[Contents]CHAPTER XIIPICTURESQUE PIRATES“I’d like to read all about him,” said Jack. “I’ll bet he had an exciting life. I’ll never hear of Captain Kidd without thinking of Prince Rupert by contrast.”“You’ll find the whole story in this book,” said his father. “But you’ll always find these old volumes dry reading in a way. They pass over the most exciting events very casually, as if they were matters of course, but you’ll be amused at the quaint language and naïve remarks.”“Weren’t there any other old buccaneers who were as romantic and gallant as Prince Rupert?” asked Fred.“He was not strictly a buccaneer,” his uncle corrected him. “Nor was he really a pirate. His deeds took place before the buccaneers were really organized, and ostensibly he was more of a privateer than a pirate. In a way he was in the same category as Drake and Hawkins, and the same is true of another most romantic figure who ravaged[209]the Caribbean and was a thorn in the side of the Spaniards. Perhaps he should not be included among stories of buccaneers, but he was such a picturesque figure that a brief account of him may interest you boys.”“Yes, do tell us about him,” cried Jack. “Even if he wasn’t really a buccaneer.”“He was also a member of the British nobility,” continued Mr. Bickford. “The Earl of Cumberland, a graduate of Oxford with the degree of M.A., a wealthy peer, romantic, picturesque, a courtier, a noted gambler and a man of tremendous personal strength and courage. In his youth he had taken part in the attack on the Spanish Armada under Drake and had been made a Knight of the Garter and was a great favorite with Queen Elizabeth. In fact, through some favor, the queen had presented the Earl with one of her gloves—a claret-colored, diamond-studded thing which the dashing adventurer invariably wore tucked through the band of his broad-brimmed plumed hat. It became his crest, his badge, and far and wide, to friends and enemies alike, he became famed as ‘the man with the glove in his hat.’“Like Prince Rupert, Lord Cumberland found[210]too few opportunities for his love of adventure ashore and so turned to the sea and the Indies for excitement. No doubt he found it in plenty, for he became a terror to the Dons, took many prizes, accumulated vast wealth and seemed to bear a charmed life. Again and again he returned to England to settle down, but ever the life of the sea rover appealed too strongly to him, and donning his hat with its jeweled glove, he would up and away to some new daredevil adventure.“Finally, in March, 1598, he set sail from Plymouth harbor with twenty ships, all his own, for the greatest attack on the Dons in the Caribbean that had ever been organized. His flagship bore the curious name ofThe Scourge of Malice, and the Earl’s bold scheme was to attack the supposedly impregnable port of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Drake and Hawkins had tried it, but had been driven off, and the reckless devil-may-care ‘man with the glove in his hat’ saw, in a raid on Puerto Rico a fine chance for adventure such as his heart craved.“Having captured a few prizes in mid-ocean, the fleet arrived at Dominica in May, and the Earl allowed his men shore liberty and a good rest before continuing on his daredevil foray. Being totally[211]unexpected by the Dons, the Earl’s ship approached unseen at dead of night, and six hundred men were silently landed about two miles to the east of Morro Castle. Dividing his force into two parties and following the road, Cumberland led his men close to the city walls and at break of day rushed the sleepy sentries and the gates. Shouting and yelling, brandishing cutlasses, firing pistols, the wild horde of Englishmen appeared to the frightened, surprised Spaniards like fiends suddenly sprung from the earth. Terrorized, they retreated to the inmost fastnesses of the town before they rallied and, realizing the dreaded British were upon them, turned to face their foes. But it was too late. The English were in the streets, and although the Dons fought manfully and many fell on both sides, the Earl’s men were victorious, and within two hours the city was in their hands.“And mightily well pleased was My Lord as, with his own men in charge of the walls and grim old fortress, he strutted about the city appraising the valuables, the rich merchandise, the ships in the harbor, which were his to pick and choose from. Never before had San Juan fallen to an enemy, and the Earl had every reason to be filled with[212]pride at his great deed. The city was rich and prosperous, the Morro was one of the strongest fortifications in the New World, and the ‘man with the glove in his hat’ felt that he had mightily added to England’s power by securing this stronghold as a fortified base from which to harass the hated Dons. But he had counted without an enemy that lurked unseen and unsuspected near at hand. He had subdued the Dons, but there was another foe ready to attack him that no bravery, no arms could subdue. The dreaded Yellow Fever crept stealthily among the British, and ere Cumberland realized what had occurred his men were dying by scores daily. Here was an enemy he could not fight, a foe invisible and more deadly than the Spaniards, and in almost no time Cumberland’s force was more than half destroyed. Filled with terror at this dread death stalking among his men, realizing that to remain meant destruction for all, the Earl hurriedly embarked the few remaining Englishmen aboard his ships, and beaten, discouraged and disheartened, sailed away from the town he had so gloriously won. He had not gone empty-handed, however. The city had been thoroughly pillaged, much of it had been burnt, the ships in the harbor had been destroyed[213]and Cumberland’s fortune had been increased tremendously. But he had had enough of the corsair’s life. He settled down to pass the remaining years of his life in peace; but we may feel sure that often, as he glanced at the flopping, white-plumed hat with its little red glove, he breathed a sigh of regret that his days of a sea rover were over; that never again would he leap over a galleon’s side with cutlass in one hand and pistol in the other, while men shouted for St. George and San Iago and blood flowed and cannons roared and blade clashed on blade and pistols flashed as Don and Briton battled.”“Seems to me those old fellows were a lot more picturesque than the real buccaneers,” said Fred. “Why don’t people write more stories about them, Dad? I never read of Prince Rupert or the Earl of Cumberland in any story; but books are full of Morgan and those fellows.”“Probably because less is known about them,” replied his father. “And partly, too, as they lived and fought before the West Indies and the Spanish Main became as well known as in Morgan’s day. You must remember that we hear very little of L’Ollonois, Brasiliano, Portugues, or the earlier buccaneers. New England, you know, was not[214]settled until 1638, and most of the famous buccaneers were those whose deeds were committed after the American colonies were trading extensively with the West Indies. Morgan, you remember, sent to merchants of New England for help in fitting out his fleet, and Davis and his fellows sailed for the South Sea from the Chesapeake. To the inhabitants of New England and Virginia the buccaneers seemed comparative neighbors, and hence the tales of their careers came fresh and vividly to them, whereas it took weeks or months for stories to reach England.“But don’t imagine that it was only the older pirates who were picturesque. Perhaps the most picturesque and fascinatingly wicked pirate who ever lived—although he hadn’t a redeeming feature—was among the last of the really famous corsairs of the Caribbean. If ever there was a dime-novel, story-book pirate it was he—Blackbeard.”“Hurrah! I was hoping you’d tell us about him!” cried Jack. “Was he really as bad as the stories make out?”“A great deal worse,” Mr. Bickford assured him. “No imagination could invent anything to equal Blackbeard’s innate deviltry.“He combined all the worst traits of every buccaneer[215]and pirate who ever lived. He was a double-dyed, out-and-out rascal; a ruffian, a thug and a brutal, inhuman bully. The most despicable buccaneer who ever raided a Spanish town or boarded a galleon would have despised him, for he held no shred of honor or principle; he cheated his friends and his own men and was a veritable monster in human form. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that he was courageous; that he never shirked danger; that he never asked or expected his men to go where he would not lead, and, moreover, he was a most striking and picturesque rascal.”“I saw somewhere that he had a castle in St. Thomas,” said Fred, as Mr. Bickford paused to refresh his memory with data from a book on the table. “Did he live there, Uncle Henry?”“Not as far as known,” replied Mr. Bickford. “It is true that there is an ancient tower-like building above the town of Charlotte Amalia at St. Thomas, and which is called ‘Blackbeard’s Castle,’ and that the natives claim it was once the home of the noted pirate. But there is also a similar edifice known as ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’ on a neighboring hilltop. It’s just about as probable that old Bluebeard lived in one as that Blackbeard[216]dwelt in the other. No doubt Blackbeard visited St. Thomas, but there is not a bit of historical data to prove he ever lived there. It’s a shame to destroy the island’s claim to association with the notorious old pirate, but as a matter of record his so-called castle was built by Charles Baggaert, a Dane, about 1660. To be sure, that would not have prevented it from being used by Blackbeard, for he lived at a much later date, but Blackbeard’s favorite haunts were the Bahamas and the coasts of the Carolinas, and he would have had no earthly reason for stopping ashore at St. Thomas. However, whatever the truth of his ‘castle’ may be, the rest of Blackbeard’s life story is well known and is substantiated by historical records.