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tekmac1 |
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Post subject: Divers shed light on pirate legend
 Posted: Nov 01, 2006 - 12:37 AM
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Octopus
Joined: Dec 31, 1969
Posts: 81
Status: Offline
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DIANE BARTZ IN BEAUFORT, NORTH CAROLINA
NEARLY three centuries ago, the notorious pirate Blackbeard ran aground in his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, off what is now a North Carolina beach town.
This month, a crew of 13 is heading out to sea each day, hoping for clear-enough weather to dive the 20 to 25ft to the ocean bottom to excavate what they believe is Blackbeard's ship.
The team has found cannons, a bell, lead shot of all sizes, gold dust, pewter cups and medical devices, like a urethral syringe used to treat syphilis with mercury.
Divers are using PVC and aluminum pipe to measure 5ft squares and meticulously record where objects are found.
This classic archeology focuses on one of the most unusual men of an unusual era - Blackbeard. His real name, which may have been Edward Teach, is the subject of speculation, as are his birthplace, probably Bristol, and birth date.
He knew how to navigate, but there is only one sample of what could be his writing - a ship's log entry.
"One account calls him a 'spare' man. He certainly had charisma," said Lindley Butler, a retired history professor from Wentworth, North Carolina.
There were accounts that he tied slow-burning cannon fuses to his long black hair before going into battle. He is said to have been married 14 times.
"There were some psychopathic pirates out there, but Blackbeard was not one of them. We have no evidence that Blackbeard ever murdered anyone or ever tortured anyone," said Mr Butler.
Blackbeard at first fought with the British as a privateer, a kind of legal pirate, attacking Spanish and French ships in the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century. With the war's end, Blackbeard and thousands of other unemployed sailors turned to piracy. His troop captured a French slaver called La Concorde in a brief skirmish in November 1717, said Mr Butler. He renamed the ship the Queen Anne's Revenge.
In May 1718, Blackbeard's pirates sailed into the port of Charleston, South Carolina and, in a stunningly audacious move, blockaded the harbour. The ransom demanded, and paid, was a chest of medicine worth £400, said Mr Butler.
Shortly after terrorising Charlestown, Blackbeard lost his lead ship, running the Queen Anne's Revenge aground on one of the many sandbars off North Carolina.
After the wreck the governor granted him a royal pardon, and Blackbeard went into at least semi-retirement in June 1718, spending chunks of time in Ocracoke, a barrier island off North Carolina. But Virginia's governor, Alexander Spotswood, was apparently unconvinced Blackbeard had actually given up pirating.
He sent troops to find Blackbeard, and the two sides battled it out on November 21, 1718 on Ocracoke.
Blackbeard was killed in ferocious fighting. His head was cut off and stuck on a stake. His body was tossed overboard. He was probably in his 30s when he was killed, and had been a pirate captain for about a year. During that time, his force had taken a town hostage and captured 40 ships.
"It's astonishing that he's had such an iconic role in such short a time. It's like a comet almost," said Mr Butler.
How Captain Teach died - slain by a Highlander
November 1718: The Boston News Letter said: "Maynard and Teach [Blackbeard] themselves begun the fight with their swords, Maynard making a thrust, the point of his sword against Teach's cartridge box, and bent it to the hilt. Teach wounded Maynard's fingers but did not disable him, whereupon he threw away his sword and fired his pistol which wounded Teach. One of Maynard's men, a Highlander, engaged Teach with his broad sword, who gave Teach a cut on the neck, Teach saying 'well done lad'; the Highlander replied, 'If it be not well done, I'll do it better.' With that he gave him a second stroke, which cut off his head, laying it flat on his shoulder." |
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