, and so to the Havana, and from thence to the Bahama wrecks. From the Bahama wrecks they sailed to Carolina (taking a brigantine and two sloops in their way), where they lay off the bar of Charleston for five or six days. They took here a ship as she was coming out, bound for London, commanded by Robert Clark, with some passengers aboard for England; the next day they took another vessel coming out of Charleston, and also two pinks coming into Charleston; likewise a brigantine with fourteen negroes aboard. All of which being done in the face of the town struck a great terror to the whole province of Carolina, having just before been visited by Vane, another notorious pirate, so that they abandoned themselves to despair, being in no condition to resist their force. There were eight sail in the harbour, ready for the sea, but none dared to venture out, it being almost impossible to escape their hands. The inward bound vessels were under the same unhappy dilemma, so that the trade of this place was totally interrupted. What made these misfortunes heavier to them was a long expensive war the colony had had with the natives, which was but just ended when these robbers infested them.

Teach detained all the ships and prisoners, and being in want of medicines, resolved to demand a chest from the government of the province. Accordingly Richards, the captain of the Revenge sloop, with two or three more pirates, were sent up along with Mr. Marks, one of the prisoners whom they had taken in Clark's ship, and very insolently made their demands; threatening that if they did not send immediately the chest of medicines, and let the pirate-ambassadors return without offering any violence to their persons, they would murder all their prisoners, send up their heads to the Governor, and set the sloops they had taken on fire.

Whilst Mr. Marks was making application to the council, Richards and the rest of the pirates walked the streets publicly in the sight of all people, who were fired with the utmost indignation, looking upon them as robbers and murderers and particularly the authors of their wrongs and oppressions; but durst not so much as think of executing their revenge, for fear of bringing more calamities upon themselves, and so they were forced to let the villains pass with impunity. The government were not long in deliberating upon the message, though 'twas the greatest affront that could have been put upon them; yet for saving so many men's lives (among them Mr. Samuel Wragg, one of the council), they complied with the necessity and sent aboard a chest valued at between £300 and £400, and the pirates went back safe to their ships.

Blackbeard, for so Teach was generally called, as we shall hereafter show, as soon as he had received the medicines and his brother rogues, let go the ships and the prisoners; having first taken out of them in gold and silver about £1,500 sterling, besides provisions and other matters.

From the bar of Charleston, they sailed to North Carolina; Captain Teach in the ship which they called the man-of-war, Captain Richards and Captain Hands in the sloops, which they termed privateers, and another sloop serving them as a tender. Teach began now to think of breaking up the company, and securing the money and the best of the effects for himself and some others of his companions he had most friendship for, and to cheat the rest. Accordingly, on pretence of running into Topsail Inlet to clean, he grounded his ship, and then, as if it had been done undesignedly and by accident, he ordered Hands's sloop to come to his assistance and get him off again; which he endeavouring to do, ran the sloop on shore near the other, and so were both lost. This done, Teach goes into the tender sloop, with forty hands, and leaves the Revenge there; then takes seventeen others and maroons them upon a small sandy island, about a league from the Main, where there was neither bird, beast or herb for their subsistence, and where they must have perished if Major Bonnet had not two days after taken them off.

Teach goes up to the Governor of North Carolina with about twenty of his men, surrenders to His Majesty's Proclamation, and receives certificates thereof from His Excellency. But it did not appear that their submitting to this pardon was from any reformation of manners, but only to wait a more favourable opportunity to play the same game over again; which he soon after effected, with greater security to himself and with much better prospect of success, having in this time cultivated a very good understanding with Charles Eden, Esquire, the Governor [of North Carolina, 1714-1722] above-mentioned.

The first piece of service this kind governor did to Blackbeard was to give him a right to the vessel which he had taken when he was a-pirating in the great ship called the Queen Ann's Revenge; for which purpose a court of Vice-Admiralty was held at Bath-Town and, though Teach had never any commission in his life, and the sloop belonged to the English merchants and was taken in time of peace, yet was she condemned as a prize taken from the Spaniards by the said Teach. These proceedings show that Governors are but men.

Before he sailed upon his adventures, he married a young creature of about sixteen years of age, the Governor performing the ceremony; as it is a custom here to marry by a priest, so it is there by a magistrate. And this, I have been informed, made Teach's fourteenth wife, whereof about a dozen might be still living. His behaviour in this state was something extraordinary; for, while his sloop lay in Ocracoke Inlet, he was ashore at a plantation where his wife lived, with whom, after he had lain all night, it was his custom to invite five or six of his brutal companions to come ashore, and he would force her to prostitute herself to them all, one after another, before his face.

