Seeing him come out of a cloud of smoke , with his beard on fire and three pairs of pistols strapped across his chest, made his victims surrender before a shot was fired. To make sure his captives knew what to expect, he cut off the fingers of anyone not giving up their valuables.
Teach was hard on his crew , every now and then he would kill a crew member to remind the others who was boss! His ship the Queen Anne's Revenge which he captured from the French, terrorized the Caribbean with her 40 cannons from 1716-1718.
In 1718 Governor Spotswood of Virginia paid Lieutenant Maynard of the Royal Navy to track down Blackbeard. Blackbeard fought Maynard hand to hand. After a fierce struggle, 20 cutlass slashes, and five pistol shots, Blackbeard was dead.
Maynard cut off the head of Blackbeard, hung it from the bowsprit of his vessel and sailed back to the James River to claim his reward. The pirates who survived the battle were tried in Williamsburg and thirteen were duly hanged.
Teach once killed a crew member for drinking in his cabin. When asked why he stated
that "if he did not now and then kill one of them, they would forget who he
was".
The death of Edward Teach by Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy.
