Hunting Down the Pirates

S1 Red

Hunting Down the Pirates

During The Golden Age of Piracy (1689-1718), numerous pirates preyed upon lightly armed merchant ships in North Carolina and other American colonies. The pirates seized their contents and sometimes killed those who resisted. Blackbeard was the most notorious pirate in the history of seafaring. With a beard that almost covered his face, he would strike terror into the hearts of his victims, according to some early accounts, by weaving wicks laced with gunpowder into his hair, and lighting them during battle. Blackbeard’s lawless career lasted only a few years, but his fearsome reputation has long outlived him.

The story of Blackbeard and his grisly heath has become embroidered with legend. However, the salt-strained logbooks of the naval officers involved are a salutary reminder that Blackbeard was a real person. In the Public Record Office at Kew is the captain’s log of HMS Lyme, which describes the despatching of the expedition “in quest of ye Pirate Teach (Blackbeard’s real Name) in N Carolina”, and in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich is the log which was kept by Robert Maynard, first lieutenant of HMS Pearl and the man who led the naval force which destroyed the most famous of all the pirates.

The man responsible for organising the expedition in search of Blackbeard was Alexander Spotswood, the Governor of Virginia.

Lieutenant Maynard, “and experienced officer and a gentleman of great bravery and resolution”, was appointed to lead the expedition. He had under his command thirty-five men from the Pearl, and a midshipman and twenty-five men from Lyme. The hired sloops were the Ranger and the Jane. Maynard took command of the Jane and a Mr Hyde was put in command of the Ranger. Neither of the sloops had cannons, so Maynard had to rely on small arms, swords and pistols.

Maynard found out from passing vessels that Blackbeard’s sloop Adventure was anchored on the inner side of Ocracok Island, facing the sheltered waters of Pamlico Sound. It was an ideal refuge, protected by numerous shoals and sandbanks. Maynard’s sloop, guided by the local pilots, arrived in the area at dusk on Thursday 21 November, and the decision was made to wait for the tide and make the attack early the following morning.

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At first light the sloops weighed anchor and crept towards the island. There was very little wind and Maynard ordered some of his men to take a small boat and row ahead of the sloop, taking soundings as they went. As they approached the pirate ship they were greeted by a volley of shot. The boat hastily retreated to the protection of the sloops.

At this stage the odds were still in Maynard’s favour. The pirate ship only had nineteen men on board. Moreover, Blackbeard and several of his crew had spent much of the night drinking.

However, the pirate captain knew the shoals and channels, and his ship had nine mounted guns. With the alarm raised, he cut his anchor cable and headed for a narrow channel among the submerged sandbanks. Maynard hoisted the King’s colours and set off in pursuit.

There was so little wind that the sloops had to use their oars to make any progress. At this point Maynard’s sloop ran aground, and a shouted exchange took place between Maynard and Blackbeard. There are several versions of this. The briefest and best is Maynard’s own account which simply reads: “At our first salutation, he drank Damnation to me and my Men, whom he stil’d Cowardly Puppies, saying, He would neither give nor take Quarter”.

With the rising tide, and with the help of much heaving and pulling from his men, Maynard’s two sloops floated free and began to row towards the Adventure. As they approached Blackbeard fired a broadside from his guns, which he had loaded with swan shot, nails and pieces of old iron. The effect was devastating. In Maynard’s words, “Mr Hyde was unfortunately killed, and five of his men wounded in the little sloop, which have nobody to command her, fell astern and did not come up to assist me till the Action was almost over”. According to the more detailed account in the Boston News Letter, six men were killed and ten wounded by the broadside.

Maynard pressed on in the Jane and succeeded in shooting away the Adventure’s jib and fore-halliards and forcing the vessel ashore. He ordered all except two of his men to hide in the hold with their weapons at the ready while he made his final approach. As the Jane came alongside his ship, Blackbeard naturally assumed his guns had killed most of her crew and decided to board Maynard’s ship with ten of his pirates. They clambered aboard and, they did so, the sailors emerged from hiding. The most complete account of what happened next appears in the Boston New Letter.

