Blackbeard (c. 1680–November 22, 1718) was the nickname of Edward Teach, alias Edward Thatch (other sources give his name as Edward Drummond), a notorious English pirate who had a short reign of terror in the Caribbean Sea between 1716 and 1718, during a period of time referred to as the Golden Age of Piracy.
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8 July 2006
REAL PIRATE OF THE CARIBBEAN
A murdering bandit on the high seas? Not a bit of it. Blackbeard was dashing, a hit with the ladies, loved a good dinner party and never made victims walk the plank.
By Jan Disley
Blackbeard's flag, showing a horned skeleton holding an hourglass and threatening a bleeding heart with a spear.
Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean"
HIS fearsome reputation as a bloodthirsty terror of the seas has survived for nearly 300 years...
But now it turns out that far from being a murderous tyrant, the real Blackbeard was much closer to Johnny Depp's charming screen hero Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Rather than a monster who delighted in slaughtering any who dared oppose his will, Blackbeard was a dashing rogue who never killed a man until his final battle - and indulged in the civilised pleasures of a few dinner parties along the way.
Of course, legend has it that he lived lustily. He is rumoured to have enjoyed 14 common-law wives, but also to have treated each of them kindly.
But he is said to have only taken one legitimate bride, a teenage girl less than half his age.
One of history's best-known pirates, Blackbeard was probably born in Bristol in 1680 and answered to the name of Edward Teach.
He started out as a law-abiding sailor but, growing tired of poor conditions and bad prospects, he switched to a more lucrative life of piracy.
A big, brooding man with dark, glowering eyes, he wore a crimson coat and a long, thick black beard which he pleated with strips of ribbon.
He sailed off America along the coast of the Carolinas and across the Caribbean and captured over 40 ships during his swashbuckling career.
His flagship was the 40-gun French slave ship La Concorde which he raided off Martinique and renamed 'The Queen Anne's Revenge'.
But while he was always armed with a deadly arsenal of pistols, daggers and swords, there is no evidence that Blackbeard ever murdered his victims. And no foe was ever made to walk the plank.
Instead he cultivated his threatening appearance and fearsome demeanour to intimidate targets into surrendering without a fight.
Then he stole their valuables - ship's instruments, weapons and rum - and let them sail away. If they were foolish enough to resist, he simply marooned them before burning their boats.
"There's a lot of evidence to suggest he was all bark and no bite," says writer Angus Konstam, who has just published a book on Blackbeard.
"Until his last battle in 1718 he never actually killed anyone.
"It's the old story. If you want to be mean and nasty you just look as hard as possible and scare them. Then they will do what you want.
"Early biographies give us a lot of detail about what Blackbeard looked like and Depp has clearly drawn from those in developing his wardrobe as Captain Jack Sparrow.
"He was designed to look scary.
"But it was probably a lot of bravado. Blackbeard's true ferociousness was never really put to the test."
Even the pirate's legendary womanising may also be just that - legend.
There is no evidence of the 14 'wives' and Konstam believes there was only one legal marriage, to a 16 year-old North Carolina girl, Mary Ormond.
Whether Elizabeth Swann - played by Depp's stunning co-star Keira Knightley - turns out to be based on her (they kiss in the new movie, out yesterday) is yet to be seen.
But his love-life aside, Blackbeard was certainly an intelligent and charming man who used both attributes to move effortlessly through society.
"He was smart enough to quit when he was ahead," says Konstam. "He deliberately grounded his flagship and pretended to retire and he even managed to persuade the governor of North Carolina Charles Eden to grant him an official pardon.
"Afterwards, he did the rounds of Colonial dinners and became an almost acceptable member of society.
"There was clearly some cachet about having a retired pirate among the guests."
But for all his amiable charm, Blackbeard needed every bit of his hardman reputation to retain command aboard his own vessel - and didn't hesitate to prove his mettle when required.
Pirate ships operated as democra cies and if he didn't satisfy his crew they may well have fired him.
"There are stories - possibly apocryphal - which show him to be mean," says Konstam.
"On one occasion while playing cards with a man called Israel Hands, Hands did something he didn't like so he shot him in the kneecaps under the table.
"Another tale has him setting fire to barrels of pitch in the ship's hold and challenging anyone to join him down below as he closed the hatches."
'Come, let us make a hell of our own," he roared at his crew. "And try how long we can bear it.'
The men fled immediately, but Blackbeard only emerged later snarling: 'Damn ye, ye yellow-bellied sapsuckers! I'm a better man than all ye milksops put together.'
THE navy finally caught up with Blackbeard on November 22, 1718.
Assailed on all sides, shot five times and stabbed 20, he continued to fight until felled by a blow that decapitated him.
His severed head was hung from the navy ship as a grisly trophy and his skull later converted into a drinking bowl - now on display in a Massachusetts museum.
Blackbeard's severed head hanging from Maynard's bow
And now another souvenir of Blackbeard's reign may also be set to emerge - the sunken wreck of The Queen Anne's Revenge.
National Geographic magazine has dived into the waters off North Carolina to find what is left of the wreck with its enormous anchor and dozens of cannons.
But so far there is no sign of any of the treasure many had hoped to find waiting in Davy Jones' Locker.
Blackbeard's gold coins it seems, lie in the coffers of Walt Disney Pictures, which is set to make even more from this film than the £357m grossed by its predecessor Pirates of The Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Edinburgh-based author Angus Konstam's biography "Blackbeard: America's most notorious Pirate" is published by Wiley at £16.99.
