July 8, 2022 • 29 mins
From sailing the high seas and buried treasure to swilling rum, pirates represent a lot about the human spirit. Through the centuries, we’ve fallen in love with adventure, danger, and exploration. In season 2 of Grim & Mild Presents, we take a swashbuckling, narrative journey into the lives and legends of the rogues of the sea. Join us. Here, there be pirates, matey!
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Everyone loves a good story, and since you're listening, chances
are you're also fond of pirates. From sailing the high
seas and buried treasure to swilling rum and singing shanties,
pirates have come to represent a lot about the human spirit.
Through the centuries, we've fallen in love with adventure, danger
and exploration. Honestly, we never tire of hearing about pirate life.
(00:30):
In Sweden, for example, there's a story that's been handed
down from generation to generation, and like other pirate tales
the world over, people love it so much they don't
care whether it's true or not. The story goes that
back in the fifth century, there was once a mighty
Scandinavian king with a lovely daughter, young Princess a Wilda's
(00:50):
beauty was such that her father, King Sanartis, locked her
away in a tower for her protection, of course, and
to ensure that no ordinary man could easily scale the tow,
or he surrounded it with deadly snakes and traps. While
many men failed, Prince Alf of Denmark succeeded in breaching
the castle and then asked the king for his daughter's
(01:11):
hand in marriage, to which the king agreed. They had
a problem. Though the princess had vanished from the tower,
you see, a Wilda's beauty was matched only by her
feistiness and sense of independence. With her mother's help, the
princess had made her escape, accompanied by her strong willed
handmaidens and other young women, who, much like the princess,
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were also promised to men they'd never met. They dressed
as sailors and made off with a ship, deciding to
explore the world, and during their travels, the women came
across a pirate ship that had recently lost its captain.
Enamored with a Wilda and her crew, the men voted
her to be their new leader, knowing that her father
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still searched for her. A Wilda and the other women
wore helmets to hide their long hair. The princess, pirates
and her crew earned a fierce reputation raiding many merchant
ships on the Scandinavian seas, and like all pirates, they
soon had a bounty on their heads. The King of
Denmark placed his son alf in charge of the navy
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and sent him to eliminate the troublesome pirates. The prince
quickly located them, and a great battle ensued. While his
crew engaged with a Wilda's, He and the princess faced
each other, swords drawn. They dueled, neither of them getting
the better of the other. Having become impressed with her
rival and seeing something familiar about him, Awilda removed her helmet.
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The prince instantly recognized the princess and dropped to one
knee to propose, which she accepted. Of course, the battle
ended and a wedding took place instead. A Wilda's pirate
ship and Alf's naval fleet returned side by side to Denmark.
The newlyweds were welcome to Denmark with a lot of fanfare.
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A message was sent to King Sanartis, who was also
pleased with the marriage. A Wilda and Alf went on
to have a daughter together, and it was said that
she was just as beautiful and fierce as her mother,
and when the king died, the couple ruled long and well.
And while our fictional introduction story is the stuff worthy
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of a Disney movie, we're about to embark on a
different sort of journey, a historical adventure into the most
legendary real life rogues of the seas. I'm Aaron Mackey,
and welcome two pirates. Piracy has been around for about
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as long as there have been oceans to sail. But
not every pirate belonged to bands of renegades who pillaged
and plundered. Some had a softer title. Governments employed privateers,
men who raided and harassed ships belonging to a competing power.
And if you're thinking it's the same thing, it was.
Governments on the receiving end didn't differentiate between the two.
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Piracy government sanctioned or otherwise remained an act of war.
And there was no more tumultuous time than the Golden
Age of piracy, which started in the late seventeenth century.
And the rise in piracy began with what might be
the most successful pirate most of us have never heard of.
Like a lot of english men of his time, Henry
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every got his start with the Royal Navy. But he
was different from other sailors who spent their meager earnings
on liquor or tobacco. He sent money home to his family.
Eventually he moved working aboard the Charles the Second, a
privateering ship sent to pray on French ships in the
West Indies. Like those aboard most British ships, Every lived
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in squalid conditions and suffered from poor treatment. The last
straw for the men aboard the Charles The second came
when they didn't get paid, so the crew mutinied and
Every took control as captain and set a course for
the southern tip of Africa. Along the way, he led
raids on three English merchant ships and several more from
other European countries. But his real popularity with the crew
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happened when he led a capture of a mogul ship
full of treasure and women. When the raid was complete,
Every split the wealth equally among his men. Pirating, as
you probably know by now, was a dangerous business, and
because of his success, Every had a price on his head.
Two years in he gave up the pirates life he
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could afford to, having raked in what amounted to tens
of millions of pounds in late six hundreds currency not modern,
Henry Every is only one of a few pirates to
retire and live to tell the tale. In literature, he
became the inspiration for characters in books and plays. People
saw him as a sort of Robin Hood, or at
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least a man who had fought back against the corruption
and unfair practices of English ship captains. He became the
most talked about pirates in the world, until that is,
a newcomer showed up and perfected whatever he had started.
Edward Teach had come from a comfortable family, or so
it's theorized, he was educated, unlike many of the sailors
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of the time. Tall and thin with broad shoulders, he
sported a heavy black beard. People found him charismatic and
highly intelligence. Those qualities helped him rise through the ranks
in the British Navy. During the Queen Ann's War, the
French and Spanish mercilessly attacked the Queen's ships, forcing the
British to hire their own privateers, including men like Benjamin Hornegal,
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Henry Jennings, Woods Rogers, and Charles Vane. But more on
them later. Their jobs came to an end in seventeen
fourteen after Queen Anne died When her Catholic heir was
found unacceptable to rule, Many of the men loyal to
the Queen's House of Stuart remained in Nassau in the
Bahamas instead of returning to England. Known as the Pirate Republic,
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the area became popular among privateers and pirates alike, Hornegold
and Teach oversaw the development of the base a few However,
men like Jennings remained loyal to England and continued to
raid Spanish ships. That's when Teach paired up with Captain
Hornigold once again, this time as his lieutenant. Before long,
the two acquired additional ships, one of which was entrusted
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to Edward Teach. By seventeen seventeen, the captain retired from piracy,
leaving his lieutenant to venture out on his own and
make his own mark. Now a captain of his own fleet,
Edward Teach set out to perfect the art of piracy.