Maynard and Teach themselves began the fight with their swords, Maynard making a thrust, the point of his sword went against Teach’s cartridge box, and bended it to the hilt. Teach broke the guard of it, and wounded Maynard’s finger but did not disable him, whereupon he jumped back and threw away his sword and fired his pistol which wounded Teach. Demelt struck in between them with his sword and cut Teach’s face pretty much; in the interim both companies engaged in Maynard’s sloop, one of Maynard’s men being a Highlander, engaged Teach with his broad sword, who gave Teach a cut on the neck, Teach saying well done lad; the highlander replied, If it be not well done, I’ll do it better. With that he gave him a second stroke, which cut off his head, laying it flat on his shoulder.

According to Maynard, Blackbeard fell “with five shot in him and 20 dismal cuts in several parts of his body”. He seemed to defy death until the highlander’s fatal slash with his broadsword. It is not surprising to find that the local legend has it that when Blackbeard’s body was thrown overboard, the headless corpse swam around the sloop several times.

Maynard kept Blackbeard’s head and slung it below the bowsprit of his sloop. The display of the gruesome trophy in this manner was very much in the spirit of an age when the heads of traitors were impaled on the spears over the gateway to London Bridge and the corpses of criminals suspended in prominent places as a warning to others.

Maynard also needed the head as proof that he had killed the notorious pirate, and could claim reward.

From Life Among the Pirates by David Cordingly

Reproduced by permission of Time Warner Book Group UK

Section A

The passage is divided into two parts using asterisks*.

The question in this section all deal with the first part of the passage.

1. What does the writer mean when he states that the story of Blackbeard’s death has become ‘embroidered with legend’? (paragraph 2)

1. Which of the following is closest in the meaning to the word ‘logbook’? (paragraph2)

Tick the correct answer.

Rule book

Personal diary

Ship’s record

Maths tables

1. According to the passage, why are the naval officers’ logbooks important?

1. What was Blackbeard’s real name?

1. What disadvantage did Maynard’s boats have for this expedition?

Section B

Complete the following summary of the beginning of the second part of the passage by filling in the spaces with words of your own choice or from the passage. You may use one or more words.

Day was [] 1 as the slopes got under way and moved [] 2

towards the island. Maynard had some men row ahead in a small boat to check the [

] 3 of the water. They were [] 4 and hurried back to

the [] 5 of their own boats.

Maynard had two advantages: Blackbeard had fewer [] 6 and many of

them had been [] 7. Yet Blackbeard also had two advantages: he knew

how to [] 8 the water channels and his ship was [] 9.

Realising he was being [] 10 Blackbeard cut free his [] 11

and relied on the [] 12 of the channel to make his [] 13.

Maynard, flying the royal colours, [] 14.

Section C

Read Page 2 and answer the following questions.

1. Why did Maynard’s men have to resort to rowing after the Adventure?

1. Explain how Maynard’s sloops were freed after running aground?

1. Give two reasons why one of Maynard’s sloops played little part in the action after Blackbeard’s attack.

1. Why did Maynard order all but two of his men to hide in the hold?

1. Read the extract from the Boston Newsletter. What does Blackbeard do which might seem surprising?

1. Give one piece of evidence that shows why Blackbeard deserved his fearless reputation?

1. Give two reasons why Maynard kept Blackbeard’s head?

i.

ii.

1. “in quest of ye Pirate Teach…in N. Carolina.” (paragraph 2)

“At our first salutation, he drank Damnation to me and my Men, whom he stil’d Cowardly Puppies, saying, He would neither give nor take Quarter.” (paragraph 8)

Identify two features from these quotations which suggest they come from pre-twentieth century texts.

i.

ii.

[END OF QUESTIONS]