“Blackbeard’s real name was Edward Teach and, like many another pirate and sea rover, he was a native of Bristol, England. Had Teach been born a few years earlier no doubt he would have become a famous buccaneer and a dangerous rival of Morgan and his fellows, but Master Teach came into the world after buccaneering as a profession had fallen into disrepute. Hence it fell to his lot to become an ordinary seaman on honest merchant ships, which was far from satisfactory to the ambitions of young Teach. As a result,[217]when his ship dropped anchor in Jamaica, one day in 1716, Teach promptly deserted and, falling in with a number of questionable characters, joined their company in a pirating venture.“Evidently the embryo pirate believed thoroughly in the old adage that ‘what’s worth doing at all is worth doing well,’ and he threw himself heart and soul into his chosen profession. Efficiency seemed to be his middle name, to use a slang expression, and within two years from the time he deserted the merchant service he had risen to the very highest pinnacle as a pirate chieftain. In fact, I might go further and, without exaggeration or question, say that within that short period Teach had become the world’s greatest pirate, a pirate never equaled or excelled for pure devilish bloodthirstiness and villainy, and, if the facts were known, most of the lurid stories and the romances of piracy have been founded on the deeds of Blackbeard. Even the popular conception of much-maligned Kidd is based on Blackbeard, for he was the culmination of piratical scoundrelism, the ideal pirate of blood-and-thunder fiction, the most highly depraved cutthroat who ever walked a ship’s decks.“And he was a thorough believer in keeping up[218]his reputation and well knew the effect of appearances upon the public. Naturally a most repulsive-looking man,—a huge, long-armed, broad-shouldered, brutal creature,—he added to his ugliness by cultivating an enormous coal-black beard and allowing his hair to grow until it covered his shoulders like a mane. His beard he braided into innumerable little pigtails, twisting in bits of bright-hued ribbons, and when attacking a prize or boarding a ship he added to his wild and savage aspect by tucking burning slow matches into the mass of black hair and beard that framed his villainous, leering face.“But his actual deeds would have been sufficient to inspire horror and dread without the theatrical accessories of black whiskers and slow matches. He was a past master in the art of devilish cruelty; he gave no quarter; he took ships of any nation that happened to come his way, and when prizes were scarce he varied the monotony of life by robbing and murdering his own men and his fellow pirates. Had Teach drifted into other and more peaceful walks of life he might have become a great inventor, for he had an inordinate bump of curiosity and was forever carrying out experiments which, while most interesting to him, were[219]most unpleasant to others. Once he marooned seventeen of his crew upon a tiny barren islet, to learn, so he declared, how long human beings could survive without food or water; but unfortunately for his curiosity, and most opportunely for the marooned subjects of his test, Major Stede Bonnet—of whom I have already told you—chanced to sail that way and rescued the unfortunate seventeen from their desert isle.“He possessed a weird and grewsome sense of humor too, and we may be very sure that life was never dull or monotonous aboard his ship. On one occasion, when for days no prize had been sighted and the pirate craft rolled with slatting sails upon an oily sea under the blazing tropic sun, Teach, hatless and shoeless, appeared on deck and announced with a roar and an oath that he had devised a scheme for killing time and amusing themselves. It was, indeed, a novel idea, and one quite in keeping with Blackbeard’s character, for it was nothing less than, to quote his words, ‘to make a little hell of our own and see who is best fitted for our hereafter.’ It was useless for the men to protest, for any artificial inferno that Teach could devise would, they knew, be mild in comparison to that which they would bring upon[220]themselves should they refuse to follow out their captain’s wishes.“Urging the fellows into the hold by no gentle means, Teach leaped in with them, and then, setting fire to several pots of brimstone, pitch and other inflammable things, the pirate chief drew the hatches shut. There in the close, unventilated hold they sat upon the ballast, choking, coughing, suffocating in the noxious fumes until, half-roasted, nauseated, almost asphyxiated, the men could endure no longer and, rushing to the hatch, threw it open and crawled on deck. Not until all the others had gained the open air did Blackbeard emerge triumphant, and throughout his life he was never tired of boasting of his endurance, and took the greatest pride in recalling that his men declared that, when he came forth, he had looked like a half-hanged man.“In fact, this remark by a thoughtless member of his crew set Teach to thinking and, his curiosity being aroused, he suggested that another and even more interesting test should be made to see who could come the nearest to being hung without dying. But at this his men drew the line; they had no desire to choke and kick while dangling with a noose about their necks, even to satisfy their captain’s[221]curiosity. In vain Teach pointed out that sooner or later they’d be hung, most probably, and that they might as well become accustomed to the sensation at once. Without avail he argued that by so doing they might become so inured to hanging that it would hold no terrors for them. One and all refused point-blank, and Teach, realizing that to be suspended from his yardarm alone would prove nothing and that his men might try his endurance a bit too far, and also realizing that he could not string up his entire crew by himself, reluctantly gave up the idea and, cursing the men fluently as cowards, busied his mind thinking up other amusements.“Such pleasantries were of almost daily occurrence, and his crew and his friends thought themselves lucky indeed if they got off with nothing more serious than his brimstone test. One night, for example, he was entertaining two cronies, one his sailing master and the other the pilot who had just brought the ship into port. All were in the best of spirits, smoking, drinking, spinning yarns of the sea in the tiny, stuffy cabin, when Blackbeard, without the least warning, suddenly whipped out a brace of pistols, cocked them, crossed his hands, and before his amazed guests[222]knew what he was about, he blew out the candle and fired his weapons in the direction of the astounded and terrified men. The sailing master was shot through the knee—although, as you will learn later, it was a most fortunate thing for him—and lamed for life, and indignantly the pilot and sailing master demanded of Teach what he meant by such behavior.“Having cursed them fluently for several minutes, Blackbeard roared with boisterous laughter, and replied good-naturedly that ‘if I didn’t kill one of you now and then you’d forget who I was.’“And yet, despite his brutality, his murderous ways, his utter depravity, Teach apparently was a great favorite with the ladies. At any rate, he was married fourteen times—although history fails to mention divorces—his last wife being, according to those who knew, ‘a beautiful young creature of sixteen.’ It certainly would be interesting to know by what manner of courtship the villainous old wretch could win the hearts of innocent young girls, but perchance in his love-making he was as gentle and as ardent as he was brutal and devilish in his piracy.“For two years Teach ravaged the Caribbean[223]and the coast of the Atlantic states, sailing as far north as Massachusetts and the coast of Maine, and making his headquarters either in the Bahamas or in the waters of Pamlico Sound, North Carolina. Indeed, there was more than good reason to suspect that the governor of Carolina was hand and glove with Teach, and that the pirate paid a goodly tribute to the executive in return for freedom from molestation while in the Carolina waters.“But at last Blackbeard’s activities became too great to be borne longer by the long-suffering mariners and merchants of the colonies. They rose and demanded his apprehension or destruction, and the Governor of Virginia thereupon offered a reward of one hundred pounds sterling ‘for one Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard, pirate,’ dead or alive, and forty pounds for each and every other pirate. One hundred pounds in those days was a fortune, and Teach, reading a copy of the proclamation, swelled with pride to think that his fame and notoriety were such as to bring forth such an offer. But he had no fear whatever of any one claiming it. His mere name was enough to drive every one scurrying[224]to safety, he had perfect confidence in his ability to look out for himself, and he took the whole matter as a bit of a joke.“Indeed, he thought so lightly of it that he boldly sailed into Pamlico Sound, came to anchor in a little cove at Ocracoke Inlet, and there fell in with an old friend, a merchant skipper, with whom he spent the night drinking and swapping yarns of old days before Teach had gone a-pirating.”[225]
