Edward Teach was a Bristol man born, but had sailed some time out of Jamaica in privateers, in the late French war; yet though he had often distinguished himself for his uncommon boldness and personal courage, he was never raised to any command, till he went a-pirating, which I think was at the latter end of the year 1716, when Captain Benjamin Hornigold put him into a sloop that he had made prize of, and with whom he continued in consortship till a little while before Hornigold surrendered.

In the spring of the year 1717, Teach and Hornigold sailed from Providence, for the main of America, and took in their way a billop from the Havana, with 120 barrels of flour, as also a sloop from Bermuda, Thurbar Master, from whom they took only some gallons of wine, and then let him go; and a ship from Madeira to South Carolina, out of which they got plunder to a considerable value.

After cleaning on the coast of Virginia, they returned to the West Indies, and in the latitude of 24, made prize of a large French Guineaman, bound to Martinique, which by Hornigold’s consent, Teach went aboard of as captain, and took a cruise in her; Hornigold returned with his sloop to Providence, where, at the arrival of Captain Rogers, the Governor, he surrendered to mercy, pursuant to the King’s proclamation.

Aboard of this Guineaman Teach mounted no guns, and named her the Queen Ann’s Revenge; and cruising near the island of St. Vincent, took a large ship, called the Great Allen, Christopher Taylor Commander; the pirates plundered her of what they though fit, put all the men ashore upon the island above mentioned, and then set fire to the ship.

A few days after, Teach fell in with the Scarborough man-of-war, of 30 guns, who engaged him for some hours; but she finding the pirate well mann’d, and having tried her strength, gave over the engagement, and returned to Barbados, the place of her station; and Teach sailed towards the Spanish America.

In his way he met with a pirate sloop of ten guns, commanded by one Major Bonnet, lately a gentleman of good reputation and estate in the Island of Barbados, whom he joined; but in a few days after, Teach, finding that Bonnet knew nothing of a maritime life, with the consent of his own men, put in another captain, one Richards, to command Bonnet’s sloop, and took the major on aboard his own ship, telling him, that as he had not been used to the fatigues and care of such a post, it would be better for him to decline it, and live easy and at his pleasure, in such a ship as his, where he should not be obliged to perform duty, but follow his own inclinations.

At Turneffe ten leagues short of the Bay of Honduras, the pirates took in fresh water; and while they were at an anchor there, they saw a sloop coming in, whereupon, Richards in the sloop called the Revenge, slipped his cable, and run out to meet her; who upon seeing the black flag hoisted, struck his sail and came to, under the stern of Teach the Commodore. She was called the Adventure, from Jamaica, David Harriot Master. They took him and his men aboard the great ship, and sent a number of other hands with Israel Hands, master of Teach’s ship, to man the sloop for the piratical account.

The 9th of April, they weighed from Turneffe, having lain there about a week, and sailed to the bay, where they found a ship and four sloops, three of the latter belonged to Jonathan Bernard, of Jamaica, and the other to Captain James; the ship was of Boston, called the Protestant Caesar, Captain Wyar Commander. Teach hoisted his black colours, and fired a gun, upon which Captain Wyar and all his men, left their ship, and got ashore in their boat. Teach’s quartermaster, and eight of his crew, took possession of Wyar’s ship, and Richards secured all the sloops, one of which they burnt out of spite to the owner; the Protestant Caesar they also burnt, after they had plundered her, because she belonged to Boston, where some men had been hanged for piracy; and the three sloops belonging to Bernard they let go.