He grew his beard even longer, giving him a wilder appearance,
and he wore a long sling over his shoulder, where
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he kept not one, but three pistols. Now referred to
as black Beard, he also put Litton matches in his beard.
It said that he looked like the devil himself, and
the merchant ships he challenged became so frightened they willingly
surrendered without a fight. It was a great strategy. Firepower
damaged ships and potential cargo, and fights risked as men.
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His strategy of shock and awe had a way of
keeping everyone and everything a bit safer, which put more
money into their pockets. Clearly, he had become formidable, but
Blackbeard wanted to take piracy to the next level, and
to do that he needed a better ship. That better
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ship presented itself on November sevent of seventeen seventeen, when
the French slave ship the lack Concord appeared on the horizon.
The two fifty tons ship had a strong, oaken hull
and ports that accommodated forty cannons. Under ordinary circumstances, black
Beard's crew wouldn't have presented much of a problem. However,
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most everyone on board the lach Concord had scurvy. With
his crew sick and aware of the pirate's reputation, the
captain surrendered the moment the first warning volley landed in
front of his ship, and with that Blackbeard now had
a proper flagship that could stand up to any English vessel.
He left the French captain and his crew with one
of his own sloops, and then he offered some of
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the healthy slaves a place among his men. Then he
christened his new ship the Queen Anne's Revenge, and went
on to raid several British vessels throughout North American colonies
and those traveling in the Caribbean. Pirating became such a
problem that King George the First offered clemency for all pirates. Naturally,
there was a catch. They'd have to give up their
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marauding ways forever. The deal attempted to weaken or disband
pirate cruise through attrition, and of course those who refused
were still hunted. What the King didn't offer was away
for the men to make a living or provide better
conditions and pay aboard British ships, and frankly, conditions treatment
and pay we're far better aboard pirate ships. That said,
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many captains and crewmen did take the King up on
the offer. Pirating was still a dangerous way to make
a living. Storms, disease, and months or even years at
sea made for a less than desirable way of life.
The deal, coupled with Nassau's new governor, Woods Rogers, put
the pirate Republic into a state of chaos. Blackbeard didn't
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stay in Nassau long and chose to decline Governor Rogers offer.
You see, he had at least one bounty in mind,
so the Queen Anne's revenge set out once more. It
had been his friend and fellow pirate Steed Bonnets, who
had given Blackbeard the idea block the port of Charleston
and capture incoming and outgoing vessels. The township had no
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guardian fleet, making it easy to overtake the pilot boat
and challenge anyone moving through the port. The crew stopped
the Crowley, an English bound ship with several prominent Charleston
citizens on board. Instead of raiding the ship, though, Blackbeard
chose to take the passengers hostage, including women and children.
But he did release a single passenger, one Mr Marks,
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to relay a message to the governor. You see, by
now Blackbeard's crew were sick. He no longer wanted gold
or valuables. Now he needed medicine. Two healthy members of
his crew accompanied Mr. Marks, and if they didn't all
return in two days, he threatened to execute the passengers
and send their heads to the governor. The plan went
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sideways quickly, the boat carrying his crewman and Mr Marks capsized,
forcing them to swim ashore. En route to the Governor's office,
the crewman stopped at a tavern for drinks with other
fellow pirates. Imports now drunk and behind schedule, the group
finally made their way to their destination. The governor offered
the pirates clemency, and seeing the unfolding situation, they took
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him up on it. Then the governor agreed to Blackbeard's
demands and Mr. Marks made his way back to the
dock alone. By the time he arrived, he was past
the deadline and the Queen Anne's Revenge had pulled into ports.
Crewman ran through the streets. Men, women and children screamed
and fled for their lives. Picturing this scene, I can
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only imagine the terror that Mr Marks felt. The most
feared and formidable pirate had unleashed an angry and diseased
crew upon the town. Hoping to stop the attack, he
rode back to the ship after handing over the medicines.
Marks relayed a message from the governor surrender and received clemency,
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but Blackbeard refused, and even though the deadline had passed,
he held up his end of the bargain. He returned
the ship undamaged and released all the prisoners unharmed, although
he did take some of their finer clothing. After loading
the clothes and medicines onto the Queen Ann's Revenge. Blackbeard
and his crew left port. He had a new plan,
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this time one he shared with his trusted quartermaster, William Howard.
It was time to give up the pirate life, well
sort of. Blackbeard and Howard met with North Carolina as
governor Charles Eden, Charismatic as always, they negotiated a deal,
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a pardon for the crew. The best part, though, they
would continue as privateers, sanctioned by King George the First.
Shortly afterward, the Queen Anne's Revenge ran into a sandbar,
damaging her main mast, forcing them to switch to a
Spanish ship. Black Beard simply called the Revenge. While he'd
retired from piracy, word of his vicious nature endured, although oddly,
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in all his time as a pirate, he never actually
killed anyone. He'd created a persona that did the work
for him. Captain and crew aboard the Revenge left Port
and headed up the Delaware River to sell off some
of their goods before leaving for the Caribbean. There they
captured two French ships laden with cocoa and sugar, a
valuable command city in the colonies. On the return trip,
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they stopped for repairs and to unload the cargo at
Ocracoke Island, part of the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
There he met up with Charles Vane, a pirate who
hadn't taken the King's pardon, and invited him to stay
on Ocracoke for a while. Meanwhile, in Virginia, Lieutenant Governor
Alexander Spotswood, who not only hated pirates but had a
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fear of them that bordered on irrationality, heard of Blackbeard's
return and his current company. He claimed that Blackbeard planned
to make Ocracoke the new pirate republic. When no one listened,
he took matters into his own hands and planned an attack.
