1. Edward Teach’s End Was Worthy of His Adventurous Life
Blackbeard continued his piratical career after his mentor Benjamin Hornigold retired from piracy in 1717. Soon thereafter, he seized a French ship, which he remodeled. Equipped with 40 cannons, Blackbeard renamed her Queen Anne’s Revenge, and made her his flagship. He then formed a pirate alliance, and used it to commit his most notorious act: a successful blockade of Charleston, South Carolina. He held the city hostage, and wreaked havoc on the seaborne trade and commerce upon which its economy depended until he was paid a ransom. Blackbeard accepted a royal pardon in 1718. However, earning an honest living did not agree with him, so he reneged on the pardon and went back to piracy.
As a result, Virginia’s governor ordered an expedition, led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy, to hunt Blackbeard down. Maynard, commanding two sloops, tracked the infamous pirate and found him on November 22nd, 1718, at anchor on the inner side of Ocracoke Island, off North Carolina. Most of Blackbeard’s men were ashore, so he found himself severely outnumbered when Lieutenant Maynard’s expedition hove into view. Nonetheless, the notorious pirate refused to surrender and met an end worthy of his adventurous life. Blackbeard put up a ferocious before he finally went down on the deck of his ship after taking five bullets and over twenty sword cuts.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Archaeology Magazine, November 11th, 2004 – The Elusive Tomb of Alexander
Asbridge, Thomas – The Creation of the Principality of Antioch, 1098-1130 (2000)
Bates, David – William the Conqueror (2016)
Cracked – The Exciting Adventures of Alexander the Great’s Corpse
Encyclopedia Britannica – Bohemond I, Prince of Antioch
Encyclopedia Britannica – Ptolemy I Soter
Gonick, Larry – The Cartoon History of the Universe, Volume III (2002)
Herodotus – The Histories, Book 3
History Collection – Heroes Screwed Over by Their Ungrateful Countries
Lawrence, T.E. – Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922)
Loud, Graham – The Age of Robert Guiscard: Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest (2000)
Queen Anne’s Revenge Project – Blackbeard: History of the Dreaded Pirate
Waterfield, Robin – Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great’s Empire (2011)
Wikipedia – Capitulation of Stettin