From hence the rovers sailed to Turkill, and then to the Grand Cayman, a small island about thirty leagues to the westward of Jamaica, where they took a small turtler, and so to the Havana, and from thence to the Bahama wrecks, and from the Bahama wrecks, they sailed to Carolina, taking a brigantine and two sloops in their way, where they lay off the bar of Charleston for five or six days. They took here a ship as she was coming out, bound for London, commanded by Robert Clark, with some passengers on board for England; the next day they took another vessel coming out of Charleston, and also two pinks coming into Charleston; likewise a brigantine with 14 Negroes aboard; all which being done in the face of the town, struck a great terror to the whole province of Carolina, having just before been visited by Vane, another notorious pirate, that they abandoned themselves to dispair, being in no condition to resist their force. They were eight sail in the harbour, ready for the sea, but none dared to venture out, it being almost impossible to escape their hands. The inward bound vessels were under the same unhappy dilemma, so that the trade of this place was totally interrupted: what made these misfortunes heavier to them, was a long expensive war, the colony had had with the natives, which was but just ended when these robbers infested them.

Teach detained all the ships and prisoners, and, being in want of medicines, resolves to demand a chest from the government of the province; accordingly Richards, the Captain of the Revenge sloop, with two or three more pirates, were sent up along with Mr. Marks, one of the prisoners, whom they had taken in Clark’s ship, and very insolently made their demands, threatening, that if they did not send immediately the chest of medicines, and let the pirate-ambassadors return, without offering any violence to their persons, they would murder all their prisoners, send up their heads to the Governor, and set the ships they had taken on fire.

Whilst Mr. Marks was making application to the Council, Richards, and the rest of the pirates, walk’d the streets publicly, in the sight of all people, who were fired with the utmost indignation, looking upon them as robbers and murderers, and particularly the authors of their wrongs and oppressions, but durst not so much as think of executing their revenge, for fear of bringing more calamities upon themselves, and so they were forced to let the villains pass with impunity. The government were not long in deliberating upon the message, though ’twas the greatest affront that could have been put upon them; yet for the saving so many men’s lives, (among them, Mr. Samuel Wragg, one of the Council;) they comply’d with the necessity, and sent aboard a chest, valued at between 3 and 400 £ and the pirates went back safe to their ships.

Blackbeard, (for so Teach was generally called, as we shall hereafter show) as soon as he had received the medicines and his brother rogues, let go the ships and the prisoners; having first taken out of them in gold and silver, about 1,500 £ sterling, besides provisions and other matters.

From the bar of Charleston, they sailed to North Carolina; Captain Teach in the ship, which they called the man-of-war, Captain Richards and Captain Hands in the sloops, which they termed privateers, and another sloop serving them as a tender. Teach began now to think of breaking up the company, and securing the money and the best of the effects for himself, and some others of his companions he had most friendship for, and to cheat the rest: accordingly, on pretence of running into Topsail Inlet to clean, he grounded his ship, and then, as if it had been done undesignedly, and by accident; he orders Hands’ sloop to come to his assistance, and get him off again, which he endeavouring to do, ran the sloop onshore near the other, and so were both lost. This done, Teach goes into the tender sloop, with forty hands, and leaves the Revenge there; then takes seventeen others and maroons them upon a small sandy island, about a league from the main, where there was neither bird, beast or herb for their subsistence, and where they must have perished if Major Bonnet had not two days after taken them off.

Teach goes up to the Governor of North Carolina, with about twenty of his men, surrender to His Majesty’s proclamation, and receive certificates thereof, from His Excellency; but it did not appear that their submitting to this pardon was from any reformation of manners, but only to wait a more favourable opportunity to play the same game over again; which he soon after effected, with greater security to himself, and with much better prospect of success, having in this time cultivated a very good understanding with Charles Eden, Esq.; the Governor above mentioned.

The first piece of service this kind governor did to Blackbeard, was, to give him a right to the vessel which he had taken, when he was a-pirating in the great ship called the Queen Ann’s Revenge; for which purpose, a court of vice admiralty was held at Bath Town; and, though Teach had never any commission in his life, and the sloop belonging to the English merchants, and taken in time of peace; yet was she condemned as a prize taken from the Spaniards, by the said Teach. These proceedings show that governors are but men.