[Contents]CHAPTER XIIPICTURESQUE PIRATES“I’d like to read all about him,” said Jack. “I’ll bet he had an exciting life. I’ll never hear of Captain Kidd without thinking of Prince Rupert by contrast.”“You’ll find the whole story in this book,” said his father. “But you’ll always find these old volumes dry reading in a way. They pass over the most exciting events very casually, as if they were matters of course, but you’ll be amused at the quaint language and naïve remarks.”“Weren’t there any other old buccaneers who were as romantic and gallant as Prince Rupert?” asked Fred.“He was not strictly a buccaneer,” his uncle corrected him. “Nor was he really a pirate. His deeds took place before the buccaneers were really organized, and ostensibly he was more of a privateer than a pirate. In a way he was in the same category as Drake and Hawkins, and the same is true of another most romantic figure who ravaged[209]the Caribbean and was a thorn in the side of the Spaniards. Perhaps he should not be included among stories of buccaneers, but he was such a picturesque figure that a brief account of him may interest you boys.”“Yes, do tell us about him,” cried Jack. “Even if he wasn’t really a buccaneer.”“He was also a member of the British nobility,” continued Mr. Bickford. “The Earl of Cumberland, a graduate of Oxford with the degree of M.A., a wealthy peer, romantic, picturesque, a courtier, a noted gambler and a man of tremendous personal strength and courage. In his youth he had taken part in the attack on the Spanish Armada under Drake and had been made a Knight of the Garter and was a great favorite with Queen Elizabeth. In fact, through some favor, the queen had presented the Earl with one of her gloves—a claret-colored, diamond-studded thing which the dashing adventurer invariably wore tucked through the band of his broad-brimmed plumed hat. It became his crest, his badge, and far and wide, to friends and enemies alike, he became famed as ‘the man with the glove in his hat.’“Like Prince Rupert, Lord Cumberland found[210]too few opportunities for his love of adventure ashore and so turned to the sea and the Indies for excitement. No doubt he found it in plenty, for he became a terror to the Dons, took many prizes, accumulated vast wealth and seemed to bear a charmed life. Again and again he returned to England to settle down, but ever the life of the sea rover appealed too strongly to him, and donning his hat with its jeweled glove, he would up and away to some new daredevil adventure.“Finally, in March, 1598, he set sail from Plymouth harbor with twenty ships, all his own, for the greatest attack on the Dons in the Caribbean that had ever been organized. His flagship bore the curious name ofThe Scourge of Malice, and the Earl’s bold scheme was to attack the supposedly impregnable port of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Drake and Hawkins had tried it, but had been driven off, and the reckless devil-may-care ‘man with the glove in his hat’ saw, in a raid on Puerto Rico a fine chance for adventure such as his heart craved.“Having captured a few prizes in mid-ocean, the fleet arrived at Dominica in May, and the Earl allowed his men shore liberty and a good rest before continuing on his daredevil foray. Being totally[211]unexpected by the Dons, the Earl’s ship approached unseen at dead of night, and six hundred men were silently landed about two miles to the east of Morro Castle. Dividing his force into two parties and following the road, Cumberland led his men close to the city walls and at break of day rushed the sleepy sentries and the gates. Shouting and yelling, brandishing cutlasses, firing pistols, the wild horde of Englishmen appeared to the frightened, surprised Spaniards like fiends suddenly sprung from the earth. Terrorized, they retreated to the inmost fastnesses of the town before they rallied and, realizing the dreaded British were upon them, turned to face their foes. But it was too late. The English were in the streets, and although the Dons fought manfully and many fell on both sides, the Earl’s men were victorious, and within two hours the city was in their hands.“And mightily well pleased was My Lord as, with his own men in charge of the walls and grim old fortress, he strutted about the city appraising the valuables, the rich merchandise, the ships in the harbor, which were his to pick and choose from. Never before had San Juan fallen to an enemy, and the Earl had every reason to be filled with[212]pride at his great deed. The city was rich and prosperous, the Morro was one of the strongest fortifications in the New World, and the ‘man with the glove in his hat’ felt that he had mightily added to England’s power by securing this stronghold as a fortified base from which to harass the hated Dons. But he had counted without an enemy that lurked unseen and unsuspected near at hand. He had subdued the Dons, but there was another foe ready to attack him that no bravery, no arms could subdue. The dreaded Yellow Fever crept stealthily among the British, and ere Cumberland realized what had occurred his men were dying by scores daily. Here was an enemy he could not fight, a foe invisible and more deadly than the Spaniards, and in almost no time Cumberland’s force was more than half destroyed. Filled with terror at this dread death stalking among his men, realizing that to remain meant destruction for all, the Earl hurriedly embarked the few remaining Englishmen aboard his ships, and beaten, discouraged and disheartened, sailed away from the town he had so gloriously won. He had not gone empty-handed, however. The city had been thoroughly pillaged, much of it had been burnt, the ships in the harbor had been destroyed[213]and Cumberland’s fortune had been increased tremendously. But he had had enough of the corsair’s life. He settled down to pass the remaining years of his life in peace; but we may feel sure that often, as he glanced at the flopping, white-plumed hat with its little red glove, he breathed a sigh of regret that his days of a sea rover were over; that never again would he leap over a galleon’s side with cutlass in one hand and pistol in the other, while men shouted for St. George and San Iago and blood flowed and cannons roared and blade clashed on blade and pistols flashed as Don and Briton battled.”“Seems to me those old fellows were a lot more picturesque than the real buccaneers,” said Fred. “Why don’t people write more stories about them, Dad? I never read of Prince Rupert or the Earl of Cumberland in any story; but books are full of Morgan and those fellows.”“Probably because less is known about them,” replied his father. “And partly, too, as they lived and fought before the West Indies and the Spanish Main became as well known as in Morgan’s day. You must remember that we hear very little of L’Ollonois, Brasiliano, Portugues, or the earlier buccaneers. New England, you know, was not[214]settled until 1638, and most of the famous buccaneers were those whose deeds were committed after the American colonies were trading extensively with the West Indies. Morgan, you remember, sent to merchants of New England for help in fitting out his fleet, and Davis and his fellows sailed for the South Sea from the Chesapeake. To the inhabitants of New England and Virginia the buccaneers seemed comparative neighbors, and hence the tales of their careers came fresh and vividly to them, whereas it took weeks or months for stories to reach England.“But don’t imagine that it was only the older pirates who were picturesque. Perhaps the most picturesque and fascinatingly wicked pirate who ever lived—although he hadn’t a redeeming feature—was among the last of the really famous corsairs of the Caribbean. If ever there was a dime-novel, story-book pirate it was he—Blackbeard.”“Hurrah! I was hoping you’d tell us about him!” cried Jack. “Was he really as bad as the stories make out?”“A great deal worse,” Mr. Bickford assured him. “No imagination could invent anything to equal Blackbeard’s innate deviltry.“He combined all the worst traits of every buccaneer[215]and pirate who ever lived. He was a double-dyed, out-and-out rascal; a ruffian, a thug and a brutal, inhuman bully. The most despicable buccaneer who ever raided a Spanish town or boarded a galleon would have despised him, for he held no shred of honor or principle; he cheated his friends and his own men and was a veritable monster in human form. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that he was courageous; that he never shirked danger; that he never asked or expected his men to go where he would not lead, and, moreover, he was a most striking and picturesque rascal.”“I saw somewhere that he had a castle in St. Thomas,” said Fred, as Mr. Bickford paused to refresh his memory with data from a book on the table. “Did he live there, Uncle Henry?”“Not as far as known,” replied Mr. Bickford. “It is true that there is an ancient tower-like building above the town of Charlotte Amalia at St. Thomas, and which is called ‘Blackbeard’s Castle,’ and that the natives claim it was once the home of the noted pirate. But there is also a similar edifice known as ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’ on a neighboring hilltop. It’s just about as probable that old Bluebeard lived in one as that Blackbeard[216]dwelt in the other. No doubt Blackbeard visited St. Thomas, but there is not a bit of historical data to prove he ever lived there. It’s a shame to destroy the island’s claim to association with the notorious old pirate, but as a matter of record his so-called castle was built by Charles Baggaert, a Dane, about 1660. To be sure, that would not have prevented it from being used by Blackbeard, for he lived at a much later date, but Blackbeard’s favorite haunts were the Bahamas and the coasts of the Carolinas, and he would have had no earthly reason for stopping ashore at St. Thomas. However, whatever the truth of his ‘castle’ may be, the rest of Blackbeard’s life story is well known and is substantiated by historical records.