In June, 1718, he went to sea upon another expedition, and steered his course towards Bermuda. He met with two or three English vessels in his way but robbed them only of provisions, stores and other necessaries, for his present expense; but near the island afore-mentioned, he fell in with two French ships, one of them was laden with sugar and cocoa, and the other light, both bound for Martinique. The ship that had no lading he let go, and putting all the men of the loaded ship aboard her he brought home the other with her cargo to North Carolina, where the Governor and the Pirates shared the plunder.

When Teach and his prize arrived, he and four of his crew went to His Excellency, and made affidavit that they found the French ship at sea without a soul on board her. And then a court was called and the ship condemned; the Governor had sixty hogsheads of sugar for his dividend; and one Mr. Knight, who was his secretary and collector for the Province, twenty; and the rest was shared among the other Pirates.

The business was not done. The ship remained, and it was possible one or other might come into the river that might be acquainted with her, and so discover the roguery. But Teach thought of a contrivance to prevent this, for, upon a pretence that she was leaky, and that she might sink and so stop up the mouth of the inlet or cove where she lay, he obtained an order from the Governor to bring her out into the river, and set her on fire, which was accordingly executed, and she was burned down to the waters edge, her bottom sunk and with it, their fears of her ever rising in judgment against them.

Captain Teach, alias Blackbeard, passed three or four months in the river, sometimes lying at anchor in the coves, at other times sailing from one inlet to another, trading with such sloops as he met, for the plunder he had taken, and would often give them presents for stores and provisions taken from them, that is when lie happened to be in a giving humour. At other times he made bold with them and took what he liked, without saying, by your leave, knowing well they dared not send him a bill for the payment. He often diverted himself with going ashore among the planters, where he revelled night and day. By these he was well received, but whether out of love or fear, I cannot say. Sometimes he used them courteously enough, and made them presents of rum and sugar, in recompense of what lie took from them but as for liberties which, 'tis said, he and his companions often took with the wives and daughters of the planters, I cannot take upon me to say whether he paid them ad valorem or no. At other times he carried it in a lordly manner towards them, and would lay some of them under contribution; nay, he often proceeded to bully the Governor, not that I can discover the least cause or quarrel between them, but it seemed only to be done to show he dared do it.

The sloops trading up and down this river, being so frequently pillaged by Blackbeard, consulted with the traders and some of the best of the planters, what course to take. They saw plainly it would be in vain to make any application to the Governor of North Carolina, to whom it properly belonged to find some redress; so that if they could not be relieved from some other quarter, Blackbeard would be like to reign with impunity. Therefore, with as much secrecy as possible, they sent a deputation to Virginia, to lay the affair before the Governor of that Colony, and to solicit an armed force from the men-of-war lying there to take or destroy this Pirate.

This Governor consulted with the captains of the two men-of-war, viz., the Pearl and the Lime, who had lain in James's River about ten months. It was agreed that the Governor should hire a couple of small sloops, and the men-of-war should man them. This was accordingly done, and the command of them given to Mr. Robert Maynard, first lieutenant of the Pearl, an experienced officer and a gentleman of great bravery and resolution, as will appear by his gallant behaviour in this expedition. The sloops were well manned and furnished with ammunition and small arms, but had no guns mounted.

About the time of their going out, the Governor called an Assembly in which it was resolved to publish a proclamation offering certain rewards to any person or persons, who, within a year after that time, should take or destroy any Pirate. The original proclamation being in our hands is as follows:
 

By His Majesty's Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia,

A PROCLAMATION.

Publishing the Rewards Given for Apprehending or Killing Pirates.