He had no authority over Ocracoke and understood that he'd
beheld accountable for his actions and for violating North Carolina's sovereignty.
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To further justify his plan, he also claimed that Governor
Eden had become corrupt and was in league with the
pirates for personal gain. Of course, he had no proof,
but that didn't really matter. Step one was to send
out an expedition to capture both Beard and Governor Eden.
Then he convinced Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy
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to hunt down the Queen Anne's Revenge at sea. Since
he knew he wouldn't get approval from Virginia's governor, Spotswood
paid all expenses out of his own pockets. He purchased
the Ranger and the Jane, two vessels capable of handling
the shallow waters that were common along the outer banks.
Well not as big as other ships, they still carried cannons,
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and accompanying them was the h M. S. Pearl. With
a plan in motion, spots would kept the ambush secret
from the governor, who would most certainly have called off
the attack. Maynard arrived on the southern tip of okrah
Coke after dark on the night of November one, seventeen eighteen.
By the morning of the surprise attack took a turn
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when the Ranger and the Jane ran ashore, giving black
Beard time to ready his crew and a ship. It
wouldn't be enough, though Maynard's men unbeached the two boats
and the chase was on. The Revenge had superior firepower.
A short barrage of cannon fire killed the Ranger's captain
and sent several men on the deck of the Jane overboard.
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Realizing that a head to head battle with black Beard
wouldn't work. Maynard instead chose to set a trap. He
ordered the remaining men on board the Jane to go
below deck and hide, and then they quietly waited, hoping
that they'd be boarded instead of taking more fire, and
it worked. Black Beard and his men boarded, not expecting
many survivors. Maynard and his crew charged from below. For
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ten minutes, both sides engaged in brutal and bloody battle.
Swords clashed and guns were fired. Men without weapons took
the fist fighting. Maynard managed to draw a pistol and
he shot Blackbeard once in the chest. Seemingly unfazed, the
infamous pirate lunged forward, forcing Maynard to retreat. A crewman
from the Jane rounded the corner and slashed black Beard
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across the throat. Finally, another man fired four additional shots,
and black Beard fell to the blood soaked deck. With
the famous pirates and most of his crew dead, Maynard
took everything of value. Then he severed black Beard's head
and tossed the body overboard. Finally, he mounted the head
on the bowsprit and returned to Virginia, proudly displaying his
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prize like a ghoulish hunting trophy. Naturally, Governor Eden was outraged,
and it's no surprise that Spots would denied any personal
involvement in the attack. He hated Blackbeard, and the one
thing the Lieutenant Governor couldn't do was stop people from
immortalizing the pirates. I can only imagine how furious that
made him. In seventeen twenty four, Captain Charles Johnson published
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a general History of the robberies and murders of the
most notorious pirates Pirates spelled with the y instead of
an eye. He took literary license with the life and
times of all pirates, stating that they always buried their treasures.
With black Beard in particular, though, Johnson turned him into
a ruthless, thirsty killer, and from that point on, Johnson's
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fictional depiction of black Beard would obscure the equally dramatic truth,
and in doing so, it would accomplish the opposite of
what Spots would had hoped, because while normal men can die,
legends live forever. For centuries, people have searched for black
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beards reportedly buried treasure. Sadly, it appears to be a
stereotypical myth. Sorry fortune hunters, but in private salvagers came
across a shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina. The
nearly three year old ship looked to be the Queen
Anne's revenge. It wouldn't be until two thousand eleven before
evidence revealed without a doubt that the ship had once
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belonged to Blackbeard. Originally built in seventeen ten in England,
the French had stolen the ship a year later, only
to have it taken from them by Edward Teach. Johnson's
version of black Beard has overshadowed history centuries after his death.
The stories surrounding his brutal end took on a supernatural flare.
Soon after his demise, reports of his ghost haunting the
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coastline scared people half to death. As one British report stated,
he frightened America more than any comment, and in all honesty,
I can understand why it would have scared people too.
You see, according to the folklore, that final day, Blackbeard's
severed head called out to his body, and in response,
his body swam around Maynard's boat three times before plunging
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into the ocean. Depths on Ocrah Cooke, there's a small
channel of water where it said Blackbeard anchored the Queen
Anne's revenge. People report seeing him there, swimming in the
waters in search of his head. On stormy nights. They
say you can still hear his voice calling out to
his body. Later in the twentieth century, moviegoers became obsessed
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with black Beard and piracy as a whole. Soon all
pirates took on the stereotype men with black hearts who
spared no one who crossed their path. Pirates were lawless, bloodthirsty, drunkards,
and they lived without rules. Hollywood and popular fiction also
romanticized piracy. In reality, most pirates met a fateful end
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soon into their careers. Blackbeards lasted just two years. Historians
have long since pointed to documents and journals of the
day that portrayed Edward Teach as a cunning strategist, a
brilliant marketer, and a relatively nonviolent man. In two thousand fourteen,
a historian combing through Jamaican maritime records stumbled across a
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name Feach, a common variant of the surname Teach. This document,
from seventeen oh six revealed a letter from a man
named Edward Feach aboard a sixty gun ship called the Windsor,
a Royal Navy vessel. The sailor's father had died, leaving
his Alafa state to his eldest son. Typical for the time,
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Feach Senior had owned a sugar plantation in Jamaica, and
back in the seventeen hundreds sugar was known as white gold.
This young man had written to the lawyer handling the
execution of his father's will back home in Bristol, England.
