Blog 8

in order to understand piracy, it is important to look into some of the most recognised individuals, and none are more famous or infamous than Edward Thache, also known as Blackbeard. Blackbeard is commonly associated with the brutality of piracy, however, in reality, there was no witness reports of his dark nature until his final battle. Blackbeard freed a lot of slaves during his piracy career but he was no abolitionist. A number of ships he captured were slave ships, which tended to be larger to account for maximum ‘cargo’. Upon capture, a large proportion of slaves joined the pirates – clearly the better choice rather than life on a plantation. However, reports also account that Blackbeard and his associates also returned slaves to the mainland to be sold at auction. Even up to his death, Blackbeard’s crew were made up of both free men and former slaves. Blackbeard met his fate during a battle with Lieutenant Maynard at Ocracoke. At one point, Blackbeard’s crew had seemingly ‘won’ after killing a few men aboard the other sloop. However, when he went to board Maynard’s vessel he was ambushed by a group of hidden sailors (including Maynard himself) in sword-to-sword combat. Blackbeard was killed and was noted to have received five shots and 20 deep cuts. His body was thrown overboard but not before his head was severed and strung from the bow of the ship.