“Blackbeard’s real name was Edward Teach and, like many another pirate and sea rover, he was a native of Bristol, England. Had Teach been born a few years earlier no doubt he would have become a famous buccaneer and a dangerous rival of Morgan and his fellows, but Master Teach came into the world after buccaneering as a profession had fallen into disrepute. Hence it fell to his lot to become an ordinary seaman on honest merchant ships, which was far from satisfactory to the ambitions of young Teach. As a result,[217]when his ship dropped anchor in Jamaica, one day in 1716, Teach promptly deserted and, falling in with a number of questionable characters, joined their company in a pirating venture.“Evidently the embryo pirate believed thoroughly in the old adage that ‘what’s worth doing at all is worth doing well,’ and he threw himself heart and soul into his chosen profession. Efficiency seemed to be his middle name, to use a slang expression, and within two years from the time he deserted the merchant service he had risen to the very highest pinnacle as a pirate chieftain. In fact, I might go further and, without exaggeration or question, say that within that short period Teach had become the world’s greatest pirate, a pirate never equaled or excelled for pure devilish bloodthirstiness and villainy, and, if the facts were known, most of the lurid stories and the romances of piracy have been founded on the deeds of Blackbeard. Even the popular conception of much-maligned Kidd is based on Blackbeard, for he was the culmination of piratical scoundrelism, the ideal pirate of blood-and-thunder fiction, the most highly depraved cutthroat who ever walked a ship’s decks.“And he was a thorough believer in keeping up[218]his reputation and well knew the effect of appearances upon the public. Naturally a most repulsive-looking man,—a huge, long-armed, broad-shouldered, brutal creature,—he added to his ugliness by cultivating an enormous coal-black beard and allowing his hair to grow until it covered his shoulders like a mane. His beard he braided into innumerable little pigtails, twisting in bits of bright-hued ribbons, and when attacking a prize or boarding a ship he added to his wild and savage aspect by tucking burning slow matches into the mass of black hair and beard that framed his villainous, leering face.“But his actual deeds would have been sufficient to inspire horror and dread without the theatrical accessories of black whiskers and slow matches. He was a past master in the art of devilish cruelty; he gave no quarter; he took ships of any nation that happened to come his way, and when prizes were scarce he varied the monotony of life by robbing and murdering his own men and his fellow pirates. Had Teach drifted into other and more peaceful walks of life he might have become a great inventor, for he had an inordinate bump of curiosity and was forever carrying out experiments which, while most interesting to him, were[219]most unpleasant to others. Once he marooned seventeen of his crew upon a tiny barren islet, to learn, so he declared, how long human beings could survive without food or water; but unfortunately for his curiosity, and most opportunely for the marooned subjects of his test, Major Stede Bonnet—of whom I have already told you—chanced to sail that way and rescued the unfortunate seventeen from their desert isle.“He possessed a weird and grewsome sense of humor too, and we may be very sure that life was never dull or monotonous aboard his ship. On one occasion, when for days no prize had been sighted and the pirate craft rolled with slatting sails upon an oily sea under the blazing tropic sun, Teach, hatless and shoeless, appeared on deck and announced with a roar and an oath that he had devised a scheme for killing time and amusing themselves. It was, indeed, a novel idea, and one quite in keeping with Blackbeard’s character, for it was nothing less than, to quote his words, ‘to make a little hell of our own and see who is best fitted for our hereafter.’ It was useless for the men to protest, for any artificial inferno that Teach could devise would, they knew, be mild in comparison to that which they would bring upon[220]themselves should they refuse to follow out their captain’s wishes.“Urging the fellows into the hold by no gentle means, Teach leaped in with them, and then, setting fire to several pots of brimstone, pitch and other inflammable things, the pirate chief drew the hatches shut. There in the close, unventilated hold they sat upon the ballast, choking, coughing, suffocating in the noxious fumes until, half-roasted, nauseated, almost asphyxiated, the men could endure no longer and, rushing to the hatch, threw it open and crawled on deck. Not until all the others had gained the open air did Blackbeard emerge triumphant, and throughout his life he was never tired of boasting of his endurance, and took the greatest pride in recalling that his men declared that, when he came forth, he had looked like a half-hanged man.“In fact, this remark by a thoughtless member of his crew set Teach to thinking and, his curiosity being aroused, he suggested that another and even more interesting test should be made to see who could come the nearest to being hung without dying. But at this his men drew the line; they had no desire to choke and kick while dangling with a noose about their necks, even to satisfy their captain’s[221]curiosity. In vain Teach pointed out that sooner or later they’d be hung, most probably, and that they might as well become accustomed to the sensation at once. Without avail he argued that by so doing they might become so inured to hanging that it would hold no terrors for them. One and all refused point-blank, and Teach, realizing that to be suspended from his yardarm alone would prove nothing and that his men might try his endurance a bit too far, and also realizing that he could not string up his entire crew by himself, reluctantly gave up the idea and, cursing the men fluently as cowards, busied his mind thinking up other amusements.“Such pleasantries were of almost daily occurrence, and his crew and his friends thought themselves lucky indeed if they got off with nothing more serious than his brimstone test. One night, for example, he was entertaining two cronies, one his sailing master and the other the pilot who had just brought the ship into port. All were in the best of spirits, smoking, drinking, spinning yarns of the sea in the tiny, stuffy cabin, when Blackbeard, without the least warning, suddenly whipped out a brace of pistols, cocked them, crossed his hands, and before his amazed guests[222]knew what he was about, he blew out the candle and fired his weapons in the direction of the astounded and terrified men. The sailing master was shot through the knee—although, as you will learn later, it was a most fortunate thing for him—and lamed for life, and indignantly the pilot and sailing master demanded of Teach what he meant by such behavior.“Having cursed them fluently for several minutes, Blackbeard roared with boisterous laughter, and replied good-naturedly that ‘if I didn’t kill one of you now and then you’d forget who I was.’“And yet, despite his brutality, his murderous ways, his utter depravity, Teach apparently was a great favorite with the ladies. At any rate, he was married fourteen times—although history fails to mention divorces—his last wife being, according to those who knew, ‘a beautiful young creature of sixteen.’ It certainly would be interesting to know by what manner of courtship the villainous old wretch could win the hearts of innocent young girls, but perchance in his love-making he was as gentle and as ardent as he was brutal and devilish in his piracy.“For two years Teach ravaged the Caribbean[223]and the coast of the Atlantic states, sailing as far north as Massachusetts and the coast of Maine, and making his headquarters either in the Bahamas or in the waters of Pamlico Sound, North Carolina. Indeed, there was more than good reason to suspect that the governor of Carolina was hand and glove with Teach, and that the pirate paid a goodly tribute to the executive in return for freedom from molestation while in the Carolina waters.“But at last Blackbeard’s activities became too great to be borne longer by the long-suffering mariners and merchants of the colonies. They rose and demanded his apprehension or destruction, and the Governor of Virginia thereupon offered a reward of one hundred pounds sterling ‘for one Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard, pirate,’ dead or alive, and forty pounds for each and every other pirate. One hundred pounds in those days was a fortune, and Teach, reading a copy of the proclamation, swelled with pride to think that his fame and notoriety were such as to bring forth such an offer. But he had no fear whatever of any one claiming it. His mere name was enough to drive every one scurrying[224]to safety, he had perfect confidence in his ability to look out for himself, and he took the whole matter as a bit of a joke.“Indeed, he thought so lightly of it that he boldly sailed into Pamlico Sound, came to anchor in a little cove at Ocracoke Inlet, and there fell in with an old friend, a merchant skipper, with whom he spent the night drinking and swapping yarns of old days before Teach had gone a-pirating.”[225]
CHAPTER XIIPICTURESQUE PIRATES
