Blackbeard:
America's Most Notorious Pirate
Angus Konstam
Preface
"I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came
plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind
him in a handbarrow; a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man;
his tarry pigtail falling over the shoulders of his soiled
blue coat; his hands ragged and scarred, with black, broken
nails; and the sabre cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid
white."
That was how Jim Hawkins, described his first encounter
with a pirate in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
His description of Billy Bones could have referred to any
well-travelled seaman during the "Golden Age of Piracy"
What made Billy Bones special was that he had once shipped
with Captain Flint, the most evil, cruel and dastardly pirate
ever to sail the Seven Seas. Stevenson clearly had a role
model for Flint; "the bloodthirstiest buccaneer that sailed."
To show just how bad Stevenson's pirate was the author added;
"Blackbeard was a child to Flint." When the Scottish author
wrote his pirate best-seller in 1883, he understood that
most readers would pick up the reference, and would know
who Blackbeard was.
This is hardly a surprise. In 1724 when the mysterious Captain
Johnson first published his catalog of pirates, Blackbeard
featured prominently amongst them. The early 18th century
book became a best-seller, and is still in print today,
supported by countless books on pirates, ranging from academic
studies to children's fiction. In the last century it also
inspired movie makers, and in recent years the swashbuckling
pirate films of the 1930's have taken on a new lease of
life. Johnson's description of Blackbeard could have been
taken straight from the actor's notes for Pirates of the
Caribbean; "In time of Action, he wore a Sling over his
Shoulders, with three brace of Pistols, hanging from Holsters
like Bandaliers; he wore a Fur-Cap, and stuck a lighted
Match on each Side, under it, 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"
.
It is ironic that today, while few people remember the names
of the other characters in this story like Alexander Spotswood,
they know about Blackbeard. Charles Eden, Ellis Brand, Robert
Maynard and Tobias Knight have all but faded from the pages
of history, while even Woodes Rogers is a name almost unknown
outside the ranks of pirate aficionados. Blackbeard's contemporaries
such as Benjamin Hornigold, Charles Vane, Stede Bonnet and
Henry Jennings never managed to capture the public imagination,
while "Calico" Jack Rackam is only remembered
through his association with the far more sensational female
pirates in his crew, Anne Bonny and Mary Reade.
Other pirates were more successful than Blackbeard. Henry
Every captured a ship filled with the treasures of an Indian
prince, and retired to tell the tale. Bartholomew Roberts
was arguably the most successful occidental pirate of them
all, capturing more than five times the prizes secured by
Blackbeard or any other pirate of the 'Golden Age'. However,
it was Blackbeard who caught the public imagination - and
who remains our archetypal pirate of the era. The reason
for this may be down to his appearance, which was highly
distinctive, and which fitted the image the general public
had of pirates of this time. In a large proportion of the
pirate books out there on the shelves, Blackbeard features
on the cover - an instantly recognizable figure who screams
"ferocious pirate" at whoever picks up the book. In the
public imagination, Blackbeard is the ultimate pirate captain,
regardless of what he actually did during his short, brutish
career.
This emphasis on Blackbeard's appearance and personality
hides the fact that the man was a highly successful pirate.
Although his career as an independent pirate captain lasted
less than a year and a half, his actions shook the very
foundations of British rule in colonial America. While he
was operating in the Caribbean Blackbeard was little more
than a major irritant- one of several pirate captains who
fought their own private war amongst the islands and shoals
of the West Indies. However, his blockade of Charles Town
(Charleston) was something different. His actions paralyzed
the port, bringing maritime trade to a halt. While this
caused a crisis in the colony of South Carolina, Blackbeard's
blockade had an equally dramatic impact further up the coast.
At the time Blackbeard commanded a force consisting of several
ships and several hundred men. With a force like that at
his disposal he could repeat his success off Charleston
anywhere else along North America's Atlantic seaboard. For
a brief period he became America's "bogeyman",
and nobody knew where he would strike next. Although the
crisis passed, the rulers and merchants of colonial America
weren't going to forget Blackbeard in a hurry. Until his
death he remained a nascent threat - the one man they knew
who could bring their fragile colonial economy to its knees.
This all took place in 1718 - the year which represented
the peak of piratical activity in the Americas. It also
represented a turning point - the great upsurge of piracy
following the end of a long war with between Britain, France
and Spain reached its peak during Blackbeard's time, and
afterwards the threat diminished, as the few pirates who
remained left American waters for fresh hunting grounds
on the far side of the world.
Indeed the so-called 'Golden Age of Piracy', a phrase first
conjured up by Captain Johnson in 1724 was meant to encompass
the period from about 1697, when the last of the buccaneers
ended their attacks on the Spanish to around 1726, when
the last mass hanging of pirates took place. In fact the
peak of piratical activity was concentrated in a far shorter
period; from 1713 when another war ended, until 1722, when
the crew of Bartholomew Roberts were hung en masse on the
West African coast. In the waters of colonial America the
worst phase lasted from 1716 until 1720, a period which
saw the development of the Bahamas as a pirate stronghold,
then the establishment of British rule in the islands, and
the subsequent eradication of Bahamian piracy. Blackbeard
was very much one of these Bahamian pirates, even though
he quit the islands in 1717 when they were at their peak
as a pirate haven, and he never returned. The story of Blackbeard
therefore mirrors the story of this pirate crisis.
The idea behind this book is to seek out the real man behind
this dramatic façade, and to try and understand why
he took to piracy, how he managed to excel as a leader of
cutthroats, and why his piratical career reached such a
spectacular and blood-soaked finale. For someone like Blackbeard
a conventional historical narrative isn't really enough.
The life he led and the world he lived in was too different
from our own for that. In order to understand Blackbeard
the pirate, we need to become conversant with Blackbeard's
profession, and the role piracy played in the era he lived
in. What I've done is to intersperse chapters of narrative
history with others which delve a little deeper into the
maritime world Blackbeard lived in, allowing readers to
become conversant with such things as pirate havens, how
pirates operated, how they structured their crews, and what
impact they had on colonial America. I hope you find the
result as much fun to read as it was to research and write.
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