Blackbeard Informative Speech

• Famous Pirate- Edward Teach “Blackbeard”: 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. A big man, he added to his menacing appearance by wearing a crimson coat, two swords at his waist, and bandoleers stuffed with numerous pistols and knives across his chest. Blackbeard’s lawless career lasted only a few years, but his fearsome reputation has long outlived him. Thought to have been a native of England, he was using the name Edward Teach when he began his pirating sometime after 1713 as a crewman aboard

a Jamaican sloop commanded by the pirate Benjamin Hornigold. In 1716, Horingold appointed Teach to command a captured vessel. By mid-1717 the two, sailing in concert, were among the most feared pirates of their day. In November 1718, Governor Alexander Spottswood of Virginia sent a Royal Navy contingent to North Carolina, where Blackbeard was killed in a bloody battle at Ocracoke Inlet on November 22, 1718. During the action, Blackbeard received a reported 5 musket ball wounds and more than twenty sword lacerations before dying. Blackbeard had captured over 40 ships in his career as a pirate, and his death represented the end of an ear in the history of piracy in the New World.