BLACK-BEARD

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 December 1928, Page 9

BLACK-BEARD

DESPERATE PIRATE OF CARIBBEAN WHO CAME TO GRIEF IN FIERCE HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING

A VOLUME OF ROBBER TALES

“LOST” book, “A Gcnoral History of the Robbevies and Murders of T/ tlie Most Notorious Pirates,” that caused a great, sensation in London in 1724, has just come to light. It was written by “Captain Charles Johnson,” and although nothing whatever is known about him —it has even been suggested that this was an assumed name of one of the pirates themselves —the accuracy of his tales has never been questioned. In this book, which is the source of all the classic pirate stories, “Captain Johnson” gives a full historv of thirty-six of the most notorious sea robbers who ever lived, from Edward Teach, better known us “Blackbeard,” who was the terror of the Delaware, Maryland, Virginia ' and Carolina coasts, down to Captain William Kidd, of buried-treasure fame. “Edward Teach was a Bristol (England) man, but had sailed some time out of Jamaica in privateers in the late French War,” says Captain Johnson.

“Though he had often distinguished himself for his uncommon boldness and personal courage, he was never raised to any command till he went a-pirating, which 1 think was at the latter end'of the year 1716, when Captain Benjamin Hornigold put him into a sloop that he had made a prize of, and with whom he continued in consortship till a little while before Hornigold surrendered. That Ominous Beard “It will not be amiss if we speak of bis beard,” he continued, “since it did not a little contribute towards making his name terrible in those parts. “This beard -was black, which lie 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 Ramillies 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. (These matches were lengths of loosely twisted hemp cord, about the thickness of a stout pencil, dipped in a solution of saltpeter and lime water. They burned slowly, at the rate of about twelve inches an hour.) “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 arc writing was thoroughly accomplished this way. and some of bis frolics of wickedness were as extravagant as if he aimed at making his men believe that 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 until 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.

“Alive or Dead” Finally Blackbeard became such a scourge along the coast that on November 24, 1718, Governor Alexander Spotswood, of the British Colony of Virginia, offered a reward of £lOO for the capture of the pirate dead or alive, and at the same time he arranged with Lieutenant Robert Maynard. of the British man-of-war Pearl, to lead an expedition against him.” As the man-of-war drew too deep a draft to navigate in the shoals along the coast, Lieutenant Maynard put a naval crew into two small sloops and sailed down the James River by night to the mouth of Ocracoke Inlet, where ho got sight of his quarry. When daylight broke the two sloops advanced toward Blackbeard, who began tiring on them with, his cannon. “‘Damn you for villians: who are you?” the pirate cried as lie heaped curses on them. “ ‘You may see by our colours that we are not pirates.’ Maynard replied, hoisting the King’s colours. Blackbeard fired a broadside which killed or wounded twenty-nine of the naval crews, who had no cannon in their little sloops, and then followed a desperate himd-to-hand battle that insred several hours. “The pirilte and fourteen men boarded the first sloop with Lieutenant Maynard and twelve unwounded on board, and the crew of the second sloop then boarded the priate’s boat, both battles going on at the same time. But finally Blackbeard fell dead at the feet of Lieutenant Maynard, on the deck of the first sloop, with 25 wounds, and the rest of his followers who were not already wounded jumped into the water and demanded quarter, though it only prolonged their lives a few hours. “The lieutenant caused Blackboard’s head to be severed from his body and hung up at the bowspit end and then he sailed to Bath-Town to get relief for his wounded men. “At the trial of the crew all were found guilty and of the 15 who surrendered all hut two were hanged.”