WHEREAS, by an Act of Assembly, made-at a Session of Assembly, begun at the Capital in Williamsburg, the eleventh day of November in the fifth year of His Majesty's Reign, entitled An Act to Encourage the Apprehending and Destroying of Pirates: It is amongst other things enacted, that all and every person or persons, who, from and after the fourteenth day of November, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighteen, and before the fourteenth day of November, which shall be in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Nineteen, shall take any Pirate or Pirates, on the sea or land, or in case of resistance, shall kill any such Pirate or Pirates, between the degrees of thirty four and thirty nine Northern latitude, and within one hundred leagues of the Continent of Virginia, or within the Provinces of Virginia, or North Carolina, upon the conviction, or making due proof of the killing of all, and every such Pirate, and Pirates, before the Governor and Council, shall be entitled to have, and receive out of the public money, in the hands of the, Treasurer of this Colony, the several rewards following that is to say, for Edward Teach, commonly called Captain Teach or Blackbeard, one hundred pounds; for every other commander of a pirate ship, sloop or vessel, forty pounds; for every lieutenant, master or quartermaster, boatswain or carpenter, twenty pounds; for every other inferior officer, fifteen pounds, and for every private man taken aboard such ship, sloop, or vessel, ten pounds; and that for every Pirate which shall be taken by any ship, sloop or vessel, belonging to this colony, or North Carolina, within the time aforesaid, in any place whatsoever, the like rewards shall be, paid according to the quality and condition of such pirates. Wherefore, for the encouragement of all such persons as shall be willing to serve His Majesty and their Country, in so just and honourable undertaking, as the suppressing a sort of people, who may be truly called enemies to mankind: I have thought fit, with the advice and consent of His Majesty's Council to issue this Proclamation; hereby declaring, the said rewards shall be punctually and justly paid, in current money in Virginia, according to the directions of the said Act. And, I do order and appoint this Proclamation, to be published by the Sheriffs at their respective County houses, and by all Ministers and Readers in the several Churches and Chapels throughout this Colony.

Given at Our Council Chamber at Williamsburg, this 24th day of November, 1718. In the Fifth year of His Majesty's Reign.

GOD SAVE THE KING.

A. Spotswood.

[Governor of Virginia, 1710-1722]

The 17th of November, 1718, the lieutenant sailed from Kicquetan, in James River, in Virginia, and the 21st in the evening came to the mouth of the Ocracoke Inlet where he got sight of the pirate. This expedition was made with all imaginable secrecy, and the officer managed with all the prudence that was necessary, stopping all boats and vessels he met with in the river from going up, and therefore preventing any intelligence from reaching Blackbeard, and receiving at the same time an account from them all of the place where the pirate was lurking. But notwithstanding this caution, Blackbeard bad information of the design from His Excellency of the province, whose secretary, Mr. Knight, wrote him a letter particularly concerning it, intimating that he had sent him four of his men, which were all he could meet with in or about town, and so bid him be upon his guard. These men belonged to Blackbeard, and were sent from Bath-Town to Ocracoke Inlet, where the sloop lay, which is about twenty leagues.

Blackbeard had heard several reports which happened not to be true, and so gave the less credit to this, nor was he convinced till he saw the sloops, whereupon he put his vessel in a posture of defence. He had no more than twenty-five men on board, so he gave out to all the vessels he spoke with that he had forty. When he had prepared for battle, he set down and spent the night in drinking with the master of a trading sloop who, 'twas thought, had more business with Teach than he should have had.

Lieutenant Maynard came to an anchor, for the place being shoal and the channel intricate, there was no getting in where Teach lay that night. But in the morning he weighed and sent his boat ahead of the sloops to sound, and coming within gunshot of the Pirate, received his fire. Whereupon Maynard hoisted the King's colours and stood directly towards him, with the best way that his sails and oars could make. Blackbeard cut his cable, and endeavoured to make a running fight, keeping a continual fire at his enemies with his guns. Mr. Maynard not having any, kept a constant fire with small arms, while some of his men laboured at their oars. In a little time Teach's sloop ran aground, and Mr. Maynard's drawing more water than that of the Pirate, he could not come near him; so he anchored within half a gunshot of the enemy, and in order to lighten his vessel, that he might run him aboard, the lieutenant ordered all his ballast to be thrown overboard, and all the water [i.e., watercasks] to be staved, and then weighed and stood for him. Upon which Blackbeard hailed him in this rude manner: Damn you for villains, who are you? And from whence came you? The Lieutenant made him answer, You may see by our colours we are no pirates. Blackbeard bid him send his boat on board, that he might see who he was: but Mr. Maynard replied thus, I cannot spare my boat, but I will come aboard of you as soon as I can, with my sloop. Upon this, Blackbeard took a glass of liquor, and drank to him with these words: Damnation seize my soul if I give you quarter or take any from you. In answer to which Mr. Maynard told him That he expected no quarter from him, nor should he give any.

By this time Blackbeard's sloop floated, as Mr. Maynard's sloops were rowing towards him, which, being not above a foot high in the waist and consequently the men all exposed, as they came near together (there being hitherto little or no execution done on either side), the Pirate fired a broadside, charged with all manner of small shot-a fatal stroke to them-the sloop the lieutenant was in having twenty men killed and wounded and the other sloop nine. This could not be helped for, there being no wind, they were obliged to keep to their oars, otherwise the Pirate would have got away from him, which, it seems, the lieutenant was resolute to prevent.

