Spartan Gold: Blackbeard and more

pg 121

"Blackbeard?" Sam asked. " Captain Kidd?"

Edward Teach (c. 1680 – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies. Although little is known about his early life, he was probably born in Bristol, England. He may have been a sailor on privateer ships during Queen Anne's War before settling on the Caribbean island of New Providence, a base for Captain Benjamin Hornigold, whose crew Teach joined sometime around 1716. Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop he had captured, and the two engaged in numerous acts of piracy. Their numbers were boosted by the addition to their fleet of two more ships, one of which was commanded by Stede Bonnet, but toward the end of 1717 Hornigold retired from piracy, taking two vessels with him.

Teach captured a French merchant vessel, renamed her Queen Anne's Revenge, and equipped her with 40 guns. He became a renowned pirate, his cognomen derived from his thick black beard and fearsome appearance; he was reported to have tied lit fuses under his hat to frighten his enemies. He formed an alliance of pirates and blockaded the port of Charleston, South Carolina. After successfully ransoming its inhabitants, he ran Queen Anne's Revenge aground on a sandbar near Beaufort, North Carolina. He parted company with Bonnet, settling in Bath Town, where he accepted a royal pardon. But he was soon back at sea and attracted the attention of Alexander Spotswood, the Governor of Virginia. Spotswood arranged for a party of soldiers and sailors to try to capture the pirate, which they did on 22 November 1718. During a ferocious battle, Teach and several of his crew were killed by a small force of sailors led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard.

A shrewd and calculating leader, Teach spurned the use of force, relying instead on his fearsome image to elicit the response he desired from those he robbed. Contrary to the modern-day picture of the traditional tyrannical pirate, he commanded his vessels with the permission of their crews and there is no known account of his ever having harmed or murdered those he held captive. He was romanticised after his death and became the inspiration for a number of pirate-themed works of fiction across a range of genres.

William "Captain" Kidd (c. 1645 – May 23, 1701)[1] was a Scottish sailor remembered for his trial and execution for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians deem his piratical reputation unjust, as there is evidence that Kidd acted only as a privateer. Kidd's fame springs largely from the sensational circumstances of his questioning before the English Parliament and the ensuing trial. His actual depredations on the high seas, whether piratical or not, were both less destructive and less lucrative than those of many other contemporary pirates and privateers.

The HMS Conqueror, Britain's first propeller-driven warship.

HMS Conqueror was a a 101-gun Conqueror class screw propelled first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1855, but spent only six years in service before being wrecked on Rum Cay in the Bahamas in 1861.

Construction and commissioning
Conqueror was one of a two ship class, her sister being Donegal. She was built to an 1852 design from the Surveyor’s Department and ordered from Devonport Dockyard on 16 November 1852. She was laid down on 25 July 1853, launched on 2 May 1855 and commissioned on 9 April 1856. She cost a total of £171,116, with £91,244 spent on her hull and a further £50,919 spent on her machinery, from John Penn & Son.

Career
Conqueror was initially commanded by Thomas Matthew Charles Symonds, and formed part of the Channel Squadron. She was later assigned to operate in the Mediterranean during the Crimean War, and later was based out of Malta, when Hastings Yelverton took command on 22 July 1859. Yelverton was succeeded by William John Cavendish Clifford and he by James Willcox in 1860, by which time Conqueror had returned to Plymouth. Edward Southwell Sotheby took over command and was despatched to carry troops supporting the French intervention in Mexico in late 1861. While sailing through the Caribbean, Conqueror was wrecked on Rum Cay on 13 December 1861 due to a navigation error. All 1,400 aboard were saved.

Exploring the island by car would have taken weeks and required miles of crosscountry bushwacking.

Bushwhacking, a North American term for hikers and cross-country skiers who make their own trails. (Not to be confused with Australian bushwackers, people who'd spend their time in the brush, or American bushwhackers during the Civil War who would ambush people.