Before he sailed upon his adventures, he marry’d a young creature of about sixteen years of age, the Governor performing the ceremony. As it is a custom to marry here by a priest, so it is there by a magistrate; and this, I have been informed, made Teach’s fourteenth wife, whereof, about a dozen might be still living. His behaviour in this state, was something extraordinary; for, while his sloop lay in Ocracoke Inlet, and he ashore at a plantation, where his wife lived, with whom after he had lain all night, it was his custom to invite five or six of his brutal companions to come ashore, and he would force her to prostitute herself to them all, one after another, before his face.

In June 1718, he went to sea, upon another expedition, and steered his course towards Bermuda; he met with two or three English vessels in his way, but robbed them only of provisions, stores and other necessaries, for his present expense; but near the island aforementioned, he fell in with two French ships, one of them was laden with sugar and cocoa, and the other light, both bound to Martinique; the ship that had no lading he let go, and putting all the men of the loaded ship aboard her, he brought home the other with her cargo to North Carolina, where the Governor and the pirates shared the plunder.

When Teach and his prize arrived, he and four of his crew went to His Excellency, and made affidavit, that they found the French ship at sea, without a soul on board her; and then a court was called, and the ship condemned: the Governor had sixty hogsheads of sugar for his dividend, and one Mr. Knight, who was his secretary, and collector for the province, twenty, and the rest was shared among the other pirates.

The business was not yet done, the ship remained, and it was possible one or other might come into the river, that might be acquainted with her, and so discover the roguery; but Teach thought of a contrivance to prevent this, for, upon a pretence that she was leaky, and that she might sink, and so stop up the mouth of the inlet or cove where she lay, he obtained an order from the Governor, to bring her out into the river, and set her on fire, which was accordingly executed, and she was burnt down to the water’s edge, her bottom sunk, and with it, their fears of her ever rising in judgment against them.

Captain Teach, alias Blackbeard, passed three or four months in the river, sometimes lying at anchor in the coves, at other times sailing from one inlet to another, trading with such sloops as he met, for the plunder he had taken, and would often give them presents for stores and provisions took from them; that is, when he happened to be in a giving humour; at other times he made bold with them, and took what he liked, without saying, by your leave, knowing well, they dared not send him a bill for the payment. He often diverted himself with going ashore among the planters, where he revelled night and day: by these he was well received, but whether out of love or fear, I cannot say; sometimes he used them courteously enough, and made them presents of rum and sugar, in recompence of what he took from them; but, as for liberties (which ’tis said) he and his companions often took with the wives and daughters of the planters, I cannot take upon me to say, whether he paid them ad valorem, or no. At other times he carried it in a lordly manner towards them, and would lay some of them under contribution; nay, he often proceeded to bully the Governor, not, that I can discover the least cause of quarrel betwixt them, but it seemed only to be done, to show he dared do it.

The sloops trading up and down this river, being so frequently pillaged by Blackbeard, consulted with the traders, and some of the best of the planters, what course to take; they, saw plainly it would be in vain to make any application to the Governor of North Carolina, to whom it properly belonged to find some redress; so that if they could not be relieved from some other quarter, Blackbeard would be like to reign with impunity, therefore, with as much secrecy as possible, they sent a deputation to Virginia, to lay the affair before the Governor of that colony, and to solicit an armed force from the men-of-war lying there, to take or destroy this pirate.

This governor consulted with the captains of the two men-of-war, viz. the Pearl and Lime, who had lain in St. James’ River, about ten months. It was agreed that the Governor should hire a couple of small sloops, and the men-of-war, should man them; this was accordingly done, and the command of them given to Mr. Robert Maynard, First Lieutenant of the Pearl, an experienced officer, and a gentleman of great bravery and resolution, as will appear by his gallant behaviour in this expedition. The sloops were well mann’d and furnished with ammunition and small arms, but had no guns mounted.

About the time of their going out, the Governor called an assembly, in which it was resolved to publish a proclamation, offering certain rewards to any person or persons, who, within a year after that time, should take or destroy any pirate: the original proclamation being in our hands, is as follows.

