Edward Teach

From One Piece Encyclopedia

Edward Teach as caricatured by Oda

Blackbeard (c. 1680 – November 22, 1718) was the nickname of a man whose real name was believed to be Edward Teach, alias Edward Thatch.

[edit] Career

Blackbeard was a notorious English pirate who had a short reign of terror in the Caribbean Sea between 1716 and 1718. Born in Bristol, his name was given to him because of his thick, long and scruffy black beard (another reference claimed he failed to grow it to a great length, however it came up to his eyes across his face). He was also said to be incredibly cruel to his own crew, more so than the people he held captive. His career as a pirate was made famous by the book A general history of the robberies & murders of the most notorious Pirates, which contained detailed accounts of his actions at sea.

Blackbeard spent most of the first better part of his seafaring life being commanded rather then commanding. He began as an apprentice pirate on board Captain Benjamin Hornigold's Brigantine Ranger (alongside fellow pirate Samuel Bellamy), until 1716 when he was put in command of a sloop by Hornigold. The two had parted ways after Hornigold allowed him to take a Guinea-man for a cruise, he would later name her the Queen Anne's Revenge and she would become the most famous ship Teach would be captain of. Blackbeard's motives for burning ships of New England he attacked and plundered was often rooted (amongst other reasons) as revenge against places where pirates were often hung.

[edit] Noted incidents

Along with Hornigold he captured the French Guinea-men, later renamed Queen Anne's Revenge.
The Scarborough man-of-war (30-guns) failed against Teach's ship.
Teach met a pirate Sloop commanded by Major Bonnet. Teach joined Bonnet but since Bonnet was an inexperienced sea farer, Teach put one of his own men in charge of his ship and took Bonnet on his crew.
Richards (the man Teach put in charge of Bonnet's ship) in the sloop Revenge defeated the sloop, the Adventure.
Teach took a ship called Protestant Caesar belonging to Captain Wyar and four sloops. The sloops belonged to Jonathan Bernard (of which 3 belonged to him) and Captain James. One sloop was later burned to spite the owner and after she had been plundered, the Protestant Caesar was burned because she belonged to Boston, where pirates had been hung. Bernard's ships were released.
On the way to Carolina they had taken down two sloops and a brigantine who had been in their way.
Robert Clark's ship, heading for London was taken and a day later another ship and two pinks were struck by the pirate. Another brigantine was also struck. This would cause terror in the town of Carolina which all ships were plundered at. After their demands were later met, Teach allowed all captured ships to leave.
Teach manned a ship dubbed "man-of-war". Richard and another man, Hands, manned two sloops along with another sloop. Teach would later break the company up through treachery (Richards sloop was run ashore, for example).

[edit] Blackbeard's Defeat

After terrorizing the America coastline, he broke up his company in 1717, he traveled to North Carolina and he and his twenty men surrendered in exchange for pardon. After he had been pardon, he was given the right to his former ship the Queen Anne's Revenge. The governor performed the marriage ceremony for his 14th wife (twelve of his previous wives were believed still alive). However Blackbeard later went back into his old pirate ways.

Blackbeard was eventually defeat and killed after a anti-pirate campaign where crews were being picked off crew-by-crew. His death had come as a joy to the navy who had hunted him with little success, mostly due to him having defeated many previous naval captains who had come across him on the sea.

He was defeated by two sloops with 60 men hired from two Naval ship (the Pearl and Lyme) who had been stationed at Virginia. The sloops were commanded by a man called Lt. Robert Maynard. They were directed by local ships to where the crew and Blackbeard's ship the Adventure were at Ocracoke Island. At the time, many of the crew had been reported to have been drunk but he nonetheless put up a strong fight. After, he was eventually defeated (with a near loss to the naval ships) via his head being cut off with a broadsword. Upon the possibility of his defeat, one man had been given the orders to blow up his ship, however the man had failed to do so once the naval men seized control (it is believed Blackbeard was trying to protect his contacts, of which paperwork he held on board the ship). Teach's Gunner, Quartermaster, Boatswain and carpenter had all been killed along with 4 other men. 16 other men had been wounded, while two were spared hanging the rest were not.

The naval crewmen each had been given £300 as a reward, however because of his ship had held little plunder they were denied the full bounty on his head.

[edit] One Piece

It is said that when Blackbeard's old ship was discovered in the late 1990's, Eiichiro Oda was inspired to write a manga about pirates, aka, One Piece. It has been said several times in interviews on SBS questions that Blackbeard is Oda's favourite real pirate.

Also, one of the major characters in One Piece takes his name from this pirate Marshall D. Teach and is nicknamed Blackbeard. His former captain, Whitebeard, also takes part of his name from the famous real life pirate "Edward Newgate". Oda has stated before that Blackbeard was his favourite pirate. ^[1] Eventually the names were confirmed to have a clear link along with another Whitebeard crew member Thatch, which was one of the many names Teach was known by.^[2]

[edit] References

↑ 'Oda's Biography
↑ SBS questions: One Piece Manga Vol.49 Chapter 474, Fan Question: Is Whitebeard's 4th division leader based on Edward Thatch, the real life Blackbeard's alias?

[edit] Book Sources

Information regarding books mentioned on this page:

Pirates fact or fiction by David Cordingly and John Falconer. ISBN no. 1-85585-108-3. Page: 10, 22-3, 28, 100, 125.
Pirates Adventurers of the High Seas by David F. Marley. ISBN no. 1-95409-215-4 (note: book also contains depictions of the pirate). Page: 133-136.
The Pirate Wars by Peter Earle. ISBN No. 0-413-75900-8. Page: ix-x, 165-6, 178, 193-4
Captain Kidd and the war against the pirates by Robert C. Ritchie. ISBN no. 0-674-09501-4. Page: 235-236
The mammoth book of Pirates. Edited by Jon E. Lewis. ISBN-13 no. 978-1-84529-115-0 and ISBN-10 no. 1-84529-115-8. Chapter title "Blackbeard: Captain Charles Johnson." Page: 178.
A general history of the robberies & murders of the most notorious Pirates Captain Charles Johnson with an introduction and commentary by David Corningly. ISBN no. 0-85177-919-0. Chapter: The life of Captain Teach. Page: 47.
Pirates an illustrated history of privateers, buccaneers and pirates from the sixteenth century to the present. Consultant Editor David Cordingly. ISBN no. 0-86101-872-9. Page: 12, 14, 101, 109, 112-3, 115, 116, 134, 156, 187.