“I’d like to read all about him,” said Jack. “I’ll bet he had an exciting life. I’ll never hear of Captain Kidd without thinking of Prince Rupert by contrast.”“You’ll find the whole story in this book,” said his father. “But you’ll always find these old volumes dry reading in a way. They pass over the most exciting events very casually, as if they were matters of course, but you’ll be amused at the quaint language and naïve remarks.”“Weren’t there any other old buccaneers who were as romantic and gallant as Prince Rupert?” asked Fred.“He was not strictly a buccaneer,” his uncle corrected him. “Nor was he really a pirate. His deeds took place before the buccaneers were really organized, and ostensibly he was more of a privateer than a pirate. In a way he was in the same category as Drake and Hawkins, and the same is true of another most romantic figure who ravaged[209]the Caribbean and was a thorn in the side of the Spaniards. Perhaps he should not be included among stories of buccaneers, but he was such a picturesque figure that a brief account of him may interest you boys.”“Yes, do tell us about him,” cried Jack. “Even if he wasn’t really a buccaneer.”“He was also a member of the British nobility,” continued Mr. Bickford. “The Earl of Cumberland, a graduate of Oxford with the degree of M.A., a wealthy peer, romantic, picturesque, a courtier, a noted gambler and a man of tremendous personal strength and courage. In his youth he had taken part in the attack on the Spanish Armada under Drake and had been made a Knight of the Garter and was a great favorite with Queen Elizabeth. In fact, through some favor, the queen had presented the Earl with one of her gloves—a claret-colored, diamond-studded thing which the dashing adventurer invariably wore tucked through the band of his broad-brimmed plumed hat. It became his crest, his badge, and far and wide, to friends and enemies alike, he became famed as ‘the man with the glove in his hat.’“Like Prince Rupert, Lord Cumberland found[210]too few opportunities for his love of adventure ashore and so turned to the sea and the Indies for excitement. No doubt he found it in plenty, for he became a terror to the Dons, took many prizes, accumulated vast wealth and seemed to bear a charmed life. Again and again he returned to England to settle down, but ever the life of the sea rover appealed too strongly to him, and donning his hat with its jeweled glove, he would up and away to some new daredevil adventure.“Finally, in March, 1598, he set sail from Plymouth harbor with twenty ships, all his own, for the greatest attack on the Dons in the Caribbean that had ever been organized. His flagship bore the curious name ofThe Scourge of Malice, and the Earl’s bold scheme was to attack the supposedly impregnable port of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Drake and Hawkins had tried it, but had been driven off, and the reckless devil-may-care ‘man with the glove in his hat’ saw, in a raid on Puerto Rico a fine chance for adventure such as his heart craved.“Having captured a few prizes in mid-ocean, the fleet arrived at Dominica in May, and the Earl allowed his men shore liberty and a good rest before continuing on his daredevil foray. Being totally[211]unexpected by the Dons, the Earl’s ship approached unseen at dead of night, and six hundred men were silently landed about two miles to the east of Morro Castle. Dividing his force into two parties and following the road, Cumberland led his men close to the city walls and at break of day rushed the sleepy sentries and the gates. Shouting and yelling, brandishing cutlasses, firing pistols, the wild horde of Englishmen appeared to the frightened, surprised Spaniards like fiends suddenly sprung from the earth. Terrorized, they retreated to the inmost fastnesses of the town before they rallied and, realizing the dreaded British were upon them, turned to face their foes. But it was too late. The English were in the streets, and although the Dons fought manfully and many fell on both sides, the Earl’s men were victorious, and within two hours the city was in their hands.“And mightily well pleased was My Lord as, with his own men in charge of the walls and grim old fortress, he strutted about the city appraising the valuables, the rich merchandise, the ships in the harbor, which were his to pick and choose from. Never before had San Juan fallen to an enemy, and the Earl had every reason to be filled with[212]pride at his great deed. The city was rich and prosperous, the Morro was one of the strongest fortifications in the New World, and the ‘man with the glove in his hat’ felt that he had mightily added to England’s power by securing this stronghold as a fortified base from which to harass the hated Dons. But he had counted without an enemy that lurked unseen and unsuspected near at hand. He had subdued the Dons, but there was another foe ready to attack him that no bravery, no arms could subdue. The dreaded Yellow Fever crept stealthily among the British, and ere Cumberland realized what had occurred his men were dying by scores daily. Here was an enemy he could not fight, a foe invisible and more deadly than the Spaniards, and in almost no time Cumberland’s force was more than half destroyed. Filled with terror at this dread death stalking among his men, realizing that to remain meant destruction for all, the Earl hurriedly embarked the few remaining Englishmen aboard his ships, and beaten, discouraged and disheartened, sailed away from the town he had so gloriously won. He had not gone empty-handed, however. The city had been thoroughly pillaged, much of it had been burnt, the ships in the harbor had been destroyed[213]and Cumberland’s fortune had been increased tremendously. But he had had enough of the corsair’s life. He settled down to pass the remaining years of his life in peace; but we may feel sure that often, as he glanced at the flopping, white-plumed hat with its little red glove, he breathed a sigh of regret that his days of a sea rover were over; that never again would he leap over a galleon’s side with cutlass in one hand and pistol in the other, while men shouted for St. George and San Iago and blood flowed and cannons roared and blade clashed on blade and pistols flashed as Don and Briton battled.”“Seems to me those old fellows were a lot more picturesque than the real buccaneers,” said Fred. “Why don’t people write more stories about them, Dad? I never read of Prince Rupert or the Earl of Cumberland in any story; but books are full of Morgan and those fellows.”“Probably because less is known about them,” replied his father. “And partly, too, as they lived and fought before the West Indies and the Spanish Main became as well known as in Morgan’s day. You must remember that we hear very little of L’Ollonois, Brasiliano, Portugues, or the earlier buccaneers. New England, you know, was not[214]settled until 1638, and most of the famous buccaneers were those whose deeds were committed after the American colonies were trading extensively with the West Indies. Morgan, you remember, sent to merchants of New England for help in fitting out his fleet, and Davis and his fellows sailed for the South Sea from the Chesapeake. To the inhabitants of New England and Virginia the buccaneers seemed comparative neighbors, and hence the tales of their careers came fresh and vividly to them, whereas it took weeks or months for stories to reach England.“But don’t imagine that it was only the older pirates who were picturesque. Perhaps the most picturesque and fascinatingly wicked pirate who ever lived—although he hadn’t a redeeming feature—was among the last of the really famous corsairs of the Caribbean. If ever there was a dime-novel, story-book pirate it was he—Blackbeard.”“Hurrah! I was hoping you’d tell us about him!” cried Jack. “Was he really as bad as the stories make out?”“A great deal worse,” Mr. Bickford assured him. “No imagination could invent anything to equal Blackbeard’s innate deviltry.“He combined all the worst traits of every buccaneer[215]and pirate who ever lived. He was a double-dyed, out-and-out rascal; a ruffian, a thug and a brutal, inhuman bully. The most despicable buccaneer who ever raided a Spanish town or boarded a galleon would have despised him, for he held no shred of honor or principle; he cheated his friends and his own men and was a veritable monster in human form. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that he was courageous; that he never shirked danger; that he never asked or expected his men to go where he would not lead, and, moreover, he was a most striking and picturesque rascal.”“I saw somewhere that he had a castle in St. Thomas,” said Fred, as Mr. Bickford paused to refresh his memory with data from a book on the table. “Did he live there, Uncle Henry?”“Not as far as known,” replied Mr. Bickford. “It is true that there is an ancient tower-like building above the town of Charlotte Amalia at St. Thomas, and which is called ‘Blackbeard’s Castle,’ and that the natives claim it was once the home of the noted pirate. But there is also a similar edifice known as ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’ on a neighboring hilltop. It’s just about as probable that old Bluebeard lived in one as that Blackbeard[216]dwelt in the other. No doubt Blackbeard visited St. Thomas, but there is not a bit of historical data to prove he ever lived there. It’s a shame to destroy the island’s claim to association with the notorious old pirate, but as a matter of record his so-called castle was built by Charles Baggaert, a Dane, about 1660. To be sure, that would not have prevented it from being used by Blackbeard, for he lived at a much later date, but Blackbeard’s favorite haunts were the Bahamas and the coasts of the Carolinas, and he would have had no earthly reason for stopping ashore at St. Thomas. However, whatever the truth of his ‘castle’ may be, the rest of Blackbeard’s life story is well known and is substantiated by historical records.