He stated his love and affection for his stepmother Lucretia,
his sister Rachel, and his brother Thomas, and asked that
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the estate be divided among them. Essentially, Edward Teach gave
up a considerable fortune and instead chose a hard life
on the seas, also that his family back home could
be comfortable. Quite a different picture from the bloodthirsty rogue
that Johnson painted for all of us. But Teach painted
his own picture as well. He did such a good
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job of instilling fear into the hearts of his adversaries
by making himself out to be the devil, and perhaps
that's why today we still think of him first as
Blackbeard rather than Edward Teach. One thing is certain, though
years later, the real history doesn't stop us from loving
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the legend any less. I think we can all agree
that the world of historical pirates has the potential to
deliver both thrills and chills. Hopefully today's walk through the
Man behind the Legend of Blackbeard give you a little
bit of both. And if you were hoping for more,
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then boy, do I have a treat for you. Today's
episode kicks off a brand new season that will take
us all the way to the end of the year,
exploring all the water logged corners of this unique culture
and cast of characters. But before we wrap things up
for today, my grim and mild teammate Ali Steed has
one last treasure to unpack for you. Stick around through
this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. When
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it comes to buried treasure, there's one myth that stands
out from all the rest. Little is known about William
Kidd's early life. He was born in Scotland somewhere around
sixteen fifty four, either January or October, depending on the source.
By Kid's own account, he had been born in Greeneck.
He ventured to New York City in search of new opportunity.
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Some time after the British took over the area from
the Dutch. Shortly after his arrival, Sarah Bradley cox Ort,
a young and wealthy widow, caught his eye. Though they
briefly courted, the sea called and he left again. In
sixteen eighty nine, William Kidd sailed with the privateering crew
who rated ships in the Caribbean. During this particular trip,
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the crew mutinied over poor treatment and made sail to
the British colony of Nevus, a small island neighboring Saint KITT's. Willing,
Kidd became the captain and renamed the ship the Blessed William.
While not fully sanctioned or supported by the British government,
as long as Kidd and other privateers only rated French
supply ships, the King looked the other way for a
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ten percent fee. Of course, the cruel board the Blessed
William became quite successful, once taking in what amounted to
two thousand pounds sterling in a single raid. After months
at sea, Kid returned to New York to find Sarah
had been waiting for him. He showered her with gifts
and courted her with long walks, and on May sixteenth
of six The two wed and settled into a tall
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house on Wall Street. The couple had two daughters and kids.
Privateering ways ensured his beloved family wanted for nothing. They
were the perfect couple except for one thing. Kid had
another love. Let see, he wanted to hunt the pirates
that attacked British trade ships in the Red Sea and
the Indian Ocean. After earning his commission, Kids set sail
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out of Portsmouth in sixte on a galley ship named
the Adventure. The ship boasted thirty four guns and a
crew of a hundred men. He lived his dream life,
and yet he is about to lose everything. While sailing
down the Thames in England, Kid failed to salute a
naval yacht. In response to the snub, the yacht fired
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a warning shot to remind those on board the Adventure
of their duty. Crewman on the Adventure turned their backs
and slapped their backsides, but the insult didn't go unpunished.
The British Navy took the crew and impressed them on
navy ships. Essentially, impression is a dressed up term for
forced servitude. They didn't take Kid, however, He was sent
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back to New York, where he hired a new crew
and set sail again, arriving at the Cape of Good
Hope in Africa in September of six. Unfortunately, that crew
fell ill with cholera, and they're bad luck didn't and
there the ship began to leak, and worst of all,
the pirates they'd been hoping to hunt down never even materialized,
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which was bad news because if he returned home with nothing,
he would have to personally cover all the costs of
the trip out of his own pocket. A short time later,
they came across two ships, but Kid refused to attack.
Both ships were flying the British flag, which meant they
were off limits, but a gunner named William Moore fought
with Kidd, trying to get him to attack anyway. The
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men ended up in a brawl and the gunner he
wand up dead. The crew on the Adventure sailed on,
eventually raiding an indianship hired by Armenian merchants. It was
only after they were on board this newcomer that Kidd
learned the captain was an Englishman, which meant the ship
had the protection of the Crown. Unfortunately, his men refused
orders to leave the ship and its valuables alone. When
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the news reached England, the king declared Kid a pirate.
Once a servant of the Crown, now the king's naval
commanders were on the search for the adventure. Though the
Crown had begun to offer clemency to pirates, Kid learned
the offer didn't extend to him, so he abandoned the
adventure in the Caribbean and headed home to New York,
hoping to find protection with Governor Belmont, who had financed
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his privateering endeavors. Along the way, he stopped at Gardner's
Island to stash a small treasure, but not for the
stereotypical reasons. Kid was arrested in six He told Belmont
where he'd hidden the treasure, hoping to exchange it for
his life. Instead, the governor distanced himself, fearing he'd be
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implicated as well. A year later, Kid was sent to
England and put on trial for piracy and murder. On
May eighth, sev one, the court sentenced him to hang.
After his death, they tarred his body, wrapped it in chains,
and placed the corpse in a steel cage, where it
remained on display for years. Throughout time. The worth of
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his treasure and the location have changed. Whatever its value
and precise location was, will never know. Belmont dug up
the treasure and offered some or all of it to
the British courts to be used as evidence against William Kidd.
When it comes to legends, Sometimes the hunter became the hunted,
and the more we learn about Pirates, the more buried treasure.
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Will find. Pirates was executive produced by Aaron Manky and
narrated by Aaron Manky and Alexandra Steid. Writing for this
season was provided by Michelle Mudo, with research by Alexandra
Steed and Sam Alberty. Production assistance was provided by Josh Than,
Jesse Funk, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more
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about this and other shows from Grimm and Mild and
I Heart Radio, visit grim and Mild dot com
Everyone loves a good story, and since you're listening, chances
are you're also fond of pirates. From sailing the high
seas and buried treasure to swilling rum and singing shanties,
pirates have come to represent a lot about the human spirit.