By His Majesty’s Lieutenant Governor and, Commander in Chief, of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia,

A Proclamation,

Publishing the rewards given for Apprehending, or killing, pirates

Whereas, by an act of assembly, made at a session of assembly, begun at the capital in Williamsburgh, the eleventh day of November, in the fifth year of His Majesty’s reign, entituled, an act to encourage the apprehending and destroying of pirates: it is, amongst other things enacted, that all and every person, or persons, who, from and after the fourteenth day of November, in the year of our lord one thousand seven hundred and eighteen, and before the fourteenth day of November, which shall be in the year of our lord one thousand seven hundred and nineteen, shall take any pirate, or pirates, on the sea or land, or in case of resistance, shall kill any such pirate, or pirates, between the degrees of thirty-four, and thirty-nine, of northern latitude, and within one hundred leagues of the continent of Virginia, or within the provinces of Virginia, or North Carolina, upon the conviction, or making due proof of the killing of all, and every such pirate, and pirates, before the Governor and Council, shall be entitled to have, and receive out of the public money, in the hands of the treasurer of this colony, the several rewards following; that is to say, for Edward Teach, commonly call’d Captain Teach, or Blackbeard, one hundred pounds, for every other commander of a pirate ship, sloop, or vessel, forty pounds; for every lieutenant, master, or quartermaster, boatswain, or carpenter, twenty pounds; for every other inferior officer, sixteen pounds, and for every private man taken on board such ship, sloop, or vessel, ten pounds; and, that for every pirate, which shall be taken by any ship, sloop or vessel, belonging to this colony, or North Carolina, within the time aforesaid, in any place whatsoever, the like rewards shall be paid according to the quality and condition of such pirates. Wherefore, for the encouragement of all such persons as shall be willing to serve His Majesty, and their country, in so just and honourable an undertaking, as the suppressing a sort of people, who may be truly called enemies to mankind: I have thought fit, with the advice and consent of His Majesty’s Council, to issue this proclamation, hereby declaring, the said rewards shall be punctually and justly paid, in current money of Virginia, according to the directions of the said act. And, I do order and appoint this proclamation, to be published by the sheriffs, at their respective county houses, and by all ministers and readers, in the several churches and chapels, throughout this colony.

The 17th of November, 1718, the lieutenant sail’d from Kicquetan, in James River in Virginia, and, the 21st in the evening, came to the mouth of Ocracoke Inlet, where he got sight of the pirate. This expedition was made with all imaginable secrecy, and the officer manag’d with all the prudence that was necessary, stopping all boats and vessels he met with, in the river, from going up, and thereby preventing any intelligence from reaching Blackbeard, and receiving at the same time an account from them all, of the place where the pirate was lurking; but notwithstanding this caution, Blackbeard had information of the design, from His Excellency of the province; and his secretary, Mr. Knight, wrote him a letter, particularly concerning it, intimating, that he had sent him four of his men, which were all he could meet with, in or about town, and so bid him be upon his guard. These men belonged to Blackbeard, and were sent from Bath Town to Ocracoke Inlet, where the sloop lay, which is about 20 leagues.

Blackbeard had heard several reports, which happened not to be true, and so gave the less credit to this, nor was he convinced till he saw the sloops: whereupon he put his vessel in a posture of defence; he had no more than twenty-five men on board, though he gave out to all the vessels he spoke with, that he had 40. When he had prepared for battle, he set down and spent the night in drinking with the master of a trading sloop, who, ’twas thought, had more business with Teach, than he should have had.