“Blackbeard’s real name was Edward Teach and, like many another pirate and sea rover, he was a native of Bristol, England. Had Teach been born a few years earlier no doubt he would have become a famous buccaneer and a dangerous rival of Morgan and his fellows, but Master Teach came into the world after buccaneering as a profession had fallen into disrepute. Hence it fell to his lot to become an ordinary seaman on honest merchant ships, which was far from satisfactory to the ambitions of young Teach. As a result,[217]when his ship dropped anchor in Jamaica, one day in 1716, Teach promptly deserted and, falling in with a number of questionable characters, joined their company in a pirating venture.“Evidently the embryo pirate believed thoroughly in the old adage that ‘what’s worth doing at all is worth doing well,’ and he threw himself heart and soul into his chosen profession. Efficiency seemed to be his middle name, to use a slang expression, and within two years from the time he deserted the merchant service he had risen to the very highest pinnacle as a pirate chieftain. In fact, I might go further and, without exaggeration or question, say that within that short period Teach had become the world’s greatest pirate, a pirate never equaled or excelled for pure devilish bloodthirstiness and villainy, and, if the facts were known, most of the lurid stories and the romances of piracy have been founded on the deeds of Blackbeard. Even the popular conception of much-maligned Kidd is based on Blackbeard, for he was the culmination of piratical scoundrelism, the ideal pirate of blood-and-thunder fiction, the most highly depraved cutthroat who ever walked a ship’s decks.“And he was a thorough believer in keeping up[218]his reputation and well knew the effect of appearances upon the public. Naturally a most repulsive-looking man,—a huge, long-armed, broad-shouldered, brutal creature,—he added to his ugliness by cultivating an enormous coal-black beard and allowing his hair to grow until it covered his shoulders like a mane. His beard he braided into innumerable little pigtails, twisting in bits of bright-hued ribbons, and when attacking a prize or boarding a ship he added to his wild and savage aspect by tucking burning slow matches into the mass of black hair and beard that framed his villainous, leering face.“But his actual deeds would have been sufficient to inspire horror and dread without the theatrical accessories of black whiskers and slow matches. He was a past master in the art of devilish cruelty; he gave no quarter; he took ships of any nation that happened to come his way, and when prizes were scarce he varied the monotony of life by robbing and murdering his own men and his fellow pirates. Had Teach drifted into other and more peaceful walks of life he might have become a great inventor, for he had an inordinate bump of curiosity and was forever carrying out experiments which, while most interesting to him, were[219]most unpleasant to others. Once he marooned seventeen of his crew upon a tiny barren islet, to learn, so he declared, how long human beings could survive without food or water; but unfortunately for his curiosity, and most opportunely for the marooned subjects of his test, Major Stede Bonnet—of whom I have already told you—chanced to sail that way and rescued the unfortunate seventeen from their desert isle.“He possessed a weird and grewsome sense of humor too, and we may be very sure that life was never dull or monotonous aboard his ship. On one occasion, when for days no prize had been sighted and the pirate craft rolled with slatting sails upon an oily sea under the blazing tropic sun, Teach, hatless and shoeless, appeared on deck and announced with a roar and an oath that he had devised a scheme for killing time and amusing themselves. It was, indeed, a novel idea, and one quite in keeping with Blackbeard’s character, for it was nothing less than, to quote his words, ‘to make a little hell of our own and see who is best fitted for our hereafter.’ It was useless for the men to protest, for any artificial inferno that Teach could devise would, they knew, be mild in comparison to that which they would bring upon[220]themselves should they refuse to follow out their captain’s wishes.“Urging the fellows into the hold by no gentle means, Teach leaped in with them, and then, setting fire to several pots of brimstone, pitch and other inflammable things, the pirate chief drew the hatches shut. There in the close, unventilated hold they sat upon the ballast, choking, coughing, suffocating in the noxious fumes until, half-roasted, nauseated, almost asphyxiated, the men could endure no longer and, rushing to the hatch, threw it open and crawled on deck. Not until all the others had gained the open air did Blackbeard emerge triumphant, and throughout his life he was never tired of boasting of his endurance, and took the greatest pride in recalling that his men declared that, when he came forth, he had looked like a half-hanged man.“In fact, this remark by a thoughtless member of his crew set Teach to thinking and, his curiosity being aroused, he suggested that another and even more interesting test should be made to see who could come the nearest to being hung without dying. But at this his men drew the line; they had no desire to choke and kick while dangling with a noose about their necks, even to satisfy their captain’s[221]curiosity. In vain Teach pointed out that sooner or later they’d be hung, most probably, and that they might as well become accustomed to the sensation at once. Without avail he argued that by so doing they might become so inured to hanging that it would hold no terrors for them. One and all refused point-blank, and Teach, realizing that to be suspended from his yardarm alone would prove nothing and that his men might try his endurance a bit too far, and also realizing that he could not string up his entire crew by himself, reluctantly gave up the idea and, cursing the men fluently as cowards, busied his mind thinking up other amusements.“Such pleasantries were of almost daily occurrence, and his crew and his friends thought themselves lucky indeed if they got off with nothing more serious than his brimstone test. One night, for example, he was entertaining two cronies, one his sailing master and the other the pilot who had just brought the ship into port. All were in the best of spirits, smoking, drinking, spinning yarns of the sea in the tiny, stuffy cabin, when Blackbeard, without the least warning, suddenly whipped out a brace of pistols, cocked them, crossed his hands, and before his amazed guests[222]knew what he was about, he blew out the candle and fired his weapons in the direction of the astounded and terrified men. The sailing master was shot through the knee—although, as you will learn later, it was a most fortunate thing for him—and lamed for life, and indignantly the pilot and sailing master demanded of Teach what he meant by such behavior.“Having cursed them fluently for several minutes, Blackbeard roared with boisterous laughter, and replied good-naturedly that ‘if I didn’t kill one of you now and then you’d forget who I was.’“And yet, despite his brutality, his murderous ways, his utter depravity, Teach apparently was a great favorite with the ladies. At any rate, he was married fourteen times—although history fails to mention divorces—his last wife being, according to those who knew, ‘a beautiful young creature of sixteen.’ It certainly would be interesting to know by what manner of courtship the villainous old wretch could win the hearts of innocent young girls, but perchance in his love-making he was as gentle and as ardent as he was brutal and devilish in his piracy.“For two years Teach ravaged the Caribbean[223]and the coast of the Atlantic states, sailing as far north as Massachusetts and the coast of Maine, and making his headquarters either in the Bahamas or in the waters of Pamlico Sound, North Carolina. Indeed, there was more than good reason to suspect that the governor of Carolina was hand and glove with Teach, and that the pirate paid a goodly tribute to the executive in return for freedom from molestation while in the Carolina waters.“But at last Blackbeard’s activities became too great to be borne longer by the long-suffering mariners and merchants of the colonies. They rose and demanded his apprehension or destruction, and the Governor of Virginia thereupon offered a reward of one hundred pounds sterling ‘for one Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard, pirate,’ dead or alive, and forty pounds for each and every other pirate. One hundred pounds in those days was a fortune, and Teach, reading a copy of the proclamation, swelled with pride to think that his fame and notoriety were such as to bring forth such an offer. But he had no fear whatever of any one claiming it. His mere name was enough to drive every one scurrying[224]to safety, he had perfect confidence in his ability to look out for himself, and he took the whole matter as a bit of a joke.“Indeed, he thought so lightly of it that he boldly sailed into Pamlico Sound, came to anchor in a little cove at Ocracoke Inlet, and there fell in with an old friend, a merchant skipper, with whom he spent the night drinking and swapping yarns of old days before Teach had gone a-pirating.”[225]
“I’d like to read all about him,” said Jack. “I’ll bet he had an exciting life. I’ll never hear of Captain Kidd without thinking of Prince Rupert by contrast.”