After this unlucky blow Blackbeard's sloop fell broadside to the shore. Mr. Maynard's other sloop, which was called the Ranger, fell astern, being, for the present disabled. So the lieutenant finding his own sloop had way and would soon be on board of Teach, he ordered all his men down for fear of another broadside, which must have been their destruction and the loss of the expedition. Mr. Maynard was the only person that kept the deck, except the man at the helm, whom he directed to lie down snug, and the men in the hold were ordered to get their pistols and their swords ready for close fighting, and to come up at his command; in order to which, two ladders were placed in the hatchway for the more expedition. When the lieutenant's sloop boarded the other, Captain Teach's men threw in several new-fashioned sort of grenadoes, viz., case bottles filled with powder and small shot, slugs, and pieces of lead or iron, with a quick match at the end of it, which, being lighted outside, presently runs into the bottle to the powder. As it is instantly thrown on board, it generally does great execution, besides putting all the crew into a confusion; but by good providence, they had not that effect here, the men being in the hold. And Blackbeard, seeing few or no hands aboard, told his men that They were all knocked on the head except three or four; and therefore, says he, let's jump on board and cut them to pieces.

Whereupon, under the smoke of one of the bottles just mentioned, Blackbeard enters with fourteen men, over the bows of Maynard's sloop, and were not seen by him until the air cleared. However, he just then gave a signal to his men, who all rose in an instant and attacked the Pirates with as much bravery as ever was done upon such an occasion. Blackbeard and the lieutenant fired the first pistol at each other, by which the Pirate received a wound; and then engaged with swords, till the lieutenant's unluckily broke, and [he] stepping back to cock a pistol, Blackbeard, with his cutlass, was striking at that instant that one of Maynard's men gave him a terrible wound in the neck and throat; by which the lieutenant came off with a small cut over his fingers.

They were so closely and warmly engaged, the lieutenant and twelve men against Blackbeard and fourteen, till the sea was tinctured with blood round the vessel. Blackbeard received a shot in his body from the pistol that Lieutenant Maynard, discharged, yet he stood his ground, and fought with great fury till he received five-and-twenty wounds, and five of them by shot. At length, as he was cocking another pistol, having fired several before, he fell down dead; by which time eight more out of the fourteen dropped, and all the rest, much wounded, jumped overboard and called out for quarter, which was granted; though it was only prolonging their lives for a few days. The sloop Ranger came up, and attacked the men that remained in Blackbeard's sloop, with equal bravery, till they likewise cried for quarter.

Here was an end of that courageous brute, who might have passed in the world for a hero had he been employed in a good cause. His destruction, which was of such consequence to the plantations, was entirely owing to the conduct and bravery of Lieutenant Maynard and his men, who might have destroyed him with much less loss had they had 1 vessel with great guns. But they were obliged to use small vessels, because the holes and places he lurked in would not admit of others of greater draught. And it was no small difficulty for this gentleman to get to him, having grounded his vessel at least a hundred times, in getting up the river, besides other discouragements enough to have turned back any gentleman without dishonour who was less resolute and bold than this lieutenant. The broadside that did so much mischief before they boarded, in all probability saved the rest from destruction; for before that, Teach had little or no hopes of escaping, and therefore had posted a resolute fellow, a negro whom he had bred up, with a, lighted match in the powder room, with commands to blow up, when he should give him orders, which was as soon as the lieutenant and his men could have entered, that so he might have de0royed his conquerors; and when the negro found how it went with Blackbeard, he could hardly be persuaded from the rash action by two prisoners that were then in the hold of the sloop.

What seems a little odd is that some of these men who behaved so bravely against Blackbeard went afterwards a-pirating themselves, and one of them was taken along with Roberts. But I do not find that any of them were provided for, except one that was hanged. But this is a digression.

The lieutenant caused Blackbeard's head to be severed from his body and hung up at the bowsprit end; then he sailed to Bath-Town, to get relief for his wounded men.

It must be observed, that in rummaging the Pirate's sloop they found several letters and written papers, which discovered the correspondence betwixt Governor Eden, the Secretary, Collector, also some traders at New York, and Blackbeard. It is likely he had regard enough for his friends to have destroyed these papers before the action, in order to hinder them from falling into such hands where the discovery would be of no use either to the interest or reputation of these fine gentlemen, if it had not been his fixed resolution to have blown all up together, when he found no possibility of escaping.