Lieutenant Maynard came to an anchor, for the place being shoal, and the channel intricate, there was no getting in, where Teach lay, that night; but in the morning he weighed, and sent his boat ahead of the sloops to sound; and coming within gunshot of the pirate, received his fire; whereupon Maynard hoisted the King’s colours, and stood directly towards him, with the best way that his sails and oars could made. Blackbeard cut his cable, and endeavoured to make a running fight, keeping a continual fire at his enemies, with his guns; Mr. Maynard not having any, kept a constant fire with small arms, while some of his men laboured at their oars. In a little time Teach’s sloop ran aground, and Mr. Maynard’s drawing more water than that of the pirate, he could not come near him; so he anchored within half gunshot of the enemy, and, in order to lighten his vessel, that he might run him aboard, the lieutenant ordered all his ballast to be thrown overboard, and all the water to be staved, and then weigh’d and stood for him; upon which Blackbeard hail’d him in this rude manner: Damn you for villains, who are you? And, from whence came you? The lieutenant made him answer, You may see by our colours we are no pirates. Blackbeard bid him send his boat on board, that he might see who he was; but Mr. Maynard reply’d thus; I cannot spare my boat, but I will come aboard of you as soon as I can, with my sloop. Upon this, Blackbeard took a glass of liquor, and drank to him with these words: Damnation seize my soul if I give you quarters, or take any from you. In answer to which, Mr. Maynard told him, that he expected no quarters from him, nor should he give him any.

By this time Blackbeard’s sloop fleeted, as Mr. Maynard’s sloops were rowing towards him, which being not above a foot high in the waist, and consequently the men all exposed, as they came near together, (there being hitherto little or no execution done, on either side,) the pirate fired a broadside, charged with all manner of small shot⁠—a fatal stroke to them! The sloop the lieutenant was in, having twenty men killed and wounded, and the other sloop nine. This could not be help’d, for there being no wind, they were oblig’d to keep to their oars, otherwise the pirate would have got away from him, which, it seems, the lieutenant was resolute to prevent.

After this unlucky blow, Blackbeard’s sloop fell broadside to the shore; Mr. Maynard’s other sloop, which was called the Ranger, fell astern, being, for the present, disabled; so the lieutenant finding his own sloop had way, and would soon be on board of Teach, he ordered all his men down, for fear of another broadside, which must have been their destruction, and the loss of their expedition. Mr. Maynard was the only person that kept the deck, except the man at the helm, whom he directed to lie down snug, and the men in the hold were ordered to get their pistols and their swords ready for close fighting, and to come up at his command; in order to which, two ladders were placed in the hatchway for the more expedition. When the lieutenant’s sloop boarded the other, Captain Teach’s men threw in several new fashioned sort of grenades, viz. case bottles fill’d with powder, and small shot, slugs, and pieces of lead or iron, with a quick match in the mouth of it, which being lighted without side, presently runs into the bottle to the powder, and as it is instantly thrown on board, generally does great execution, besides putting all the crew into a confusion; but by good providence, they had not that effect here; the men being in the hold, and Blackbeard seeing few or no hands aboard, told his men, that they were all knock’d on the head, except three or four; and therefore, says he, let’s jump on board, and cut them to pieces.

Whereupon, under the smoke of one of the bottles just mentioned, Blackbeard enters with fourteen men, over the bows of Maynard’s sloop, and were not seen by him till the air cleared; however, he just then gave a signal to his men, who all rose in an instant, and attack’d the pirates with as much bravery as ever was done upon such an occasion: Blackbeard and the lieutenant fired the first pistol at each other, by which the pirate received a wound, and then engaged with swords, till the lieutenant’s unluckily broke, and stepping back to cock a pistol, Blackbeard, with his cutlash, was striking at that instant, that one of Maynard’s men gave him a terrible wound in the neck and throat, by which the lieutenant came off with a small cut over his fingers.

They were now closely and warmly engaged, the lieutenant and twelve men, against Blackbeard and fourteen, till the sea was tinctur’d with blood round the vessel; Blackbeard received a shot into his body from the pistol that Lieutenant Maynard discharg’d, yet he stood his ground, and fought with great fury, till he received five and twenty wounds, and five of them by shot. At length, as he was cocking another pistol, having fired several before, he fell down dead; by which time eight more out of the fourteen dropp’d, and all the rest, much wounded, jump’d overboard, and call’d out for quarters, which was granted, though it was only prolonging their lives for a few days. The sloop Ranger came up, and attack’d the men that remain’d in Blackbeard’s sloop, with equal bravery, till they likewise cry’d for quarters.

