The Death of Blackbeard
The capture of the Pirate Blackbeard, 1718. Painting by J. L. G. Ferris
By Lewis Goode, 3rd Year History
When you ask someone to name a pirate, Blackbeard will most likely come up. He is probably one of the most notorious and famous pirates in popular imagination. From his death on 22nd November 1718, his imagery and actions would be passed down through the decades, and has transformed the popular imagination of pirates in the present day.
On this day in history, Blackbeard was killed during a clash with a British naval force off of the coast of North Carolina, USA. Lieutenant Robert Maynard, Blackbeard's killer, then decapitated his body and displayed it at the front of his ship. Maynard later went on to write a report of the events that stated the events of his death:
"…I boarded his Sloop, and had 20 Men kill'd and wounded. Immediately thereupon, he enter'd me with 'o Men; but I2 stout Men I left there, fought like Heroes, Sword in Hand, and they kill'd every one of them that enter'd, without the loss of one Man on their Side, but they were miserably cut and mangled. In the whole, I had eight Men killed, and i8 wounded. We kill'd 12, besides Blackbeard, who fell with five Shot in him, and 20 dismal Cuts in several Parts of his Body… I have cut Blackbeard's Head off, which I have put on my Bowspright, in order to carry it to Virgina."[1]
Image from ‘The Pirates’ by Douglas Botting, 1978
Blackbeard, or rather Edward Teach, was supposedly born in Bristol in around 1680. He started his naval career as a privateer for the British during the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1713). During this war, the British Monarchy allowed privateers to disrupt Spanish shipping in a similar way to that of the Tudor period, that had given rise to the likes of Sir Francis Drake in the latter 16th century. The Monarch issued Letters of Marque to captains and their crews that legitimised their aggressive and plundering behaviour at sea towards belligerent vessels and their cargo. However, as soon as the war ended, these letters were made invalid. The peacetime that followed left many sailors and privateers, including Edward Teach himself, out of a job. Wanting to continue their ways of plundering and sailing many went back to doing so, but this time without a Letter of Marque - making them pirates.
In the period between 1650 and 1730, which Marcus Rediker claims as being it’s ‘Golden Age', piracy became a massive concern for authorities. It is, therefore, no coincidence that Blackbeard, who operated in this period, is so prominent in the popular imagination today. Other pirates such as Henry Morgan, Bartholomew Roberts, and Sam Bellamy were also active during this period and gained a similar legendary status as Blackbeard.
So, was Blackbeard the bloodthirsty swashbuckler that we know him as today? Or has there been a mistranslation of his character? Is this true for the whole profession of piracy?
A contemporary image of Blackbeard. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
According to historian Grace Moore, Piracy is the 'third oldest profession', and required some clever mythmaking for it to be successful.[2] The main aim of a pirate is to plunder the resources of someone and acquire it as their own to make money off it; the same is true in modern terms with media pirates. In order to acquire this - as our literary pirates might say - 'booty' successfully, it is advantageous to be both aggressive and lenient in your behaviour; letting captured sailors go means that they can spread the word of the performance that you put on and instil fear into other sailors. This was key to successful pirating.
This form of pirate 'marketing' can be seen in the actions of Blackbeard himself and in the images disseminated by writers or people who had encountered him. We can see tropes in images and descriptions of Blackbeard, such as the brandishing of pistols along his chest and his smouldering long-black beard. We are unsure how accurate these stories are compared to the ‘real’ Blackbeard, especially given that writers such as Nathaniel Mist, under his pseudonym Edward Johnson, vilified Blackbeard and made his actions bloodier and more demonic than they were.[3]
Pirates still remain popular in the public imagination in books, films, and children's TV shows. Blackbeard's legacy has continued well after his death, but does this legacy accurately portray the real-life pirate or is it just a romanticised and fictionalised image?
[1] Arthur L Cooke, ‘British Newspaper Accounts of Blackbeard’s Death,’ in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol.61, 3, 1953, pp. 304-307, p. 306.
[2] Grace Moore, Pirates and Mutineers of the Nineteenth Century, p. 1
[3] Baylus C Brooks, ‘Excavating the Real Edward Thache,’ in The North Carolina Historical Review, vol. 92, 3, 2015, pp. 235-277, p. 236