When the lieutenant came to Bath-Town he made bold to seize, in the Governor's store-house, the sixty hogsheads of sugar, and from honest Mr. Knight, twenty; which, it seems, was their dividend of the plunder taken in the French ship. The latter did not long survive this shameful discovery, for being apprehensive that he might be called to an account for these trifles, [he] fell sick with the fright, and died in a few days.

After the wounded men were pretty well recovered the lieutenant sailed back to the men-of-war in James River, in Virginia, with Black-beard's head still hanging at the bowsprit end, and fifteen prisoners, thirteen of whom were hanged. It appeared upon trial that one of them, viz., Samuel Odell, was taken out of the trading sloop but the night before the engagement. This poor fellow was a little unlucky at his first entering upon his new trade, there appearing no less than 70 wounds upon him after the action; notwithstanding which, lie lived and was cured of them all. The other person that escaped the gallows was one Israel Hands, the master of Blackbeard's sloop, and formerly captain of the same, before the Queen Ann's Revenge was lost in Topsail Inlet.

The aforesaid Hands happened not to be in the fight, but was taken afterwards ashore at Bath-Town, having been some time before disabled by Blackbeard in one of his savage humours, after the following manner. One night, drinking in his cabin with Hands, the pilot, and another man, Blackbeard, without any provocation, privately draws out a small pair of pistols, and cocks them under the table. Which being perceived by the man, he withdrew and went upon deck, leaving Hands, the pilot, and the Captain together. When the pistols were ready, he blew out the candle and crossing his hands, discharged them at his company. Hands, the master, was shot through the knee and lamed for life; the other pistol did no execution. Being asked the meaning of this, he only answered by damning them, That if he did not now and then kill one of them, they would forget who he was.

Hands, being taken, was tried and condemned; but just as he was about to be executed, a ship arrived at Virginia with a Proclamation for prolonging the time of His Majesty's pardon to such of the Pirates as should surrender by a limited time therein expressed. Notwithstanding the sentence, Hands pleaded the pardon and was allowed the benefit of it, and is alive at this time in London, begging his bread.

Now that we have given some account of Teach's life and actions, it will not be amiss that we speak of his beard, since it did not a little contribute towards making his name to terrible in those parts.

Plutarch and other grave historians have taken notice that several great men amongst the Romans took their surnames from certain odd marks in their countenances, as Cicero from a mark or vetch on his nose. So our, hero, Captain Teach, assumed the cognomen of Black-beard, from that large quantity of hair which, like a frightful meteor, covered his whole face and frightened America more than any comet that has appeared there a long time.

This beard was black, which he suffered to grow of an extravagant length; as to breadth, it came up to his eyes. He was accustomed to twist it with ribbons, in small tails, after the manner of our Ramillies wigs, and turn them about his ears. In time of action he wore a sling over his shoulders, with three brace of pistols, hanging in holsters, like bandoliers; and stuck lighted matches, under his hat, which, appearing on each side of his face, his eyes naturally looking fierce and wild, made him altogether such a figure that imagination cannot form an idea of a Fury from Hell to look more frightful.

If he had the look of a Fury, his humours and passions were suitable: to it. We shall relate two or three more of his extravagances which we omitted in the body of his history, by which it will appear to what a pitch of wickedness human nature may arrive, if its passions are not checked.

In the commonwealth of Pirates he who goes the greatest length of wickedness is looked upon with a kind of envy amongst them, as a person of a more extraordinary gallantry, and is thereby entitled to distinguished by some post. And if such a one has but courage, he must certainly be a great man. The hero of whom we are writing was thoroughly accomplished this way, and some of his frolics of wickedness were so extravagant as if he aimed at making his men believe he was a Devil incarnate. For being one day at sea, and a little flushed with drink, Come, says he, let us make a hell of our own, and try how long we can bear it. Accordingly he, with two or three others went down into the hold and closing up all the hatches, filled several pots full of brimstone and other combustible matter, and set it on fire, and so continued until they were almost suffocated, when some of the men cried out for air. At length, he opened the hatches, not a little pleased that he held out the longest.

The night before he was killed he sat up and drank till the morning with some of his own men and the master of a merchant-man; and having had intelligence of the two sloops coming to attack him, as has been before observed, one of his men asked him in case anything should happen to him in the engagement with the sloops, whether his wife knew where he had buried his money? He answered, That nobody but himself and the Devil knew where it was, and the longest liver should take all.

Those of his crew who were taken alive told a glory which may appear a little incredible; however, we think it will not be fair to omit it, since we had it from their own mouths. That once, upon a cruise, they found out that they had a man on board more than their crew. Such a one was seen several days amongst them, sometimes below, and sometimes upon deck; yet no man in the ship could give an account who he was, or from whence he came, but that he disappeared a little before they were cast away in their great ship. But, it seems, they verily believed it was the Devil.

