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Blackbeard the Hero?

© Anita Stratos

Well, it's a stretch, but some historians believe that the incredible courage and bravery exhibited by the infamous pirate would have made him a hero of legendary proportion - if only he'd used his attributes for good instead of evil.

And evil he was. In fact, many of his contemporaries actually believed he was Satan's minion, and his actions underscored this theory. Among the pirate clans, those who committed the greatest acts of "wickedness" were the most feared and revered, and according to history, there was no act of brutality that Blackbeard didn't commit. During a period when he came across no ships to plunder, Blackbeard called three of his crewmen to his cabin. Sitting around a table, he blew out the lantern, plunging the room into darkness. Upon hearing the cocking of two pistols, one crewman fled from the room. Blackbeard crossed his pistols under the table and fired one shot from each toward the remaining two crewmen, missing one but striking the other in the knee, laming him for life. He stated that his purpose was to remind his crew - and himself - of who he really was. So fearsome had he become that some captains turned their ships over to him without a fight.

To convince his crewmen that he was the devil incarnate, he attempted to create "a hell of [his] own" to see how long he and his shipmates could bear it. Closing himself and a few crewmen in his ship's hold, he set fire to pots filled with brimstone and other combustibles, which suffocated them until the crewmen screamed for air. Only then did Blackbeard open the hatches, proudly proclaiming that he held out the longest. His crewmen also told a story of a strange, unidentified man seen occasionally on the ship, whom they firmly believed to be Satan himself.

Blackbeard made himself look as frightening as possible. His thick black beard was exceptionally long and was said to have reached up to his eyes. Before battle he twisted or braided it, tying it in small tails with ribbons and studding it with slow-burning cannon fuses that smoked as they burned. He also placed these fuses under his tri-cornered hat, allowing the smoke to stream from atop his head. This, coupled with his naturally fierce and wild eyes, gave him the "Look of a Fury from Hell".

Blackbeard's legend is so closely tied with fictional characters such as Captain Hook and Long John Silver that some people assume Blackbeard is nothing more than folklore, but 18th century residents of the eastern American shores knew differently. He was born Edward Drummond circa 1680 in Bristol, England, later changing his name to Edward Teach (also written as Tache and Thatch, among other variations). His seafaring career actually began honorably as a British privateer in the early 1700s, but he never received any promotions. Around 1716 he turned to pirating, and within months leaped to the pinnacle of dark success.