Blackbeard, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetBlackbeard
English pirate
Date of Birth: 01-Jan-1680
Place of Birth: Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Date of Death: 22-Nov-1718
Profession: pirate
Zodiac Sign: Capricorn 
About Blackbeard
- Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, c.?1680 – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies.
- Little is known about his early life, but 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 around 1716.
- Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop that 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 Hornigold retired from piracy towards the end of 1717, taking two vessels with him. Teach captured a French slave ship known as La Concorde, renamed her Queen Anne's Revenge, equipped her with 40 guns, and finished her off with a crew of 300+ men.
- He became a renowned pirate, his nickname derived from his thick black beard and fearsome appearance; he was reported to have tied lit fuses (slow matches) under his hat to frighten his enemies.
- He formed an alliance of pirates and blockaded the port of Charles Town, South Carolina, ransoming the port's inhabitants.
- He then ran Queen Anne's Revenge aground on a sandbar near Beaufort, North Carolina.
- He parted company with Bonnet and settled in Bath, North Carolina, also known as 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 capture the pirate, which they did on 22 November 1718 following a ferocious battle.
- Teach and several of his crew were killed by a small force of sailors led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard. Teach was a shrewd and calculating leader who spurned the use of violence, relying instead on his fearsome image to elicit the response that he desired from those whom he robbed.
- He was romanticized after his death and became the inspiration for an archetypal pirate in works of fiction across many genres.
Read more at Wikipedia