One would think these things should induce them to reform their lives; but so many reprobates together encouraged and spirited one another up in their wickedness, to which a continual course of drinking did not a little contribute. For in Blackbeard's journal which was taken, there were several memorandums of the following nature, found writ with his own hand: Such a day, rum all out:-Our company somewhat sober:-A damn'd confusion amongst us!-Rogues a-plotting:-Great talk of separation-so I looked sharp for a prize:-Such a day took one, with a great deal of liquor on board, so kept the company hot, damned hot; then all things went well again.

Thus it was these wretches passed their lives, with very little pleasure or satisfaction in the possession of what they violently took away from others, and sure to pay for it at last by an ignominious death.

The Names of the Pirates killed in the engagement are as follows:
 

There were, in the Pirate sloops and ashore in a tent near where the sloops lay, 25 hogsheads of sugar, 11 tierces [casks containing about 304-330 lbs.), and 145 bags of cocoa, a barrel of indigo, and a bale of cotton; which, with what was taken from the Governor and Secretary, and the sale of the sloop, came to £2,500, besides the rewards paid by the Governor of Virginia, pursuant to his Proclamation. All which was divided among the companies of the two ships, Lime and Pearl, that lay in James River; the brave fellows that took them coming in for no more than their dividend amongst the ruff, and was paid it within these three months.

[From the Appendix]

We shall add here a few particulars (not mentioned in our first volume) of the famous Blackbeard, relating to his taking the South Carolina ships and insulting that Colony. This was at the time that the Pirates had obtained such an acquisition of strength that they were in no concern about preserving themselves from the justice of the laws, but of advancing their power, and maintaining their sovereignty, not over the seas only, but to stretch their dominions to the plantations themselves, and the Governors thereof; insomuch, that when their prisoners came aboard their captors' ships, the Pirates freely owned their acquaintance with them, and never endeavoured to conceal their names, or habitations.; as if they had been inhabitants of a legal commonwealth, and were resolved to treat with all the world on the foot of a free state. And all judicial acts went in the name of Teach, under the title of Commodore.

All the Carolina prisoners were lodged aboard the Commodore's ship, after being strictly examined concerning the lading of their vessels, and the number and condition of other traders in the harbour; when they thought they would sail and whither bound. And the enquiry was so solemnly carried on, that the Pirates swore that it should be death for that man that told a lie or otherwise shifted or evaded in his answers. At the same time all their papers were perused with the same diligence as though it had been at the Secretary's office, here in England. When this business was gone through, word was given that all the prisoners should be immediately turned aboard their own ship, out of which they had already taken their provisions and stores. This was done with that hurry and precipitation that it struck a great terror in the unfortunate people, verily believing they were then going to their destruction; and what seemed to confirm them in this notion was, that no regard was had to the qualities of the prisoners, but merchants, gentlemen of rank, and even a child of Mr. Wragg's, were thrust aboard in a tumultuous and confused manner, and locked all under the hatches, where not so much as one Pirate stayed amongst them.

In this melancholy situation were those innocent people left, bewailing their condition for several hours, expecting, every moment that passed either that a match would be laid to a train to blow them up, or that the ship was to be set on fire or sunk, nobody could tell which; but everyone supposed they were, one way or other, destined for a sacrifice to their brutal humours.

But at length, a gleam of light shot in upon them, that recovered their drooping souls. The hatches were unlaid, and they were immediately ordered back on board the Commodore. They began then to think the Pirates had changed their savage resolution, and that God had inspired them with sentiments less shocking to nature and humanity. and they went aboard, as it were, with new life. The chief of them were brought before Blackbeard, the Pirates' General, who acquainted them with the occasion of that extraordinary procedure, and that they were only put out of the way while a general council was held, at which time they suffered no prisoner to be present. He told them, the Company was in want of medicines, and must be supplied from the Province; that their first surgeon had drawn up a catalogue, which he would send to the Governor and Council by two of his own officers, for whose safe return, as well as for the chest itself, they had come to a resolution of keeping all the prisoners as hostages, who would all be put to death, if such their demands were not complied with punctually.

Mr. Wragg answered that perhaps it might not be in their power to comply with every part of it, and, he feared, that some certain drugs in the surgeon's list, were not to be had in the Province; and if it should prove so, he hoped they would be contented to have that want made up by substituting something else in the place. He likewise proposed that one of them might go with the two gentlemen that were to be sent on the embassy, who might truly represent the danger they were in, and induce them more readily to submit, in order to save the lives of so many of the King's subjects, and further, to prevent any insult from the common people (for whose conduct on such an occasion, they could not answer) on the persons of his envoys.

