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blackbeard

n. The archetypal pirate, who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Wikipedia
Blackbeard

Edward Teach or Edward Thatch ( – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies. Although little is known about his early life, he was probably born in Bristol, England. Recent genealogical research indicates his family moved to Jamaica where Edward Thatch, Jr. is listed as being a mariner in the Royal Navy aboard in 1706. He may have been a sailor on privateer ships during Queen Anne's War before settling on the Bahamian island of New Providence, a base for Captain Benjamin Hornigold, whose crew Teach joined sometime around 1716. Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop he had captured, and the two engaged in numerous acts of piracy. Their numbers were boosted by the addition to their fleet of two more ships, one of which was commanded by Stede Bonnet, but toward the end of 1717 Hornigold retired from piracy, taking two vessels with him.

Teach captured a French merchant vessel, renamed her Queen Anne's Revenge, and equipped her with 40 guns. He became a renowned pirate, his cognomen derived from his thick black beard and fearsome appearance; he was reported to have tied lit fuses under his hat to frighten his enemies. He formed an alliance of pirates and blockaded the port of Charleston, South Carolina. After successfully ransoming its inhabitants, he ran Queen Anne's Revenge aground on a sandbar near Beaufort, North Carolina. He parted company with Bonnet and settled in Bath Town, where he accepted a royal pardon. But he was soon back at sea, where he attracted the attention of Alexander Spotswood, the Governor of Virginia. Spotswood arranged for a party of soldiers and sailors to try to capture the pirate, which they did on 22 November 1718. During a ferocious battle, Teach and several of his crew were killed by a small force of sailors led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard.

A shrewd and calculating leader, Teach spurned the use of force, relying instead on his fearsome image to elicit the response he desired from those he robbed. Contrary to the modern-day picture of the traditional tyrannical pirate, he commanded his vessels with the permission of their crews and there is no known account of his ever having harmed or murdered those he held captive. He was romanticised after his death and became the inspiration for pirate-themed works of fiction across a range of genres.

Blackbeard (disambiguation)

Blackbeard was a notorious English pirate.

Blackbeard may also refer to:

  • Blackbeard (2005 film), a BBC miniseries
  • Blackbeard (2006 film), a Hallmark Channel miniseries
  • Blackbeard the Pirate, a 1952 film by Raoul Walsh
  • Blackbeard (musical), a musical by Rob Gardner
  • Blackbeard (One Piece), a character in One Piece
  • Blackbeard (Pirates of the Caribbean), a character in Pirates of the Caribbean
  • "The Blackbeard" or "A Blackbeard", nickname often given to a serial killer and which is also regard as being the male version of the "Black Widow" serial killer
Blackbeard (2005 film)

Blackbeard: The Real Pirate Of The Caribbean, a mini-series by the BBC, starring James Purefoy as Blackbeard. It aired in the USA on 12 March 2006 and was released on DVD in The Netherlands in July 2006, by Just Entertainment.

Blackbeard (2006 film)

Blackbeard is a 2006 adventure- drama miniseries based on the pirate Blackbeard, directed by Kevin Connor from a screenplay written by Bryce Zabel. It premiered on Hallmark Channel on June 17, 2006. The miniseries was shot on location in Thailand and the town of New Providence was built on a coconut plantation, and includes many factual names and places, but it is essentially a fictional story since Blackbeard's most notable exploits took place in North Carolina. The miniseries was later released in an international DVD edition re-titled Pirates: The True Story of Blackbeard, though by the writers own admission little of the screenplay was actually true.

Blackbeard (musical)

Blackbeard, or officially, Blackbeard: The Musical or Blackbeard: A New Musical, is a musical created by Rob Gardner. The plot focuses on the notorious pirate Edward ' Blackbeard' Teach, and his blockade of Charles Town in South Carolina in 1718. The musical portrays Blackbeard as a compassionate person, who's deeply in love with a woman on his ship named Mary Ormond. Blackbeard struggles to maintain his fierce façade, while at the same time trying to win the heart of the pacifistic Mary.

Blackbeard debuted at the Herberger Theatre Center in Phoenix, Arizona, on September 5, 2008, under the direction of Cambrian James and the musical direction of Rob Gardner himself. Marketed as a 'pre- Broadway event', the musical received mixed to positive reviews from critics, and won 9 AriZoni Awards from 15 nominations. On May 1, 2009, Blackbeard made its Australian premiere in Bunbury, Western Australia.

Usage examples of "blackbeard".

Blackbeard, Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, the Headless Horseman, John the Baptist, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Mary Stuart, Medusa, Sir Thomas More, and Maximilien de Robespierre.

J Dodd, blackbearded iscariot, bad shepherd, bearing on his shoulders the drowned corpse of his son, approaches the pillory.

One morning Captain Blackbeard finds that his stock of medicine is low.

There was no answering an argument of such force as this, and the worshipful governor and the good folk of Charleston knew very well that Blackbeard and his crew were the men to do as they promised.

So Blackbeard got his medicine, and though it cost the colony two thousand dollars, it was worth that much to the town to be quit of him.

And now Blackbeard, following the plan adopted by so many others of his kind, began to cudgel his brains for means to cheat his fellows out of their share of the booty.

As for Blackbeard and those who were with him, they were that much richer, for there were so many the fewer pockets to fill.

So up goes Master Blackbeard to the Governor of North Carolina and makes his neck safe by surrendering to the proclamation--albeit he kept tight clutch upon what he had already gained.

And now we find our bold Captain Blackbeard established in the good province of North Carolina, where he and His Worship the Governor struck up a vast deal of intimacy, as profitable as it was pleasant.

Becoming tired of an inactive life, Blackbeard afterward resumed his piratical career.

There he found Blackbeard waiting for him, and as ready for a fight as ever the lieutenant himself could be.

At the very first discharge of their pistols Blackbeard had been shot through the body, but he was not for giving up for that--not he.

But did Blackbeard really bury treasures, as tradition says, along the sandy shores he haunted?

This Anthony told me he had been among the pirates, and that he belonged to one of the sloops in Virginia when Blackbeard was taken.

Teach, known as Blackbeard, to exist, and for the governor and the secretary of the province in which he lived perhaps to share his plunder, and to shelter and to protect him against the law.