Through the centuries, we've fallen in love with adventure, danger
and exploration. Honestly, we never tire of hearing about pirate life.
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In Sweden, for example, there's a story that's been handed
down from generation to generation, and like other pirate tales
the world over, people love it so much they don't
care whether it's true or not. The story goes that
back in the fifth century, there was once a mighty
Scandinavian king with a lovely daughter, young Princess a Wilda's
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beauty was such that her father, King Sanartis, locked her
away in a tower for her protection, of course, and
to ensure that no ordinary man could easily scale the tow,
or he surrounded it with deadly snakes and traps. While
many men failed, Prince Alf of Denmark succeeded in breaching
the castle and then asked the king for his daughter's
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hand in marriage, to which the king agreed. They had
a problem. Though the princess had vanished from the tower,
you see, a Wilda's beauty was matched only by her
feistiness and sense of independence. With her mother's help, the
princess had made her escape, accompanied by her strong willed
handmaidens and other young women, who, much like the princess,
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were also promised to men they'd never met. They dressed
as sailors and made off with a ship, deciding to
explore the world, and during their travels, the women came
across a pirate ship that had recently lost its captain.
Enamored with a Wilda and her crew, the men voted
her to be their new leader, knowing that her father
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still searched for her. A Wilda and the other women
wore helmets to hide their long hair. The princess, pirates
and her crew earned a fierce reputation raiding many merchant
ships on the Scandinavian seas, and like all pirates, they
soon had a bounty on their heads. The King of
Denmark placed his son alf in charge of the navy
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and sent him to eliminate the troublesome pirates. The prince
quickly located them, and a great battle ensued. While his
crew engaged with a Wilda's, He and the princess faced
each other, swords drawn. They dueled, neither of them getting
the better of the other. Having become impressed with her
rival and seeing something familiar about him, Awilda removed her helmet.
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The prince instantly recognized the princess and dropped to one
knee to propose, which she accepted. Of course, the battle
ended and a wedding took place instead. A Wilda's pirate
ship and Alf's naval fleet returned side by side to Denmark.
The newlyweds were welcome to Denmark with a lot of fanfare.
(02:56):
A message was sent to King Sanartis, who was also
pleased with the marriage. A Wilda and Alf went on
to have a daughter together, and it was said that
she was just as beautiful and fierce as her mother,
and when the king died, the couple ruled long and well.
And while our fictional introduction story is the stuff worthy
(03:17):
of a Disney movie, we're about to embark on a
different sort of journey, a historical adventure into the most
legendary real life rogues of the seas. I'm Aaron Mackey,
and welcome two pirates. Piracy has been around for about
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as long as there have been oceans to sail. But
not every pirate belonged to bands of renegades who pillaged
and plundered. Some had a softer title. Governments employed privateers,
men who raided and harassed ships belonging to a competing power.
And if you're thinking it's the same thing, it was.
Governments on the receiving end didn't differentiate between the two.
(04:06):
Piracy government sanctioned or otherwise remained an act of war.
And there was no more tumultuous time than the Golden
Age of piracy, which started in the late seventeenth century.
And the rise in piracy began with what might be
the most successful pirate most of us have never heard of.
Like a lot of english men of his time, Henry
(04:27):
every got his start with the Royal Navy. But he
was different from other sailors who spent their meager earnings
on liquor or tobacco. He sent money home to his family.
Eventually he moved working aboard the Charles the Second, a
privateering ship sent to pray on French ships in the
West Indies. Like those aboard most British ships, Every lived
(04:48):
in squalid conditions and suffered from poor treatment. The last
straw for the men aboard the Charles The second came
when they didn't get paid, so the crew mutinied and
Every took control as captain and set a course for
the southern tip of Africa. Along the way, he led
raids on three English merchant ships and several more from
other European countries. But his real popularity with the crew
(05:13):
happened when he led a capture of a mogul ship
full of treasure and women. When the raid was complete,
Every split the wealth equally among his men. Pirating, as
you probably know by now, was a dangerous business, and
because of his success, Every had a price on his head.
Two years in he gave up the pirates life he
(05:33):
could afford to, having raked in what amounted to tens
of millions of pounds in late six hundreds currency not modern,
Henry Every is only one of a few pirates to
retire and live to tell the tale. In literature, he
became the inspiration for characters in books and plays. People
saw him as a sort of Robin Hood, or at
(05:54):
least a man who had fought back against the corruption
and unfair practices of English ship captains. He became the
most talked about pirates in the world, until that is,
a newcomer showed up and perfected whatever he had started.
Edward Teach had come from a comfortable family, or so
it's theorized, he was educated, unlike many of the sailors
(06:17):
of the time. Tall and thin with broad shoulders, he
sported a heavy black beard. People found him charismatic and
highly intelligence. Those qualities helped him rise through the ranks
in the British Navy. During the Queen Ann's War, the
French and Spanish mercilessly attacked the Queen's ships, forcing the
British to hire their own privateers, including men like Benjamin Hornegal,
(06:41):
Henry Jennings, Woods Rogers, and Charles Vane. But more on
them later. Their jobs came to an end in seventeen
fourteen after Queen Anne died When her Catholic heir was
found unacceptable to rule, Many of the men loyal to
the Queen's House of Stuart remained in Nassau in the
Bahamas instead of returning to England. Known as the Pirate Republic,
(07:03):
the area became popular among privateers and pirates alike, Hornegold
and Teach oversaw the development of the base a few However,
men like Jennings remained loyal to England and continued to
raid Spanish ships. That's when Teach paired up with Captain
Hornigold once again, this time as his lieutenant. Before long,
the two acquired additional ships, one of which was entrusted
(07:26):
to Edward Teach. By seventeen seventeen, the captain retired from piracy,
leaving his lieutenant to venture out on his own and
make his own mark. Now a captain of his own fleet,
Edward Teach set out to perfect the art of piracy.
