Black Beard

Chapter 1

When Queen Anne's War finishes in 1713, English sailor Edward Teach has no work. Teach is 34 years old and comes from Bristol. He is only happy when he is at sea.

Soon, Teach meets Benjamin Hornigold. Hornigold is the captain of the pirate ship, the Mary Anne. He is one of the nicer Caribbean pirates. There is a story about him. One day, Hornigold's crew go aboard a ship.

Do they take money? No. They take the sailors' hats. Why? Because when Hornigold's crew drink a lot, they throw their hats into the sea.

Edward Teach is soon the captain of one of Hornigold's smaller ships. He is a quick thinker and a good sailor, and he quickly learns to be a pirate. In early 1717, Teach and Hornigold attack and capture six more small ships. The Betty is one of them.

One day, the lookout on the Mary Anne calls out...

"Ship to starboard!"

The lookout is the man up on the ship's mast.

"It's a French ship, La Concorde!" He cries. "La Concorde is a very big ship."

"Make the guns ready!"

Captain Hornigold calls to his crew. Hornigold's three ships attack the French ship with their guns. Suddenly, one of La Concorde's masts comes down noisily. Some of the French crew die.

"Make ready to go aboard!"

Teach tells his men. Teach and his men go aboard the French ship, and the fight begins. Pirates and Frenchmen die, but Teach's men take the ship. The captain and crew of La Concorde cannot stop them. All the La Concorde crew feel very afraid.

Their captain, Pierre Dossé, asks Teach, "Do you want to kill us?"

"No, I don't," Teach says. "But tell me something."

"Where's all your gold?"

The captain does not answer.

"Speak, man, or you die." Teach says. He hits the French captain across the mouth.

"Never." Says the captain.

"Do your worst."

Teach walks across to a young French boy.

"You, boy." He says to him.

"What's your name?"

"Louis-au-a, sir." The boy answers.

"Where's the gold, boy?" Teach asks.

"Take me to it."

Louis takes Teach to the captain's cabin.

"The gold's here, sir." He says.

"Thank you, boy."Teach says. And he smiles.

Chapter 2

Teach tells the captain of La Concorde. "But I don't like the French name." "From today, it's the Queen Anne's Revenge."

"Where are you taking us?" The French captain asks.

"To the island of Bequia." Teach tells him. "You and your crew can go ashore there." "But perhaps some of your men want to stay aboard and go with me." Teach is right. Some of the Frenchmen sail with him. Louis-au-a is one of them.

"You can have my old ship." Teach tells the French captain.

Some days later, Captain Hornigold comes aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge.

"You can have this ship now, Teach." Hornigold says.

"I'm going home to my wife." "No more pirate adventures for me." "I'm tired of them."

"The Queen Anne's Revenge is the best pirate ship in the Caribbean."

Teach tells his crew. "Am I right?"

"Aye!" Blackbeard's men answer.

"She's the best of all the pirate ships." "The best of ships for the Caribbean's most famous pirate," Teach thinks. Teach thinks.

For the next half-year, Teach and his crew bring terror to ships all over the Caribbean. Soon, every ship's captain and every sailor knows about Teach. Because Teach has a long black beard, people give him a new name: Blackbeard the pirate. He's the most frightening of all the pirates on the sea. Alexander Spotswood is the governor of Virginia. Every day, ships' captains come to him with frightening stories about Blackbeard the pirate.

"We must stop this man Blackbeard," Spotswood says angrily.

"That's easy to say," Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy tells him. "But his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, is fast." "And it has 40 guns."

At the same time, Blackbeard and his men are all ashore. They are drinking happily in the pirate town of Port Royal in Jamaica.

"Do I want to stop being a pirate?" "Go ashore," "Take a wife and live to be an old man?"

Blackbeard thanks. He has 14 wives, or a woman in every town in the Caribbean, people say. But he cannot forget the easy money, the gold, and all of his exciting adventures at sea. And he cannot leave his pirate ship for a house ashore.

Chapter 3

"You can sail with me, Harriott," he tells the captain. "You can be one of my crew." Captain David Harriott is afraid. He cannot say no to Blackbeard.

"Aye, aye, Captain," he says. Some weeks later, they sail near the Cayman Islands.

"Spanish ship to starboard, Captain!" Calls the lookout of the Queen Anne's Revenge.

"To the guns, men!" Blackbeard calls. "And be ready to go aboard when I say." The guns of the Queen Anne's Revenge and the Adventure are soon firing at the Spanish ship. "To the boats," Blackbeard tells his men. The men put small boats into the sea and jump into them. When Blackbeard and his men go aboard the Spanish ship, the Spanish crew and their captain are ready and waiting. And they fight well. But Blackbeard has many men. And in the end, he captures the ship. With his long black beard, his pistols, and his sword, he looks a very frightening man. Soon after that, Blackbeard puts the captain and the crew of the Spanish ship ashore on a small island. Now, the Cubana is Blackbeard's ship too. In May 1718, Blackbeard and his ships are near the town of Charleston in South Carolina.

"We need medicine," the ship's doctor tells Blackbeard. "Some of the crew have a fever, and there's no medicine for them on the ship."

"Then let's find some," Blackbeard says.

"How?" The doctor asks.

"We can't go into Charleston." "We're pirates, and they can capture us and kill us there."

"Then the good people of Charleston can bring the medicine to us," Blackbeard says. And he laughs.

Chapter 4

"I want to go ashore now," The councillor tells Blackbeard.

"Do you?" Blackbeard says. He smiles.

"Perhaps in a day or two." "But first, you can write a letter to the governor of South Carolina."

"A letter?" The councillor says.

