Caribbean. He regularly ransacked these ships, but there are no records of any
deaths or injuries being suffered by their crews, who were usually set ashore
soon after. Early in 1718, naval vessels began to combine in a search for
Teach, whose fleet was now very large. Teach named himself commodore, and
in May 1718 took his force to blockade Charleston, stopping and raiding every
ship that tried to enter or leave the harbour, holding several prominent citizens
hostage. He demanded medical supplies in return for their lives. These were
provided and the hostages released.
Then Teach heard of the imminent arrival of several menofwar sent from
England to capture pirates. He took his fleet north into a concealed inlet in
North Carolina, whereQueen Anne’s Revenge ran aground on a sandbar,
possibly deliberately as it was too big to navigate those waters. The ship was
stripped and Teach abandoned most of his crew, in the hope of a royal pardon
which had been issued for those pirates who surrendered before a certain date.
He was granted this in June. But he returned to his piratical ways and was
finally overcome in a battle in November on 1718 with ships commanded by
Lieutenant Robert Maynard of HMSPearl. Maynard hung Blackbeard’s head
from the bowsprit and sailed back to collect the reward.
The finds made in the wreck included many turtle bones, some sprinklings
of gold dust, a signal gun, loaded cannons, lead shot, scrap iron and glass in
CRIME IN THE AGE OF INDUSTRY AND EMPIREFigure 29. Blackbeard (after Benjamin Cole’s illustration inA General History
of the Pyrates, 1724