He grew his beard even longer, giving him a wilder appearance,
and he wore a long sling over his shoulder, where
(07:48):
he kept not one, but three pistols. Now referred to
as black Beard, he also put Litton matches in his beard.
It said that he looked like the devil himself, and
the merchant ships he challenged became so frightened they willingly
surrendered without a fight. It was a great strategy. Firepower
damaged ships and potential cargo, and fights risked as men.
(08:12):
His strategy of shock and awe had a way of
keeping everyone and everything a bit safer, which put more
money into their pockets. Clearly, he had become formidable, but
Blackbeard wanted to take piracy to the next level, and
to do that he needed a better ship. That better
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ship presented itself on November sevent of seventeen seventeen, when
the French slave ship the lack Concord appeared on the horizon.
The two fifty tons ship had a strong, oaken hull
and ports that accommodated forty cannons. Under ordinary circumstances, black
Beard's crew wouldn't have presented much of a problem. However,
(09:00):
most everyone on board the lach Concord had scurvy. With
his crew sick and aware of the pirate's reputation, the
captain surrendered the moment the first warning volley landed in
front of his ship, and with that Blackbeard now had
a proper flagship that could stand up to any English vessel.
He left the French captain and his crew with one
of his own sloops, and then he offered some of
(09:22):
the healthy slaves a place among his men. Then he
christened his new ship the Queen Anne's Revenge, and went
on to raid several British vessels throughout North American colonies
and those traveling in the Caribbean. Pirating became such a
problem that King George the First offered clemency for all pirates. Naturally,
there was a catch. They'd have to give up their
(09:43):
marauding ways forever. The deal attempted to weaken or disband
pirate cruise through attrition, and of course those who refused
were still hunted. What the King didn't offer was away
for the men to make a living or provide better
conditions and pay aboard British ships, and frankly, conditions treatment
and pay we're far better aboard pirate ships. That said,
(10:06):
many captains and crewmen did take the King up on
the offer. Pirating was still a dangerous way to make
a living. Storms, disease, and months or even years at
sea made for a less than desirable way of life.
The deal, coupled with Nassau's new governor, Woods Rogers, put
the pirate Republic into a state of chaos. Blackbeard didn't
(10:26):
stay in Nassau long and chose to decline Governor Rogers offer.
You see, he had at least one bounty in mind,
so the Queen Anne's revenge set out once more. It
had been his friend and fellow pirate Steed Bonnets, who
had given Blackbeard the idea block the port of Charleston
and capture incoming and outgoing vessels. The township had no
(10:47):
guardian fleet, making it easy to overtake the pilot boat
and challenge anyone moving through the port. The crew stopped
the Crowley, an English bound ship with several prominent Charleston
citizens on board. Instead of raiding the ship, though, Blackbeard
chose to take the passengers hostage, including women and children.
But he did release a single passenger, one Mr Marks,
(11:10):
to relay a message to the governor. You see, by
now Blackbeard's crew were sick. He no longer wanted gold
or valuables. Now he needed medicine. Two healthy members of
his crew accompanied Mr. Marks, and if they didn't all
return in two days, he threatened to execute the passengers
and send their heads to the governor. The plan went
(11:31):
sideways quickly, the boat carrying his crewman and Mr Marks capsized,
forcing them to swim ashore. En route to the Governor's office,
the crewman stopped at a tavern for drinks with other
fellow pirates. Imports now drunk and behind schedule, the group
finally made their way to their destination. The governor offered
the pirates clemency, and seeing the unfolding situation, they took
(11:54):
him up on it. Then the governor agreed to Blackbeard's
demands and Mr. Marks made his way back to the
dock alone. By the time he arrived, he was past
the deadline and the Queen Anne's Revenge had pulled into ports.
Crewman ran through the streets. Men, women and children screamed
and fled for their lives. Picturing this scene, I can
(12:14):
only imagine the terror that Mr Marks felt. The most
feared and formidable pirate had unleashed an angry and diseased
crew upon the town. Hoping to stop the attack, he
rode back to the ship after handing over the medicines.
Marks relayed a message from the governor surrender and received clemency,
(12:34):
but Blackbeard refused, and even though the deadline had passed,
he held up his end of the bargain. He returned
the ship undamaged and released all the prisoners unharmed, although
he did take some of their finer clothing. After loading
the clothes and medicines onto the Queen Ann's Revenge. Blackbeard
and his crew left port. He had a new plan,
(12:54):
this time one he shared with his trusted quartermaster, William Howard.
It was time to give up the pirate life, well
sort of. Blackbeard and Howard met with North Carolina as
governor Charles Eden, Charismatic as always, they negotiated a deal,
(13:18):
a pardon for the crew. The best part, though, they
would continue as privateers, sanctioned by King George the First.
Shortly afterward, the Queen Anne's Revenge ran into a sandbar,
damaging her main mast, forcing them to switch to a
Spanish ship. Black Beard simply called the Revenge. While he'd
retired from piracy, word of his vicious nature endured, although oddly,
(13:40):
in all his time as a pirate, he never actually
killed anyone. He'd created a persona that did the work
for him. Captain and crew aboard the Revenge left Port
and headed up the Delaware River to sell off some
of their goods before leaving for the Caribbean. There they
captured two French ships laden with cocoa and sugar, a
valuable command city in the colonies. On the return trip,
(14:02):
they stopped for repairs and to unload the cargo at
Ocracoke Island, part of the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
There he met up with Charles Vane, a pirate who
hadn't taken the King's pardon, and invited him to stay
on Ocracoke for a while. Meanwhile, in Virginia, Lieutenant Governor
Alexander Spotswood, who not only hated pirates but had a
(14:22):
fear of them that bordered on irrationality, heard of Blackbeard's
return and his current company. He claimed that Blackbeard planned
to make Ocracoke the new pirate republic. When no one listened,
he took matters into his own hands and planned an attack.
