Pirates: Blackbeard - The Pirate Terror of the Sea

by Patrick Auerbach

The pirate Blackbeard is perhaps the most notorious of sea robbers. Blackbeard was British, probably born before 1690. His real name was thought to be Edward Teach. As a young seaman, he had served on a British privateer that was based in Jamaica, an island in the Caribbean. Privateers were privately owned, armed ships hired by governments during time of war. The privateers' mission was to attack the ships of the enemy. Queen Anne of Britain allowed Teach's privateer to plunder French and Spanish ships during the War of the Spanish Succession and to keep stolen goods. By war's end, Teach had become an experienced sea robber. He then joined a group of fierce Caribbean pirates. Soon the cunning, fearless Teach became captain of his own ship. A ship he had stolen! He added cannons and reinforced the ship's sides. His ship was swift, easy to handle, and able to carry a large crew of as many as 250 pirates. The pirates often determined a ship's nationality first. Then they raised that country's flag on the pirate ship so they appeared to be friendly. Now able to draw close to the unsuspecting ship, the pirates hoisted Blackbeard's flag only at the last moment. Blackbeard's Flag. Merchant crews often surrendered without a fight the moment they saw Blackbeard's flag. If the ship didn't surrender after warnings, the pirates moved in. Frequently their first the sailor at the ship's wheel. Then, as the pilotless ship drifted aimlessly, the pirates snared it with grappling hooks, pulled it closer, and leaped aboard. When the attack ended, the pirates took the passengers and crew hostage and ransacked cabins looking for coins, gold, silver, and jewellery. Blackbeard repeated this scene over and over again. Scroll to the top of the page and click Add To Cart to read more about this extraordinary forgotten chapter of history

Genres: History, Pirates, Nonfiction

48 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 19, 2016

Reviews

[a. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and quick read. Actual rating: 3.5

[shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read

Great history lesson with lots of facts and easy to read. Good book if you only have a few days to finish.

[Sean Anter · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok but really would like more in depth information

[Mark Laufenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe that this is the first book by Patrick Auerbach that I've read and I found it pretty interesting. It is in the genre of condensed history books that take an hour or less to read, so it's not a real in-depth biography, but it still covers a lot of information for those who wish to learn about Blackbeard and piracy in general.

A man believed to have been born Edward Teach, he was a privateer during Queen Anne's war, but found himself unemployed after the war ended. Many other sailors in this position in the early 1700s joined pirate crews and found a very lucrative life that way. Teach earned the nickname "Blackbeard" as a pirate. Besides being very smart, Blackbeard was a very large man who used his size and different ploys to sometimes capture ships by intimidation alone.

Under his leadership, there was a lot of democracy among his crew. After they had seized the ship, the spoils were shared equally among them and their captain was chosen by popular vote. Besides ships carrying riches, they also captured some slave ships as those ships were built for speed, were well armed, and became very suitable pirate ships. The African-Americans were very willing to join the pirate crews because it was a better fate than what awaited them on American shores. They were also treated as equals among the crew.

I was surprised to learn that despite his feared reputation, Blackbeard rarely, if ever, used violence or lethal force against those he captured. While his exploits were well covered, the book also supplied information about other aspects of the Golden Age of piracy. The lives and exploits of pirates such as "Calico" Jack Rackham, Mary Read, and Anne Bonny are also detailed.

In reading this book, I not only learned about Blackbeard, but also discovered a lot of facts about the age of piracy overall. The democracy among them made their crimes less severe than the imperialism of the royal elites from the countries whose ships they captured. Despite some typos, I thought the book was fairly well written and informative.

[Megan Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was needing a little background information of pirates and I cam across this book! I completely forgot that I already got this in my Ebook stash awhile back (you know how that goes). Pretty quick read. Not only is this about Blackbeard, but it also had a whole chapter on female pirates that I greatly enjoyed!

[Terance Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

A good perspective of the pirate era.
Anyone interested in this subject should read it as a starter, introduction. A good read