300th Anniversary of the Demise of Blackbeard
Thanksgiving Day just happened to mark the 300th anniversary of one of the most historical “battles” to have ever occurred in North Carolina. While certainly not of the same magnitude of Guilford Courthouse or Bentonville, the ultimate demise of Blackbeard the Pirate came to pass in Ocracoke Inlet on November 22nd of 1718.
Given the perpetual interest regarding pirates in general (and Blackbeard in particular), the Richmond Observer offers a series of articles chronicling the life and times of arguably the most recognized (if not indeed the most nefarious) pirate of all time. This is the tenth segment.
Blackbeard Part X: Try Not to Lose Your Head Over This
Blackbeard had not succumbed easily. His body was examined and found to have suffered five gunshot wounds and twenty sword cuts. Completing the decapitation, Maynard had the body tossed overboard; there is no truth to the myth of Blackbeard’s lifeless body “swimming” around the boat at all, much less three times. The head of the pirate was a different matter. Maynard ordered that it be suspended from the bowsprit of the “Jane” as a trophy to be presented as proof of his victory.
A search of Blackbeard’s quarters on the “Adventure” yielded several items of interest. Letters were found to implicate both Eden and Knight in having at least shown great “tolerance,” if not actual collaboration, in relation to the illegal operations of the pirate.
Maynard sailed in to Ocracoke with Blackbeard’shead dangling from the bow of his sloop. The crew remained at Ocracoke for four days while the dead were buried and repairs were made to the “Jane” and “Ranger.” The “loot” (e.g., sugar, cocoa, indigo, cotton, etc.) found on Teach’s ship and in the tents of the pirates’ shoreline camp was auctioned off, as was sugar and cotton found in the barn of Tobias Knight.
The money from the sale of Blackbeard and Knight’s “possessions” was taken back to Governor Spotswood, who in turn used it to pay for the operation and supplement the prize money for the defeat of Blackbeard. The crews of the “Lyme” and “Pearl” split these funds. Maynard had objected to this division, contending that Captain Brand and his “ground troops” had not been the ones who killed the pirate and were thus not entitled to any of the prize money. However, it was soon discovered that Maynard and his crew had failed to disclose that they had already confiscated a sizable portion of the booty themselves. Regardless, it took almost four years before the “spoils of victory” were distributed to all deserving parties and Lieutenant Maynard simply faded into obscurity.