He had no authority over Ocracoke and understood that he'd
beheld accountable for his actions and for violating North Carolina's sovereignty.
(14:45):
To further justify his plan, he also claimed that Governor
Eden had become corrupt and was in league with the
pirates for personal gain. Of course, he had no proof,
but that didn't really matter. Step one was to send
out an expedition to capture both Beard and Governor Eden.
Then he convinced Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy
(15:05):
to hunt down the Queen Anne's Revenge at sea. Since
he knew he wouldn't get approval from Virginia's governor, Spotswood
paid all expenses out of his own pockets. He purchased
the Ranger and the Jane, two vessels capable of handling
the shallow waters that were common along the outer banks.
Well not as big as other ships, they still carried cannons,
(15:26):
and accompanying them was the h M. S. Pearl. With
a plan in motion, spots would kept the ambush secret
from the governor, who would most certainly have called off
the attack. Maynard arrived on the southern tip of okrah
Coke after dark on the night of November one, seventeen eighteen.
By the morning of the surprise attack took a turn
(15:46):
when the Ranger and the Jane ran ashore, giving black
Beard time to ready his crew and a ship. It
wouldn't be enough, though Maynard's men unbeached the two boats
and the chase was on. The Revenge had superior firepower.
A short barrage of cannon fire killed the Ranger's captain
and sent several men on the deck of the Jane overboard.
(16:07):
Realizing that a head to head battle with black Beard
wouldn't work. Maynard instead chose to set a trap. He
ordered the remaining men on board the Jane to go
below deck and hide, and then they quietly waited, hoping
that they'd be boarded instead of taking more fire, and
it worked. Black Beard and his men boarded, not expecting
many survivors. Maynard and his crew charged from below. For
(16:30):
ten minutes, both sides engaged in brutal and bloody battle.
Swords clashed and guns were fired. Men without weapons took
the fist fighting. Maynard managed to draw a pistol and
he shot Blackbeard once in the chest. Seemingly unfazed, the
infamous pirate lunged forward, forcing Maynard to retreat. A crewman
from the Jane rounded the corner and slashed black Beard
(16:53):
across the throat. Finally, another man fired four additional shots,
and black Beard fell to the blood soaked deck. With
the famous pirates and most of his crew dead, Maynard
took everything of value. Then he severed black Beard's head
and tossed the body overboard. Finally, he mounted the head
on the bowsprit and returned to Virginia, proudly displaying his
(17:16):
prize like a ghoulish hunting trophy. Naturally, Governor Eden was outraged,
and it's no surprise that Spots would denied any personal
involvement in the attack. He hated Blackbeard, and the one
thing the Lieutenant Governor couldn't do was stop people from
immortalizing the pirates. I can only imagine how furious that
made him. In seventeen twenty four, Captain Charles Johnson published
(17:40):
a general History of the robberies and murders of the
most notorious pirates Pirates spelled with the y instead of
an eye. He took literary license with the life and
times of all pirates, stating that they always buried their treasures.
With black Beard in particular, though, Johnson turned him into
a ruthless, thirsty killer, and from that point on, Johnson's
(18:03):
fictional depiction of black Beard would obscure the equally dramatic truth,
and in doing so, it would accomplish the opposite of
what Spots would had hoped, because while normal men can die,
legends live forever. For centuries, people have searched for black
(18:31):
beards reportedly buried treasure. Sadly, it appears to be a
stereotypical myth. Sorry fortune hunters, but in private salvagers came
across a shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina. The
nearly three year old ship looked to be the Queen
Anne's revenge. It wouldn't be until two thousand eleven before
evidence revealed without a doubt that the ship had once
(18:53):
belonged to Blackbeard. Originally built in seventeen ten in England,
the French had stolen the ship a year later, only
to have it taken from them by Edward Teach. Johnson's
version of black Beard has overshadowed history centuries after his death.
The stories surrounding his brutal end took on a supernatural flare.
Soon after his demise, reports of his ghost haunting the
(19:16):
coastline scared people half to death. As one British report stated,
he frightened America more than any comment, and in all honesty,
I can understand why it would have scared people too.
You see, according to the folklore, that final day, Blackbeard's
severed head called out to his body, and in response,
his body swam around Maynard's boat three times before plunging
(19:40):
into the ocean. Depths on Ocrah Cooke, there's a small
channel of water where it said Blackbeard anchored the Queen
Anne's revenge. People report seeing him there, swimming in the
waters in search of his head. On stormy nights. They
say you can still hear his voice calling out to
his body. Later in the twentieth century, moviegoers became obsessed
(20:02):
with black Beard and piracy as a whole. Soon all
pirates took on the stereotype men with black hearts who
spared no one who crossed their path. Pirates were lawless, bloodthirsty, drunkards,
and they lived without rules. Hollywood and popular fiction also
romanticized piracy. In reality, most pirates met a fateful end
(20:22):
soon into their careers. Blackbeards lasted just two years. Historians
have long since pointed to documents and journals of the
day that portrayed Edward Teach as a cunning strategist, a
brilliant marketer, and a relatively nonviolent man. In two thousand fourteen,
a historian combing through Jamaican maritime records stumbled across a
(20:43):
name Feach, a common variant of the surname Teach. This document,
from seventeen oh six revealed a letter from a man
named Edward Feach aboard a sixty gun ship called the Windsor,
a Royal Navy vessel. The sailor's father had died, leaving
his Alafa state to his eldest son. Typical for the time,
(21:03):
Feach Senior had owned a sugar plantation in Jamaica, and
back in the seventeen hundreds sugar was known as white gold.
This young man had written to the lawyer handling the
execution of his father's will back home in Bristol, England.
