Blackbeard: The Deadliest Pirate

Blackbeard. The name evokes dread, titillation, and excitement. Thousands of seamen and merchants shook at the thought that he might take their ship. He was know to be merciless, was even compared to demons and devils, and his life took on legendary proportions. But Blackbeard started as an ordinary sailor, not a horrifying monster. His strengths were his intelligence and luck, his remarkable courage, and his mastery of leading men.

Edward Teach (or perhaps Thatch or Drummond, no one’s sure) is perhaps the most notorious pirate ever to raid ships in the Caribbean Sea. He was most active for only two years, between 1716 and 1718, though he was almost certainly a pirate for a decade or two before this time. During his life, which lasted no more than four decades, he acquired several ships, becoming one of the first pirate kings. He also collected more than four dozen wives, either formally or informally, and was not known for divorcing them.

His main strength may have been a sort of self-promotion, from which today’s marketers might even learn something. Instead of just dressing like any other pirate, he cultivated a heavy black beard – hence the name – and  wove hemp and lit matches into it, so that he appeared to have a blazing, smoking face when he confronted his foes. His terrifying appearance, as much as his reputation for mercilessness, contributed to his great success.