Here was an end of that courageous brute, who might have pass’d in the world for a hero, had he been employ’d in a good cause; his destruction, which was of such consequence to the plantations, was entirely owing to the conduct and bravery of Lieutenant Maynard and his men, who might have destroy’d him with much less loss, had they had a vessel with great guns; but they were obliged to use small vessels, because the holes and places he lurk’d in, would not admit of others of greater draught; and it was no small difficulty for this gentleman to get to him, having grounded his vessel, at least, a hundred times, in getting up the river, besides other discouragements, enough to have turn’d back any gentleman without dishonour, who was less resolute and bold than this lieutenant. The broadside that did so much mischief before they boarded, in all probability saved the rest from destruction; for before that Teach had little or no hopes of escaping, and therefore had posted a resolute fellow, a Negro whom he had bred up, with a lighted match, in the powder-room, with commands to blow up when he should give him orders, which was as soon as the lieutenant and his men could have entered, that so he might have destroy’d his conquerors: and when the Negro found how it went with Blackbeard, he could hardly be persuaded from the rash action, by two prisoners that were then in the hold of the sloop.

What seems a little odd, is, that some of these men, who behaved so bravely against Blackbeard, went afterwards a-pirating themselves, and one of them was taken along with Roberts; but I do not find that any of them were provided for, except one that was hanged; but this is a digression.

The lieutenant caused Blackbeard’s head to be severed from his body, and hung up at the bowsprit end, then he sailed to Bath Town, to get relief for his wounded men.

It must be observed, that in rummaging the pirate’s sloop, they found several letters and written papers, which discovered the correspondence betwixt Governor Eden, the secretary and collector, and also some traders at New York, and Blackbeard. It is likely he had regard enough for his friends, to have destroyed these papers before the action, in order to hinder them from falling into such hands, where the discovery would be of no use, either to the interest or reputation of these fine gentlemen, if it had not been his fixed resolution to have blown up together, when he found no possibility of escaping.

When the lieutenant came to Bath Town, he made bold to seize in the Governor’s storehouse, the sixty hogsheads of sugar, and from honest Mr. Knight, twenty; which it seems was their dividend of the plunder taken in the French ship; the latter did not long survive this shameful discovery, for being apprehensive that he might be called to an account for these trifles, fell sick with the fright, and died in a few days.

After the wounded men were pretty well recover’d, the lieutenant sailed back to the men-of-war in James River, in Virginia, with Blackbeard’s head still hanging at the bowsprit end, and fifteen prisoners, thirteen of whom were hanged. It appearing upon trial, that one of them, viz. Samuel Odell, was taken out of the trading sloop, but the night before the engagement. This poor fellow was a little unlucky at his first entering upon his new trade, there appearing no less than 70 wounds upon him after the action, notwithstanding which, he lived, and was cured of them all. The other person that escaped the gallows, was one Israel Hands, the master of Blackbeard’s sloop, and formerly captain of the same, before the Queen Ann’s Revenge was lost in Topsail Inlet.

The aforesaid Hands happened not to be in the fight, but was taken afterwards ashore at Bath Town, having been sometime before disabled by Blackbeard, in one of his savage humours, after the following manner.⁠—One night drinking in his cabin with Hands, the pilot, and another man; Blackbeard without any provocation privately draws out a small pair of pistols, and cocks them under the table, which being perceived by the man, he withdrew and went upon deck, leaving Hands, the pilot, and the captain together. When the pistols were ready, he blew out the candle, and crossing his hands, discharged them at his company; Hands, the master, was shot thro’ the knee, and lam’d for life; the other pistol did no execution.⁠—Being asked the meaning of this, he only answered, by damning them, that if he did not now and then kill one of them, they would forget who he was.

Hands being taken, was try’d and condemned, but just as he was about to be executed, a ship arrives at Virginia with a proclamation for prolonging the time of His Majesty’s pardon, to such of the pirates as should surrender by a limited time therein expressed: notwithstanding the sentence, Hands pleaded the pardon, and was allowed the benefit of it, and is alive at this time in London, begging his bread.

