While in the Bahama's, Edward Teach began his odessy as the most feared pirate on the high seas and came to acquire the ship that he renamed "The Queen Anne's Revenge".
In New Providence, Teach met Capt. Benjamin Hornigold whose crew he joined in 1716. In very little time, he became Hornigold's protégé, and soon was given a captured sloop with six cannons to command while still serving under Hornigold.
It was during the latter part of 1717 that Hornigold and Teach encountered a large ship off St. Vincent flying the French flag. Hornigold and Teach both fired from their sloops across the bow of the French boat and killed many on board. The ship, known as the "Concorde" surrendered. She was actually a dutch built flute that had come into the possession of a St. Malo frenchman. The boat was rich in booty, and with Hornigold's hold now filled with treasure, Teach asked if he could be given the command of the captured ship. Hornigold knew he was reaching the end of his pirating days, and with the wealth he had accummulated, he could retire. He agreed to give the ship to Teach and to retire to New Providence. It was the last time he would see the man he had trained well to become the vicious pirate Blackbeard.
Blackbeard honed his piracy skills, selecting bigger and better targets. But his greatest feat was yet to come. In May 1718, Blackbeard decided to blockcade the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. He stretched his vessels across the harbor and made demands of the town for money, supplies and medicine. The blockade wore on for weeks, and without firing a shot, Blackbeard slowly received what he came for. The humiliation of the town at the hands of pirates made the citizens determined to stop piracy and send a lesson to any who practiced it. Four months later, they got their hands on Stede Bonnet, Blackbeard's sometimes pirate friend. The people of Charleston hanged him.
Blackbeard gave his new ship the name "The Queen Anne's Revenge". He sailed the vessel until June of 1718, when he sailed it into the Beaufort Inlet, known at that time as the Topsail Inlet. It was there that he intentionally ran the ship aground under the pretense of cleaning off the hull. In reality, he was plotting yet another theft of booty, but this time it was from his own crew and his then ally Stede Bonnett. He took the treasure and his favorite crew members and abandoned the ship in the inlet to be taken by the tide.
After Abandoning "The Queen Anne's Revenge" and the smaller vessel "Adventure" in the inlet, Blackbeard ane the remaining crew took the other ships up Pamlico Sound to the town of Bath. There he received a pardon from the Royal Governor and lived in Bath for a time making friends with the locals and the wealthy planters.
The lure of piracy was too much for Edward Teach, and he soon fell back into sailing the North Carolina and Virginia coast looking for ships to plunder. He had settled on Ockracoke Island, near Cape Hatteras, as his outpost. It was here that Lieutenant Maynard of the Royal Navy found Blackbeard anchored at his favorite spot on the south side of the island. His ships crept up on Blackbeard's and a fierce battle broke out between them. Both sides took heavy casualties, and eventually Blackbeard was killed in battle overwhelmed by the training and firepower of the Royal navy. Blackbeard's head was cut off and his body thrown overboard where legend has that it swam around the ship several times before sinking. The skull was displayed as a trophy on Mayard's arrival in Bath and in Virginia.
HISTORY:
Originally named Concord, the 300-ton vessel was built by Britain in 1710. It was captured by the French a year later. The ship was modified to hold more cargo, including slaves, and renamed La Concorde. The slave ship was captured again by the pirate Captian Benjamin Hornigold on November 28, 1717 near the island of Martinique. Hornigold turned the ship over to one of his pirates—Edward Teach, who was later known as Blackbeard—and made him captain.
Blackbeard converted La Concorde into his flagship, adding guns and renaming her Queen Anne's Revenge. The name may have come from the War of the Spanish Succession known in the Amricas as Queen Anne's War and one in which Blackbeard had fought. It was one of the largest ships of its time. Blackbeard ranged with this ship from the west coast of Africa to the Caribbean, attacking British, Duch and Portuquese ships along the way.
Shortly after blockading Charleston harbor (May 1718) and refusing to accept the Governor's pardon, Blackbeard ran Queen Anne's Revenge aground while attempting to enter Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. Blackbeard disbanded his flotilla and escaped by transferring supplies onto the smaller ship Adventure. The pirate captain abandoned several crew members on a small island nearby. They were later rescued by Captain Stede Bonnet. Some sources suggest that Blackbeard deliberately grounded the ships as an excuse to disperse the crew. Shortly afterward, he surrendered and accepted a royal pardon for his remaining crew and him from Governor Charles Eden at Bath, North Carolina.