His Excellency Blackbeard thought this advice reasonable, and therefore called another council, who likewise approved of the amend-ment. Thereupon, Mr. Wragg, who was the first in authority and known to be a man of good understanding among the Carolinas, was offered, and the gentleman himself was willing, to leave a young son in the hands of the Pirates, till he should return, which he promised to do, though the Government should refuse the terms of the releasement. But Blackbeard positively denied this request, saying, he knew too well of what consequence he was in the Province, and he would be equally so too them, and therefore he should be the last man they would part with.

After some debate, Mr. Marks was agreed upon to accompany the ambassadors, and accordingly they went off from the fleet in a canoe, and two days were appointed for their return. In the meanwhile the commodore lay to at five or six leagues distant from the land, expecting the conditions of peace. But the time expiring, and nothing appearing from the harbour, Mr. Wragg was sent for up before Teach, who putting on a terrible countenance, told him they were not to be trifled with, that he imagined some foul treachery was played them, and that nothing but immediate death to them all should be the consequence of it. Mr. Wragg begged to respite the dreadful execution one day longer, for that he was sure the Province regarded their lives so much that they would be solicitous to the last degree to redeem them; that, perhaps some misfortune might have befallen the canoe in going in, or it might be their own men that occasioned the delay, for either of which it would be hard for them to stiffer.

Teach was pacified for the present, and allowed a day more for their coming back, but at the end of that time how was he enraged to find himself disappointed, calling them villains a thousand times, and swearing they should not live two hours. Mr. Wragg humoured him all he could, and desired a good look-out should be kept. Matters seemed now to be coming to extremities, and nobody thought their lives worth a day's purchase. The innocent people were under great agonies of mind, expecting that nothing but a miracle could preserve them from being crushed by the weight of the enemy's power, when word was given from the forecastle that a small boat appeared in sight. This raised their drooping spirits and revived their hopes. Blackbeard went forward himself with his spying-glass, and declared he could perceive his own scarlet cloak he lent Mr. Marks to go ashore in. This was thought to be a sure reprieve, till the boat came aboard, and then their fears returned, seeing neither the Pirates, Mr. Marks, nor the chest of medicines in the boat.

This boat, is seems, was sent off by Mr. Marks very discreetly, lest a misconstruction should be put upon the stay that an unfortunate accident had occasioned, and which the men that belonged to her acquainted the commodore of, viz: that the boat they had sent ashore was cast away, being overset by a sudden squall of Wind, and the men with great trouble had got ashore at an uninhabited island three or four leagues from the Main; that having stayed there some time till reduced to extremity, there being no provision of any kind, and fearing what disaster might befall the prisoners aboard, the persons belonging to their company set Mr. Marks upon a hatch and floated it upon the sea, after which they stripped and flung themselves in, and swimming after it, thrust the float forward. endeavouring by that means to get to town. This proved a very tedious voiture and in all likelihood they had perished, had not this fishing boat sailed by in the morning, and perceived something in the water, made to it, and took them in, when they were near spent with their labour. When they were thus providentially preserved Mr. Marks hired a boat which carried them to Charleston. In the meantime he had sent this boat to give them an account of the accident.

Mr. Teach was pacified with this relation, and consented stay two days longer, since there appeared no fault of theirs in causing this delay. At the end of two days they lost all patience, and the commodore could not be prevailed on to give them any longer time than the next morning to live, if the boat did not return by that time. Still expecting and still disappointed, the gentlemen knew not what to say, nor how to excuse their friends at land. Some of them told the Pirates that they had equal reason with them to blame their conduct; that they doubted not, by what had already happened, of Mr. Mark's doing his duty faithfully; and since they had received notice of the boat's going safe into Charleston, they could not conceive what should hinder the execution of the business, unless they put a greater value on the chest of medicines than on the lives of fourscore men now on the verge of destruction. Teach, for his part, believed they had imprisoned his men and refused the condition of the prisoner's enlargement, and swore a thousand times that they should not only die, but every Carolina man that hereafter should fall into his hands. The prisoners, at last petitioned to have this one favour granted, viz.: that the fleet should weigh and stand off the harbour, and if they should not then see the boat coming out, that they, the prisoners, would pilot them in before the town, which, if they pleased to batter down, they would stand by them to the last man.