“You’ll find the whole story in this book,” said his father. “But you’ll always find these old volumes dry reading in a way. They pass over the most exciting events very casually, as if they were matters of course, but you’ll be amused at the quaint language and naïve remarks.”
“Weren’t there any other old buccaneers who were as romantic and gallant as Prince Rupert?” asked Fred.
“He was not strictly a buccaneer,” his uncle corrected him. “Nor was he really a pirate. His deeds took place before the buccaneers were really organized, and ostensibly he was more of a privateer than a pirate. In a way he was in the same category as Drake and Hawkins, and the same is true of another most romantic figure who ravaged[209]the Caribbean and was a thorn in the side of the Spaniards. Perhaps he should not be included among stories of buccaneers, but he was such a picturesque figure that a brief account of him may interest you boys.”
“Yes, do tell us about him,” cried Jack. “Even if he wasn’t really a buccaneer.”
“He was also a member of the British nobility,” continued Mr. Bickford. “The Earl of Cumberland, a graduate of Oxford with the degree of M.A., a wealthy peer, romantic, picturesque, a courtier, a noted gambler and a man of tremendous personal strength and courage. In his youth he had taken part in the attack on the Spanish Armada under Drake and had been made a Knight of the Garter and was a great favorite with Queen Elizabeth. In fact, through some favor, the queen had presented the Earl with one of her gloves—a claret-colored, diamond-studded thing which the dashing adventurer invariably wore tucked through the band of his broad-brimmed plumed hat. It became his crest, his badge, and far and wide, to friends and enemies alike, he became famed as ‘the man with the glove in his hat.’
“Like Prince Rupert, Lord Cumberland found[210]too few opportunities for his love of adventure ashore and so turned to the sea and the Indies for excitement. No doubt he found it in plenty, for he became a terror to the Dons, took many prizes, accumulated vast wealth and seemed to bear a charmed life. Again and again he returned to England to settle down, but ever the life of the sea rover appealed too strongly to him, and donning his hat with its jeweled glove, he would up and away to some new daredevil adventure.
“Finally, in March, 1598, he set sail from Plymouth harbor with twenty ships, all his own, for the greatest attack on the Dons in the Caribbean that had ever been organized. His flagship bore the curious name ofThe Scourge of Malice, and the Earl’s bold scheme was to attack the supposedly impregnable port of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Drake and Hawkins had tried it, but had been driven off, and the reckless devil-may-care ‘man with the glove in his hat’ saw, in a raid on Puerto Rico a fine chance for adventure such as his heart craved.
“Having captured a few prizes in mid-ocean, the fleet arrived at Dominica in May, and the Earl allowed his men shore liberty and a good rest before continuing on his daredevil foray. Being totally[211]unexpected by the Dons, the Earl’s ship approached unseen at dead of night, and six hundred men were silently landed about two miles to the east of Morro Castle. Dividing his force into two parties and following the road, Cumberland led his men close to the city walls and at break of day rushed the sleepy sentries and the gates. Shouting and yelling, brandishing cutlasses, firing pistols, the wild horde of Englishmen appeared to the frightened, surprised Spaniards like fiends suddenly sprung from the earth. Terrorized, they retreated to the inmost fastnesses of the town before they rallied and, realizing the dreaded British were upon them, turned to face their foes. But it was too late. The English were in the streets, and although the Dons fought manfully and many fell on both sides, the Earl’s men were victorious, and within two hours the city was in their hands.
“And mightily well pleased was My Lord as, with his own men in charge of the walls and grim old fortress, he strutted about the city appraising the valuables, the rich merchandise, the ships in the harbor, which were his to pick and choose from. Never before had San Juan fallen to an enemy, and the Earl had every reason to be filled with[212]pride at his great deed. The city was rich and prosperous, the Morro was one of the strongest fortifications in the New World, and the ‘man with the glove in his hat’ felt that he had mightily added to England’s power by securing this stronghold as a fortified base from which to harass the hated Dons. But he had counted without an enemy that lurked unseen and unsuspected near at hand. He had subdued the Dons, but there was another foe ready to attack him that no bravery, no arms could subdue. The dreaded Yellow Fever crept stealthily among the British, and ere Cumberland realized what had occurred his men were dying by scores daily. Here was an enemy he could not fight, a foe invisible and more deadly than the Spaniards, and in almost no time Cumberland’s force was more than half destroyed. Filled with terror at this dread death stalking among his men, realizing that to remain meant destruction for all, the Earl hurriedly embarked the few remaining Englishmen aboard his ships, and beaten, discouraged and disheartened, sailed away from the town he had so gloriously won. He had not gone empty-handed, however. The city had been thoroughly pillaged, much of it had been burnt, the ships in the harbor had been destroyed[213]and Cumberland’s fortune had been increased tremendously. But he had had enough of the corsair’s life. He settled down to pass the remaining years of his life in peace; but we may feel sure that often, as he glanced at the flopping, white-plumed hat with its little red glove, he breathed a sigh of regret that his days of a sea rover were over; that never again would he leap over a galleon’s side with cutlass in one hand and pistol in the other, while men shouted for St. George and San Iago and blood flowed and cannons roared and blade clashed on blade and pistols flashed as Don and Briton battled.”
“Seems to me those old fellows were a lot more picturesque than the real buccaneers,” said Fred. “Why don’t people write more stories about them, Dad? I never read of Prince Rupert or the Earl of Cumberland in any story; but books are full of Morgan and those fellows.”
“Probably because less is known about them,” replied his father. “And partly, too, as they lived and fought before the West Indies and the Spanish Main became as well known as in Morgan’s day. You must remember that we hear very little of L’Ollonois, Brasiliano, Portugues, or the earlier buccaneers. New England, you know, was not[214]settled until 1638, and most of the famous buccaneers were those whose deeds were committed after the American colonies were trading extensively with the West Indies. Morgan, you remember, sent to merchants of New England for help in fitting out his fleet, and Davis and his fellows sailed for the South Sea from the Chesapeake. To the inhabitants of New England and Virginia the buccaneers seemed comparative neighbors, and hence the tales of their careers came fresh and vividly to them, whereas it took weeks or months for stories to reach England.
“But don’t imagine that it was only the older pirates who were picturesque. Perhaps the most picturesque and fascinatingly wicked pirate who ever lived—although he hadn’t a redeeming feature—was among the last of the really famous corsairs of the Caribbean. If ever there was a dime-novel, story-book pirate it was he—Blackbeard.”
“Hurrah! I was hoping you’d tell us about him!” cried Jack. “Was he really as bad as the stories make out?”
“A great deal worse,” Mr. Bickford assured him. “No imagination could invent anything to equal Blackbeard’s innate deviltry.
“He combined all the worst traits of every buccaneer[215]and pirate who ever lived. He was a double-dyed, out-and-out rascal; a ruffian, a thug and a brutal, inhuman bully. The most despicable buccaneer who ever raided a Spanish town or boarded a galleon would have despised him, for he held no shred of honor or principle; he cheated his friends and his own men and was a veritable monster in human form. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that he was courageous; that he never shirked danger; that he never asked or expected his men to go where he would not lead, and, moreover, he was a most striking and picturesque rascal.”
“I saw somewhere that he had a castle in St. Thomas,” said Fred, as Mr. Bickford paused to refresh his memory with data from a book on the table. “Did he live there, Uncle Henry?”
“Not as far as known,” replied Mr. Bickford. “It is true that there is an ancient tower-like building above the town of Charlotte Amalia at St. Thomas, and which is called ‘Blackbeard’s Castle,’ and that the natives claim it was once the home of the noted pirate. But there is also a similar edifice known as ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’ on a neighboring hilltop. It’s just about as probable that old Bluebeard lived in one as that Blackbeard[216]dwelt in the other. No doubt Blackbeard visited St. Thomas, but there is not a bit of historical data to prove he ever lived there. It’s a shame to destroy the island’s claim to association with the notorious old pirate, but as a matter of record his so-called castle was built by Charles Baggaert, a Dane, about 1660. To be sure, that would not have prevented it from being used by Blackbeard, for he lived at a much later date, but Blackbeard’s favorite haunts were the Bahamas and the coasts of the Carolinas, and he would have had no earthly reason for stopping ashore at St. Thomas. However, whatever the truth of his ‘castle’ may be, the rest of Blackbeard’s life story is well known and is substantiated by historical records.
