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 pretense of
running into Topsail inlet to clean, he grounded his ship, and then, as
if it had been done undesignedly and by accident, he orders Hands' sloop
to come to his assistance and get him off again, which he, endeavoring
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, and they surrender to his Majesty's proclamation, and receive
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 await a more favorable 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, Esq., the governor above
mentioned.
The first piece of service this kind governor did to Black-beard 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 belonging to the English
merchants, and 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 to marry here 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.
In June, 1718, he went to sea upon another expedition, and steered his
course towards Bermudas. 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 before mentioned, he fell
in with two French ships, one of them was laden with sugar and cocoa,
and the other light, both bound to Martinico. 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 yet 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 burnt
down to the water's edge, her bottom sunk, and with it their fears of
her ever rising in judgment against them.
Captain Teach, alias Black-beard, 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 he took from them; that is, when he happened to be in a
giving humor; 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 he took from them; but, as for liberties, which it
is 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 of 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 Black-beard, consulted with the traders and some of the best planters
what course to take. They saw plainly it would be in vain to make an
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, Black-beard 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 _Lime_, who had lain in St. 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 behavior 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 of
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 Black-beard, 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 on board 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 an 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 of 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
country houses, and by all ministers and readers in the several
churches and chapels throughout this colony.
Given at our Council-Chamber at Williamsburgh, this
24th day of November, 1718, in the fifth year of
his Majesty's reign.
GOD SAVE THE KING.
A. SPOTSWOOD.
The 17th of November, 1718, the lieutenant sailed from Kicquetan, in
James river in Virginia, and the 31st, in the evening, came to the mouth
of Okerecock 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 thereby preventing any intelligence
from reaching Black-beard, and receiving at the same time an account
from them all of the place where the pirate was lurking. But
notwithstanding this caution, Black-beard had information of the design
from his Excellency of the province; and his 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
Black-beard, and were sent from Bath Town to Okerecock inlet, where the
sloop lay, which is about twenty leagues.
Black-beard had heard several reports, which happened not to be true,
and so gave the less credit to this advice; nor was he convinced till he
saw the sloops. Then it was time to put his vessel in a posture of
defense. He had no more than twenty-five men on board, though he gave
out to all the vessels he spoke with that he had forty. When he had
prepared for battle he sat down and spent the night in drinking with the
master of a trading sloop, who, it was 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 gun-shot of the pirate, received his fire;
whereupon Maynard hoisted the king's colors, and stood directly towards
him with the best way that his sails and oars could make. Black-beard
cut his cable, and endeavored 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 labored
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 gun-shot 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 to be staved, and then weighed and stood for him; upon which
Black-beard 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 colors we are no pirates." Black-beard 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 Black-beard 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 him any."
By this time Black-beard's sloop fleeted 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 Black-beard'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 their 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 grenades,
viz., case-bottles filled with powder and small shot, slugs, and pieces
of lead or iron, with a quick-match in the mouth of it, which, being
lighted without side, presently runs into the bottle to the powder, and,
as it is instantly thrown on board, 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. Black-beard,
seeing few or no hands aboard, told his men "that they were all knocked
to 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,
Black-beard 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.
Black-beard and the lieutenant fired the first shots at each other, by
which the pirate received a wound, and then engaged with swords, till
the lieutenant's unluckily broke, and stepping back to cock a pistol,
Black-beard, 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 only a small cut over his fingers.
They were now closely and warmly engaged, the lieutenant and twelve men
against Black-beard and fourteen, till the sea was tinctured with blood
round the vessel. Black-beard received a shot into 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 a few days. The sloop _Ranger_ came up and
attacked the men that remained in Black-beard'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.
The lieutenant caused Black-beard's head to be severed from his body,
and hung up at the boltsprit end; then he sailed to Bath Town, to get
relief for his wounded men.
In rummaging the pirate's sloop, they found several letters and written
papers, which discovered the correspondence between Governor Eden, the
secretary and collector, and also some traders at New York, and
Black-beard. It is likely he had regard enough for his friends to have
destroyed these papers before 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 up together, when he found no
possibility of escaping.
When the lieutenant came to Bath Town, he made bold to seize from the
governor's storehouse 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 survive this shameful discovery,
for, being apprehensive that he might be called to an account for these
trifles, fell sick, it is thought, 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 boltsprit end, and fifteen prisoners, thirteen
of whom were hanged, it appearing, 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 seventy wounds
upon him after the action; notwithstanding which he lived and was cured
of them all. The other person that escaped the gallows was one Israel
Hands, the master of Black-beard'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 sometime before disabled by
Black-beard, in one of his savage humors, after the following manner:
One night, drinking in his cabin with Hands, the pilot, and another man,
Black-beard, 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 was alive some time ago 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 so 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 Ramilie
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 humors and passions were suitable to
it.
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 be
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 till 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 merchantman; 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 story 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 Black-beard'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 damned
confusion amongst us; rouges 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 take 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:--