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Blackbeard is defeated at Ocracoke
The end of the best-known pirate of the Golden Age
Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, was killed in a battle off Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, by a force sent by Alexander Spotswood, the lieutenant governor of Virginia. He was known for his fearsome image.
Teach was active in the Caribbean and along the American coast from about 1716, commanding the Queen Anne's Revenge, a captured French slave ship. In 1718 he blockaded Charleston, South Carolina, and then sheltered in North Carolina, where he had a pardon and some local protection.
Alexander Spotswood, Virginia's lieutenant governor, acted at the urging of Carolina planters and merchants. He paid for two sloops and put Royal Navy lieutenant Robert Maynard in charge of about sixty men. The force went into North Carolina waters without that colony's approval, which later caused friction.
On 22 November 1718 Maynard's men fought Teach in the shallow channel at Ocracoke. After the fight Blackbeard was reported to have taken multiple pistol and sword wounds, and his head was displayed on the bowsprit of Maynard's sloop. Of 15 crewmen tried in Virginia, six were executed.
His fearsome look, including slow-burning fuses in his hair, was a tool for frightening crews into surrender. The National Park Service notes it is not known how many people he killed, and there is little firm evidence for the buried treasure of legend.