He looked mean and nasty just to scare people into doing what he wanted
j.disley@mirror.co.uk
mirror.co.uk
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8 July 2006
REAL PIRATE OF THE CARIBBEAN
A murdering bandit on the high seas? Not a bit of it. Blackbeard was dashing, a hit with the ladies, loved a good dinner party and never made victims walk the plank.
By Jan Disley
Blackbeard's flag, showing a horned skeleton holding an hourglass and threatening a bleeding heart with a spear.
Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean"
HIS fearsome reputation as a bloodthirsty terror of the seas has survived for nearly 300 years...
But now it turns out that far from being a murderous tyrant, the real Blackbeard was much closer to Johnny Depp's charming screen hero Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Rather than a monster who delighted in slaughtering any who dared oppose his will, Blackbeard was a dashing rogue who never killed a man until his final battle - and indulged in the civilised pleasures of a few dinner parties along the way.
Of course, legend has it that he lived lustily. He is rumoured to have enjoyed 14 common-law wives, but also to have treated each of them kindly.
But he is said to have only taken one legitimate bride, a teenage girl less than half his age.
One of history's best-known pirates, Blackbeard was probably born in Bristol in 1680 and answered to the name of Edward Teach.
He started out as a law-abiding sailor but, growing tired of poor conditions and bad prospects, he switched to a more lucrative life of piracy.
A big, brooding man with dark, glowering eyes, he wore a crimson coat and a long, thick black beard which he pleated with strips of ribbon.
He sailed off America along the coast of the Carolinas and across the Caribbean and captured over 40 ships during his swashbuckling career.
His flagship was the 40-gun French slave ship La Concorde which he raided off Martinique and renamed 'The Queen Anne's Revenge'.
But while he was always armed with a deadly arsenal of pistols, daggers and swords, there is no evidence that Blackbeard ever murdered his victims. And no foe was ever made to walk the plank.
Instead he cultivated his threatening appearance and fearsome demeanour to intimidate targets into surrendering without a fight.
Then he stole their valuables - ship's instruments, weapons and rum - and let them sail away. If they were foolish enough to resist, he simply marooned them before burning their boats.
"There's a lot of evidence to suggest he was all bark and no bite," says writer Angus Konstam, who has just published a book on Blackbeard.
"Until his last battle in 1718 he never actually killed anyone.
"It's the old story. If you want to be mean and nasty you just look as hard as possible and scare them. Then they will do what you want.
"Early biographies give us a lot of detail about what Blackbeard looked like and Depp has clearly drawn from those in developing his wardrobe as Captain Jack Sparrow.
"He was designed to look scary.
"But it was probably a lot of bravado. Blackbeard's true ferociousness was never really put to the test."
Even the pirate's legendary womanising may also be just that - legend.
There is no evidence of the 14 'wives' and Konstam believes there was only one legal marriage, to a 16 year-old North Carolina girl, Mary Ormond.
Whether Elizabeth Swann - played by Depp's stunning co-star Keira Knightley - turns out to be based on her (they kiss in the new movie, out yesterday) is yet to be seen.
But his love-life aside, Blackbeard was certainly an intelligent and charming man who used both attributes to move effortlessly through society.
"He was smart enough to quit when he was ahead," says Konstam. "He deliberately grounded his flagship and pretended to retire and he even managed to persuade the governor of North Carolina Charles Eden to grant him an official pardon.
"Afterwards, he did the rounds of Colonial dinners and became an almost acceptable member of society.
"There was clearly some cachet about having a retired pirate among the guests."
But for all his amiable charm, Blackbeard needed every bit of his hardman reputation to retain command aboard his own vessel - and didn't hesitate to prove his mettle when required.
Pirate ships operated as democra cies and if he didn't satisfy his crew they may well have fired him.
"There are stories - possibly apocryphal - which show him to be mean," says Konstam.
"On one occasion while playing cards with a man called Israel Hands, Hands did something he didn't like so he shot him in the kneecaps under the table.
"Another tale has him setting fire to barrels of pitch in the ship's hold and challenging anyone to join him down below as he closed the hatches."
'Come, let us make a hell of our own," he roared at his crew. "And try how long we can bear it.'
The men fled immediately, but Blackbeard only emerged later snarling: 'Damn ye, ye yellow-bellied sapsuckers! I'm a better man than all ye milksops put together.'
THE navy finally caught up with Blackbeard on November 22, 1718.
Assailed on all sides, shot five times and stabbed 20, he continued to fight until felled by a blow that decapitated him.
His severed head was hung from the navy ship as a grisly trophy and his skull later converted into a drinking bowl - now on display in a Massachusetts museum.
Blackbeard's severed head hanging from Maynard's bow
And now another souvenir of Blackbeard's reign may also be set to emerge - the sunken wreck of The Queen Anne's Revenge.
National Geographic magazine has dived into the waters off North Carolina to find what is left of the wreck with its enormous anchor and dozens of cannons.
But so far there is no sign of any of the treasure many had hoped to find waiting in Davy Jones' Locker.
Blackbeard's gold coins it seems, lie in the coffers of Walt Disney Pictures, which is set to make even more from this film than the £357m grossed by its predecessor Pirates of The Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Edinburgh-based author Angus Konstam's biography "Blackbeard: America's most notorious Pirate" is published by Wiley at £16.99.
He looked mean and nasty just to scare people into doing what he wanted
j.disley@mirror.co.uk
mirror.co.uk