He stated his love and affection for his stepmother Lucretia,
his sister Rachel, and his brother Thomas, and asked that
(21:24):
the estate be divided among them. Essentially, Edward Teach gave
up a considerable fortune and instead chose a hard life
on the seas, also that his family back home could
be comfortable. Quite a different picture from the bloodthirsty rogue
that Johnson painted for all of us. But Teach painted
his own picture as well. He did such a good
(21:45):
job of instilling fear into the hearts of his adversaries
by making himself out to be the devil, and perhaps
that's why today we still think of him first as
Blackbeard rather than Edward Teach. One thing is certain, though
years later, the real history doesn't stop us from loving
(22:05):
the legend any less. I think we can all agree
that the world of historical pirates has the potential to
deliver both thrills and chills. Hopefully today's walk through the
Man behind the Legend of Blackbeard give you a little
bit of both. And if you were hoping for more,
(22:26):
then boy, do I have a treat for you. Today's
episode kicks off a brand new season that will take
us all the way to the end of the year,
exploring all the water logged corners of this unique culture
and cast of characters. But before we wrap things up
for today, my grim and mild teammate Ali Steed has
one last treasure to unpack for you. Stick around through
this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. When
(22:55):
it comes to buried treasure, there's one myth that stands
out from all the rest. Little is known about William
Kidd's early life. He was born in Scotland somewhere around
sixteen fifty four, either January or October, depending on the source.
By Kid's own account, he had been born in Greeneck.
He ventured to New York City in search of new opportunity.
(23:17):
Some time after the British took over the area from
the Dutch. Shortly after his arrival, Sarah Bradley cox Ort,
a young and wealthy widow, caught his eye. Though they
briefly courted, the sea called and he left again. In
sixteen eighty nine, William Kidd sailed with the privateering crew
who rated ships in the Caribbean. During this particular trip,
(23:39):
the crew mutinied over poor treatment and made sail to
the British colony of Nevus, a small island neighboring Saint KITT's. Willing,
Kidd became the captain and renamed the ship the Blessed William.
While not fully sanctioned or supported by the British government,
as long as Kidd and other privateers only rated French
supply ships, the King looked the other way for a
(24:01):
ten percent fee. Of course, the cruel board the Blessed
William became quite successful, once taking in what amounted to
two thousand pounds sterling in a single raid. After months
at sea, Kid returned to New York to find Sarah
had been waiting for him. He showered her with gifts
and courted her with long walks, and on May sixteenth
of six The two wed and settled into a tall
(24:25):
house on Wall Street. The couple had two daughters and kids.
Privateering ways ensured his beloved family wanted for nothing. They
were the perfect couple except for one thing. Kid had
another love. Let see, he wanted to hunt the pirates
that attacked British trade ships in the Red Sea and
the Indian Ocean. After earning his commission, Kids set sail
(24:48):
out of Portsmouth in sixte on a galley ship named
the Adventure. The ship boasted thirty four guns and a
crew of a hundred men. He lived his dream life,
and yet he is about to lose everything. While sailing
down the Thames in England, Kid failed to salute a
naval yacht. In response to the snub, the yacht fired
(25:09):
a warning shot to remind those on board the Adventure
of their duty. Crewman on the Adventure turned their backs
and slapped their backsides, but the insult didn't go unpunished.
The British Navy took the crew and impressed them on
navy ships. Essentially, impression is a dressed up term for
forced servitude. They didn't take Kid, however, He was sent
(25:31):
back to New York, where he hired a new crew
and set sail again, arriving at the Cape of Good
Hope in Africa in September of six. Unfortunately, that crew
fell ill with cholera, and they're bad luck didn't and
there the ship began to leak, and worst of all,
the pirates they'd been hoping to hunt down never even materialized,
(25:51):
which was bad news because if he returned home with nothing,
he would have to personally cover all the costs of
the trip out of his own pocket. A short time later,
they came across two ships, but Kid refused to attack.
Both ships were flying the British flag, which meant they
were off limits, but a gunner named William Moore fought
with Kidd, trying to get him to attack anyway. The
(26:12):
men ended up in a brawl and the gunner he
wand up dead. The crew on the Adventure sailed on,
eventually raiding an indianship hired by Armenian merchants. It was
only after they were on board this newcomer that Kidd
learned the captain was an Englishman, which meant the ship
had the protection of the Crown. Unfortunately, his men refused
orders to leave the ship and its valuables alone. When
(26:34):
the news reached England, the king declared Kid a pirate.
Once a servant of the Crown, now the king's naval
commanders were on the search for the adventure. Though the
Crown had begun to offer clemency to pirates, Kid learned
the offer didn't extend to him, so he abandoned the
adventure in the Caribbean and headed home to New York,
hoping to find protection with Governor Belmont, who had financed
(26:56):
his privateering endeavors. Along the way, he stopped at Gardner's
Island to stash a small treasure, but not for the
stereotypical reasons. Kid was arrested in six He told Belmont
where he'd hidden the treasure, hoping to exchange it for
his life. Instead, the governor distanced himself, fearing he'd be
(27:17):
implicated as well. A year later, Kid was sent to
England and put on trial for piracy and murder. On
May eighth, sev one, the court sentenced him to hang.
After his death, they tarred his body, wrapped it in chains,
and placed the corpse in a steel cage, where it
remained on display for years. Throughout time. The worth of
(27:40):
his treasure and the location have changed. Whatever its value
and precise location was, will never know. Belmont dug up
the treasure and offered some or all of it to
the British courts to be used as evidence against William Kidd.
When it comes to legends, Sometimes the hunter became the hunted,
and the more we learn about Pirates, the more buried treasure.
(28:03):
Will find. Pirates was executive produced by Aaron Manky and
narrated by Aaron Manky and Alexandra Steid. Writing for this
season was provided by Michelle Mudo, with research by Alexandra
Steed and Sam Alberty. Production assistance was provided by Josh Than,
Jesse Funk, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more
(28:26):
about this and other shows from Grimm and Mild and
I Heart Radio, visit grim and Mild dot com
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