This proposal of taking revenge for the supposed treachery (as the commodore was pleased to term it) suited well enough the savage temper of the general and his brutes, and he acquiesced at once. The project was likewise approved of by the myrmidons, and accordingly they weighed anchor, being in all eight sail of ships, which were the prizes they had in custody, and ranged along the town. The inhabitants then had their share of the fright, expecting nothing less than a general attack. The men were brought all under arms, but not in so regular a manner as might have been done had the surprise been less; but the women and children ran about the street like mad things. However, before matters came to extremities, the boat was seen coming out, which brought redemption to the poor captives and peace to all.

The chest was brought aboard, and accepted of, and it further appeared that Mr. Marks had done his duty, and the blame of the delay was deservedly thrown on the two Pirates that were sent on the embassy. For while the gentlemen attended the Governor and Council upon the business, the other fine gentlemen were visiting and drinking with their quondam friends and acquaintances, and going from house to house, so that they were not to be found when the medicines were ready to go on board; and Mr. Marks knew it were death to them all to go without them, for the Commodore would not easily have believed, had they not returned, that there had been no foul play acted by them. But now none but smiling countenances were seen aboard; the storm that threatened the prisoners so heavily blew over, and a day of sunshine succeeded. In short, Blackbeard released them as he had promised, and sent them away in the ships after he had done with them, and then sailed off the coast, as has been mentioned.

Upon a review of this part of Blackbeard's story, it does not seem, by any matters of fact candidly considered, that the said Governor held any private or criminal correspondence with this Pirate; and I have been informed since, by very good hands, that Mr. Eden always behaved, as far as he had power, in a manner suitable to his post, and bore the character of a good governor and an honest man.

But his misfortune was the weakness of the colony he commanded, wanting strength to punish the disorders of Teach, who lorded it at pleasure, not only in the plantation, but in the Governor's own habita-tion; threatening to destroy the town with fire and sword if any injury was offered to him or his companions. Insomuch that he sometimes drew up his vessel against the town, and once, when he suspected that there was a design of seizing him, he went ashore to the Governor, well armed, and left orders with his men on board, that in case he should not return in a hour's time (as he determined, if at liberty) to batter down the house about their ears without any more to do, notwithstanding he himself were to be in it. Such were the outrageous insolences of this villain, who was so big with mischief that he resolved to be revenged upon his enemies at all events, even though he should give up his own life, as a sacrifice, to obtain those wicked ends.

It is to be observed that Blackbeard, nevertheless, as to his Piracies, had complied with the Proclamation, and thereby satisfied the law, and having a certificate thereof from under the hand of His Excellency, he could not be prosecuted for any of those crimes committed heretofore, because they were wiped off by the said Proclamation of Pardon. And as to condemning the French Martinique-man that Blackbeard brought into North Carolina afterwards, the Governor proceeded judicially upon her. He called a court of Vice Admiralty, by virtue of his commission, at which four of the crew swore they found the ship at sea with no person on board her; so the Court condemned her, as any other court must have done, and the cargo was disposed of according to law. As to the secret expedition from Virginia, undertaken by the Governor and the two captains of men-of-war, they had their secret views in it. The men-of-war had lain up these ten months while the Pirates infested the coast and did great mischief, for which 'tis likely, they might have been called to an account. But the success of the enterprise against Teach, alias Blackbeard, perhaps prevented such enquiry, though I am at a loss to know what acts of Piracy he had committed after this surrender to the Proclamation. The French ship was lawfully condemned, as has been said before, and if he had committed any depredations amongst the planters, as they seemed to complain of, they were not upon the high sea, but either in the river, or on shore, and could not come within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, nor under any laws of Piracy.

The Governor of Virginia found his interest in the affair, for he sent, at the same time, a force by land, and seized considerable effects of Blackbeard's in Eden's Province; which was certainly a new thing for the Governor of one Province, whose commission was limited to that jurisdiction, to exercise authority in another government, and the Governor himself upon the spot. Thus was poor Mr. Eden insulted and abused on all sides, without having the power of doing himself justice, and asserting his lawful rights.

In fine, to do justice to Governor Eden's character, who is since dead, there did not appear from any writings or letters found in Blackbeard's sloop or from any other evidence whatsoever, that the said Governor was concerned at all in any malpractice; but on the contrary that during his continuance in that post, he was honoured and beloved by his colony, for his uprightness, probity and prudent conduct in his administration. What affairs were carried on privately by his then Secretary I know not. He died a few days after Blackbeard's destruction and no enquiry was made; perhaps there might be no occasion for it.