Captain Edward Teach is probably the most well known pirate from the golden age of piracy that began around the middle of the 17th century and is thought to have end at the beginning of the 18th century. Having said this, you are probably saying…never heard of him. That's because he is more commonly referred to as Blackbeard. This article will profile Blackbeard's life and his gruesome demise.

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He is well known or notorious because of his attire and general appearance. In fact his appearance is the standard by which we view pirates from that period. He wore the traditional pirate captains hat, bandoliers that stored his flintlock pistols, various knives and swords and most importantly had a massive black beard. It is claimed he used to light cannon fuses and place them in his beard so that the smoke would emanate from the hair. This was meant to scare his enemies and keep his crew honest. He was valiant in battle and ruled with an iron fist on his flotilla of ships.

Although all of his life is documented in the fairly dubious book “A General Historie of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates” that was said to be partly fictionalised and written by Daniel Dafoe under a pen name, it makes for interesting reading.

Teach became a privateer in his teens and adulthood, which was effectively a hired gun for the British empire and an enemy of Spain and France. He would freely attack Spanish galleons, undermining their presence in the Caribbean seas and the main routes from Europe to the new colonies. This was good for Britain and, since he kept all the loot from the galleons, good for Blackbeard too.

The British government of the times often changed their minds on the legitimacy of privateers. So before you could say "blistering barnacles", Blackbeard moved into full scale piracy, looting and hijacking formerly friendly ships and old enemies. This included British, Dutch and French ships along with the Spanish.

He attacked many ships and had many engagements with Royal Navy vessels. Eventually he seemed to tire of pirating and requested a pardon from the British government. Strangely enough they agreed to pardon him for past activities and it seemed he was set to spend his retirment enjoying the proceeds of his piracy.

He made retirment plans by sailing to the coastal waters of North Carolina. This made the governor of the new colony nervous and despite the pardon, the governor arranged for Blackbeard to be hunted down and eliminated.

For a fairly paltry bounty of 100 pounds, lieutenant Maynard tracked down Teach and his flotilla of ships. In the ensuing battle, Captain Edward Teach was killed. His body was decapitated and tossed overboard. Legend recounts how his headless corpse swam round the boat 7 times before it sank into the depths. The head was hung from the bowsprit of Maynard's ship. It was later placed on a pike in full view of all the people that chose to look when back on land.

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