Blackbeard in the North Carolina Collection: Historical and Biographical Information

Drawing on vivid descriptions of Blackbeard's attacks from his rare surviving victims, pirate expert Angus Konstam traces Blackbeard's career from its beginnings to his final defeat in a tremendous sea battle near his base at Ocracoke Island. Presenting dramatic accounts of the pirate's very effective tactics and his reputation for cruelty, Konstam offers a fascinating examination of the life and business of piracy and the lure of this brutal and bloody trade.

Blackbeard's extraordinary life of excess during the Golden Age of Piracy ignited a reputation that struck terror into men's hearts from Virginia to Barbados. Leading a flotilla of ships through the clear waters of the Indies, he left in his wake the image of a "ranting, roaring, swaggering, swearing" sea captain that is still remembered today. Blackbeard's life on the high seas, chasing wealth, freedom, and power, ended in a bloody battle that ultimately marked a turning point in history. This book accompanies a multimillion-dollar BBC-National Geographic drama that explores the reality of the man behind the beard. Far from the caricature of films and novels, Blackbeard was a complex character who was as charming as he was ruthless. The atrocities he indulged in, and how they eventually proved to be his undoing, are here explored through a fresh appraisal of surviving contemporary documents. Today, we might associate pirates with peg-legs, parrots and dreamy tropical islands, but the disturbing truth is the stuff of nightmares.

Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was one of the most notorious pirates ever to plague the Atlantic coast. He was also one of the most colorful pirates of all time, becoming the model for countless blood-and-thunder tales of sea rovers. His daring exploits, personal courage, terrifying appearance, and fourteen wives made him a legend in his own lifetime.

The legends and myths about Blackbeard have become wilder rather than tamer in the 250 years since his gory but valiant death at Ocracoke Inlet. It is difficult for historians, and all but impossible for the general reader, to separate fact from fiction. Author Robert E. Lee has studied virtually every scrap of information available about the pirate and his contemporaries in an attempt to find the real Blackbeard. The result is a fascinating and authoritative study that reads like an exciting swashbuckler. Lee goes beyond the myths and the image Teach so carefully cultivated to reveal a new Blackbeard—infinitely more interesting as a man than as a legend. In the process, he has captured the spirit and character of a vanished age, "the golden age of piracy."

The first book length work on the history of colonial North Carolina. Historians Lefler and Powell take the reader on a journey through the history of the Tar Heel state from the first attempts at colonization and exploration to the start of the American Revolution. They provide insight on the cultural and economic aspects of life in those times.

One of the most important works on Anglo-American piracy, this history relies on many firsthand accounts, interviews, and court transcripts of the time.

History remembers the infamous Black Beard as one of the greatest, most successful pirates who ever lived-a paragon of pirates. But what if history got it wrong? When Black Beard arrived in North Carolina in 1718, he commanded one of the most powerful pirate fleets in history- 400 men aboard four ships, including his prized, cannon-studded flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge. But in a stunning reversal of fortunes, everything suddenly went wrong. Six months later, when Black Beard was cornered and killed at Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina, he was in the comp-any of just 20 men and the only treasure found in his possession was some sugar, cocoa, cotton and a mysterious letter. What happened during Black Beard's last days that precipitated his demise? Who, truly, was Edward Teach, aka Black Beard, and from whence did he come? What was his true name? And what happened to his treasure? For more than 35 years, researcher, author and filmmaker, Kevin Duffus has followed the wake of the pirate captain's journey through history. Along the way, Duffus observed that many historical accounts describing the pirate's last days--the six months following the wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge at Beaufort Inlet--were inaccurate, insufficiently researched, and, as it turned out, not nearly as interesting as the truth.

The Pirates of Colonial North Carolina is the exciting story of those fearsome buccaneers who went a-pyrating along the North Carolina coast during the Golden Age of Piracy. It graphically describes the exploits of such sea villains as Calico Jack, Gentleman Harry, Long Ben, and the female swashbucklers Anne Bonny and Mary Read—thieves and cutthroats who were Striving to cheat God, Man and the Devil. Most frightening of them all was the infamous Blackbeard, who struck terror into the hearts of honest men who came under the shadow of his black flag.