Now that we have given some account of Teach’s life and actions, it will not be amiss, that we speak of his beard, since it did not a little contribute towards making his name so terrible in those parts.

Plutarch, and other grave historians have taken notice, that several great men amongst the Romans, took their surnames from certain odd marks in their countenances; as Cicero, from a mark or vetch on his nose; so our hero, Captain Teach, assumed the cognomen of Blackbeard, from that large quantity of hair, which, like a frightful meteor, covered his whole face, and frightened America more than any comet that has appeared there a long time.

This beard was black, which he suffered to grow of an extravagant length; as to breadth, it came up to his eyes; he was accustomed to twist it with ribbons, in small tails, after the manner of our Ramillies wigs, and turn them about his ears: in time of action, he wore a sling over his shoulders, with three brace of pistols, hanging in holsters like bandoliers; and stuck lighted matches under his hat, 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.

If he had the look of a fury, his humours and passions were suitable to it; we shall relate two or three more of his extravagancies, which we omitted in the body of his history, by which it will appear, to what a pitch of wickedness, human nature may arrive, if it’s passions are not checked.

In the commonwealth of pirates, he who goes the greatest length of wickedness, is looked upon with a kind of envy amongst them, as a person of a more extraordinary gallantry, and is thereby entitled to be distinguished by some post, and if such a one has but courage, he must certainly be a great man. The hero of whom we are writing, was thoroughly accomplished this way, and some of his frolics of wickedness, were so extravagant, as if he aimed at making his men believe he was a devil incarnate; for being one day at sea, and a little flushed with drink:⁠—come, says he, let us make a hell of our own, and try how long we can bear it; accordingly he, with two or three others, went down into the hold, and closing up all the hatches, filled several pots full of brimstone, and other combustible matter, and set it on fire, and so continued till they were almost suffocated, when some of the men cried out for air; at length he opened the hatches, not a little pleased that he held out the longest.

The night before he was killed, he set up and drank till the morning, with some of his own men, and the master of a merchantman, and having had intelligence of the two sloops coming to attack him, as has been before observed; one of his men asked him, in case anything should happen to him in the engagement with the sloops, whether his wife knew where he had buried his money? He answered, that nobody but himself and the devil, knew where it was, and the longest liver should take all.

Those of his crew who were taken alive, told a story which may appear a little incredible; however, we think it will not be fair to omit it, since we had it from their own mouths. That once upon a cruise, they found out that they had a man on board more than their crew; such a one was seen several days amongst them, sometimes below, and sometimes upon deck, yet no man in the ship could give an account who he was, or from whence he came; but that he disappeared little before they were cast away in their great ship, but, it seems, they verily believed it was the devil.

One would think these things should induce them to reform their lives, but so many reprobates together, encouraged and spirited one another up in their wickedness, to which a continual course of drinking did not a little contribute; for in Blackbeard’s journal, which was taken, there were several memorandums of the following nature, sound writ with his own hand.⁠—Such a day, rum all out:⁠—Our company somewhat sober:⁠—A damn’d confusion amongst us!⁠—rogues a-plotting;⁠—great talk of separation.⁠—So I look’d sharp for a prize;⁠—such a day took one, with a great deal of liquor on board, so kept the company hot, damned hot, then all things went well again.

Thus it was these wretches passed their lives, with very little pleasure or satisfaction, in the possession of what they violently take away from others, and sure to pay for it at last, by an ignominious death.

There were in the pirate sloops, and ashore in a tent, near where the sloops lay, 25 hogsheads of sugar, 11 teirces, and 145 bags of cocoa, a barrel of indigo, and a bale of cotton; which, with what was taken from the Governor and Secretary, and the sale of the sloop, came to 2,500 £ besides the rewards paid by the Governor of Virginia, pursuant to his proclamation; all which was divided among the companies of the two ships, Lime and Pearl, that lay in James River; the brave fellows that took them coming in for no more than their dividend amongst the rest, and was paid it within these three months.