"What do I write?"

"Tell the governor," "Send a chest of medicine to the Queen Anne's Revenge." Blackbeard says. "You and your son can go to Charleston when the medicine arrives." "But not before then." "Tell the governor," "No ships can come into or leave Charleston before the medicine arrives on the Queen Anne's Revenge." Blackbeard says. When it is ready, two of Blackbeard's men take the letter to the governor. For three days, Blackbeard waits for the medicine. The councillor is very afraid all this time. "Blackbeard can easily kill my son and me," he thinks.

"Where's the medicine?" "Perhaps my friend the governor doesn't want to send it." The next day, the chest of medicine arrives. The councillor and his son go ashore. The Crowley's captain takes them in a small boat. He is very angry.

"Blackbeard!"

He calls up from the boat.

"Your last days are near." "Be ready to die."

Blackbeard laughs at him.

Later that year, Blackbeard gives Charles Eden some gold. Eden is the governor of North Carolina. He gives a pardon from King George to his friend Blackbeard. The next day, Blackbeard captures a French ship and kills its crew. He gives sugar from the ship to Eden.

"No more pirate adventures, Blackbeard." "Don't forget your pardon," says Eden.

"Oh, I'm not a pirate now,"

Answers Blackbeard.

"This sugar is from an abandoned ship." Eden says nothing, and he takes the sugar.

Chapter 5

"He can't do this to us," Spotswood says angrily. Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the British Royal Navy is with the governor.

"How can we catch Blackbeard?"

Spotswood asks him.

"He isn't an easy man to find," Maynard says. "We need help." "We must wait for more ships from England."

"No," Spotswood says. "We must do something now."

Soon after that, Blackbeard sails to Old Topsail Inlet in North Carolina. By now, there are 300 pirates on his three ships. When they arrive, the Queen Anne's Revenge and one of the smaller ships, the Cubana, run aground. Only the Adventure is all right because she is far behind them.

"We must wait for the sea to come in tonight before we can move," Blackbeard tells his crew. "Take some rum ashore in the small boats and wait there." So the pirates from the Queen Anne's Revenge and the Cubana make their boats ready to go ashore. When the boats are ashore, Blackbeard speaks quietly with some of the pirates. That evening, Blackbeard's men drink rum and sing. Most of them drink a lot, and they go to sleep early before it's dark. But some don't drink much, and they don't go to sleep.

"Come with me," Blackbeard says quietly to these men.

"We can go now." They take three of the small boats out to the Adventure, and they take all of the treasure with them too. In the morning, the pirates ashore look for the Adventure.

"Where's the ship?" They ask.

"More importantly, where's Blackbeard?"

"And most important of all, where's the treasure?" Cries one man. With a smaller crew and only one ship now, Blackbeard can move faster than before.

"One ship isn't very easy to catch," Blackbeard tells his crew.

"Does the Royal Navy want to catch us, Captain?"

One of the pirates asks. "Are the stories true?"

"Aye, they're true," Blackbeard answers. "The governor of Virginia wants us all dead." Blackbeard thinks. "But can he kill me, the most famous pirate in the Caribbean?"

"No."

Chapter 6

"He's at Ocracoke Inlet near North Carolina." A Royal Navy captain tells him.

"Do you hear that, Maynard?" Spotswood asks.

"What can we do about it?"

"I can take the Jane up to North Carolina with 35 men aboard," Maynard says. "And the Ranger can come with us with 25 men under their captain, Mr. Hyde."

"Good." Spotswood says.

"When can you leave?"

"In two days." Maynard answers. Spotswood laughs. Spotswood laughs.

"Blackbeard, we've got you." He says. On December 21st, 1718, the ships Jane and Ranger sail to Ocracoke Inlet. They put down their anchors. Some of Blackbeard's crew are in the town of Bath, not far away. Only 18 men are with him on his ship, the Adventure.

"The Royal Navy's here, Captain." The lookout calls.

"They're waiting for morning before they attack." Blackbeard says. Blackbeard drinks some rum.

"Can this be my last night and my last fight tomorrow?" He thinks. He thinks. Next morning, the Jane and the Ranger move up the Inlet.

"They're coming, Captain." The Adventure's lookout calls.

"Fire!"

Blackbeard calls to his men at their guns. The Adventure's guns hit the Ranger and kill some sailors. Captain Hyde is one of them. Lieutenant Maynard brings the Jane next to the Adventure.

"Guns ready!"

Maynard calls to his gunners.

"Fire!"

"Look!" "There aren't many sailors on deck there now." Blackbeard calls to his men. "Let's fight them!" And he jumps across to the Jane. But Maynard's men are waiting. Suddenly, they all come out from below the deck and begin to fight the pirates. Now, Blackbeard meets Maynard.

"Are you ready to die, Lieutenant?" Blackbeard asks, and he laughs. Maynard does not answer, but he hits Blackbeard's arm with his sword. One of the sailors fires his pistol at Blackbeard. Suddenly, Maynard's sword breaks.

Blackbeard laughs. But Maynard quickly takes his pistol and fires at the pirate captain. He hits Blackbeard. Maynard fires his pistol again, and again, and again. In the end, Blackbeard falls down onto the deck. Blackbeard dies with five pistol wounds and twenty sword wounds in his body.

"I want his head," Maynard says. "The head of the most famous pirate in the Caribbean." Maynard sails back to Virginia with Blackbeard's head on the front of his ship. With Blackbeard dead, the best days of the Caribbean pirates are past. But two hundred of Blackbeard's pirates escape, and nobody finds his treasure.

Is this Edward Teach's revenge?

Who knows? But the legend of Blackbeard stays alive to this day.