“Blackbeard’s real name was Edward Teach and, like many another pirate and sea rover, he was a native of Bristol, England. Had Teach been born a few years earlier no doubt he would have become a famous buccaneer and a dangerous rival of Morgan and his fellows, but Master Teach came into the world after buccaneering as a profession had fallen into disrepute. Hence it fell to his lot to become an ordinary seaman on honest merchant ships, which was far from satisfactory to the ambitions of young Teach. As a result,[217]when his ship dropped anchor in Jamaica, one day in 1716, Teach promptly deserted and, falling in with a number of questionable characters, joined their company in a pirating venture.
“Evidently the embryo pirate believed thoroughly in the old adage that ‘what’s worth doing at all is worth doing well,’ and he threw himself heart and soul into his chosen profession. Efficiency seemed to be his middle name, to use a slang expression, and within two years from the time he deserted the merchant service he had risen to the very highest pinnacle as a pirate chieftain. In fact, I might go further and, without exaggeration or question, say that within that short period Teach had become the world’s greatest pirate, a pirate never equaled or excelled for pure devilish bloodthirstiness and villainy, and, if the facts were known, most of the lurid stories and the romances of piracy have been founded on the deeds of Blackbeard. Even the popular conception of much-maligned Kidd is based on Blackbeard, for he was the culmination of piratical scoundrelism, the ideal pirate of blood-and-thunder fiction, the most highly depraved cutthroat who ever walked a ship’s decks.
“And he was a thorough believer in keeping up[218]his reputation and well knew the effect of appearances upon the public. Naturally a most repulsive-looking man,—a huge, long-armed, broad-shouldered, brutal creature,—he added to his ugliness by cultivating an enormous coal-black beard and allowing his hair to grow until it covered his shoulders like a mane. His beard he braided into innumerable little pigtails, twisting in bits of bright-hued ribbons, and when attacking a prize or boarding a ship he added to his wild and savage aspect by tucking burning slow matches into the mass of black hair and beard that framed his villainous, leering face.
“But his actual deeds would have been sufficient to inspire horror and dread without the theatrical accessories of black whiskers and slow matches. He was a past master in the art of devilish cruelty; he gave no quarter; he took ships of any nation that happened to come his way, and when prizes were scarce he varied the monotony of life by robbing and murdering his own men and his fellow pirates. Had Teach drifted into other and more peaceful walks of life he might have become a great inventor, for he had an inordinate bump of curiosity and was forever carrying out experiments which, while most interesting to him, were[219]most unpleasant to others. Once he marooned seventeen of his crew upon a tiny barren islet, to learn, so he declared, how long human beings could survive without food or water; but unfortunately for his curiosity, and most opportunely for the marooned subjects of his test, Major Stede Bonnet—of whom I have already told you—chanced to sail that way and rescued the unfortunate seventeen from their desert isle.
“He possessed a weird and grewsome sense of humor too, and we may be very sure that life was never dull or monotonous aboard his ship. On one occasion, when for days no prize had been sighted and the pirate craft rolled with slatting sails upon an oily sea under the blazing tropic sun, Teach, hatless and shoeless, appeared on deck and announced with a roar and an oath that he had devised a scheme for killing time and amusing themselves. It was, indeed, a novel idea, and one quite in keeping with Blackbeard’s character, for it was nothing less than, to quote his words, ‘to make a little hell of our own and see who is best fitted for our hereafter.’ It was useless for the men to protest, for any artificial inferno that Teach could devise would, they knew, be mild in comparison to that which they would bring upon[220]themselves should they refuse to follow out their captain’s wishes.
“Urging the fellows into the hold by no gentle means, Teach leaped in with them, and then, setting fire to several pots of brimstone, pitch and other inflammable things, the pirate chief drew the hatches shut. There in the close, unventilated hold they sat upon the ballast, choking, coughing, suffocating in the noxious fumes until, half-roasted, nauseated, almost asphyxiated, the men could endure no longer and, rushing to the hatch, threw it open and crawled on deck. Not until all the others had gained the open air did Blackbeard emerge triumphant, and throughout his life he was never tired of boasting of his endurance, and took the greatest pride in recalling that his men declared that, when he came forth, he had looked like a half-hanged man.
“In fact, this remark by a thoughtless member of his crew set Teach to thinking and, his curiosity being aroused, he suggested that another and even more interesting test should be made to see who could come the nearest to being hung without dying. But at this his men drew the line; they had no desire to choke and kick while dangling with a noose about their necks, even to satisfy their captain’s[221]curiosity. In vain Teach pointed out that sooner or later they’d be hung, most probably, and that they might as well become accustomed to the sensation at once. Without avail he argued that by so doing they might become so inured to hanging that it would hold no terrors for them. One and all refused point-blank, and Teach, realizing that to be suspended from his yardarm alone would prove nothing and that his men might try his endurance a bit too far, and also realizing that he could not string up his entire crew by himself, reluctantly gave up the idea and, cursing the men fluently as cowards, busied his mind thinking up other amusements.
“Such pleasantries were of almost daily occurrence, and his crew and his friends thought themselves lucky indeed if they got off with nothing more serious than his brimstone test. One night, for example, he was entertaining two cronies, one his sailing master and the other the pilot who had just brought the ship into port. All were in the best of spirits, smoking, drinking, spinning yarns of the sea in the tiny, stuffy cabin, when Blackbeard, without the least warning, suddenly whipped out a brace of pistols, cocked them, crossed his hands, and before his amazed guests[222]knew what he was about, he blew out the candle and fired his weapons in the direction of the astounded and terrified men. The sailing master was shot through the knee—although, as you will learn later, it was a most fortunate thing for him—and lamed for life, and indignantly the pilot and sailing master demanded of Teach what he meant by such behavior.
“Having cursed them fluently for several minutes, Blackbeard roared with boisterous laughter, and replied good-naturedly that ‘if I didn’t kill one of you now and then you’d forget who I was.’
“And yet, despite his brutality, his murderous ways, his utter depravity, Teach apparently was a great favorite with the ladies. At any rate, he was married fourteen times—although history fails to mention divorces—his last wife being, according to those who knew, ‘a beautiful young creature of sixteen.’ It certainly would be interesting to know by what manner of courtship the villainous old wretch could win the hearts of innocent young girls, but perchance in his love-making he was as gentle and as ardent as he was brutal and devilish in his piracy.
“For two years Teach ravaged the Caribbean[223]and the coast of the Atlantic states, sailing as far north as Massachusetts and the coast of Maine, and making his headquarters either in the Bahamas or in the waters of Pamlico Sound, North Carolina. Indeed, there was more than good reason to suspect that the governor of Carolina was hand and glove with Teach, and that the pirate paid a goodly tribute to the executive in return for freedom from molestation while in the Carolina waters.
“But at last Blackbeard’s activities became too great to be borne longer by the long-suffering mariners and merchants of the colonies. They rose and demanded his apprehension or destruction, and the Governor of Virginia thereupon offered a reward of one hundred pounds sterling ‘for one Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard, pirate,’ dead or alive, and forty pounds for each and every other pirate. One hundred pounds in those days was a fortune, and Teach, reading a copy of the proclamation, swelled with pride to think that his fame and notoriety were such as to bring forth such an offer. But he had no fear whatever of any one claiming it. His mere name was enough to drive every one scurrying[224]to safety, he had perfect confidence in his ability to look out for himself, and he took the whole matter as a bit of a joke.
“Indeed, he thought so lightly of it that he boldly sailed into Pamlico Sound, came to anchor in a little cove at Ocracoke Inlet, and there fell in with an old friend, a merchant skipper, with whom he spent the night drinking and swapping yarns of old days before Teach had gone a-pirating.”[225]