Legend or Truth? The Real Blackbeard
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2022
- The Blackbeard seen in movies, and even in his own period, was more legend than known fact, and the truth behind the beard might surprise you.
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Script by Lorri Weeks
#history #thehistoryguy #Pirates
I could never imagine that newspapers would exaggerate and sensationalize their “reporting.” Excellent history lesson!
Especially during an election year!
I vaguely remember newspapers calling a certain President "unruly", "inexperienced" and "unfit for office" while claiming he was dividing America.
But, Abraham Lincoln went on to win, any way.
Ha ha, well said, Matey.
But I’d bet my last doubloon that “fake news” was the daily fare in the newsdays of Blackbeard too !
It really makes you appreciate the TV, news and newspapers from the '40s, '50s and '60s when they truly were objective and stayed facts and left opinions at the door. I miss those days!
@John Thomas that wins the internet today.
Knowing your love of pirates, and the fact that you reside in the St Louis area, you might have already seen this. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said. 'To "err" is human; to "argh" is pirate.' I immediately thought of you and your history guy RUclips broadcasts, which I greatly enjoy. They were especially welcome during covid when everybody was locked into their homes. Hopefully you'll find a little joy in this as I did.
I love that Mark Twain quote! "Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates." 🦜 ⚔️🌞🚢 Thanks immeasurably History Guy!
I love that the most reliable thing we know about Blackbeard is the fact they had to shoot him five times and cut him a dozen times with swords before he went down.
To me that was always the most incredible thing about him.
No kidding. Sounds like that dude went down fighting until the very end.
Sounds like Blackbeard was the pirate equivalent of Rasputin in a way
I’d never heard this version of Blackbeard, but it makes sense as to why a learned man might embrace a scary image of himself in order to ease his plundering. I also had never hear Twain’s quote! I really enjoyed this video; thank you, THG!
However,I do not think he would risk his crew like Blackbeard did.He would get 1 of his crew into his cabin,shoot out the lights & then shoot blindly for reasons only known to Blackbeard.
@@Russia-bullies That sounds made up.
A fearsome image not only helped with plundering, making an early, easy surrender more likely (ransoms paid without conflict), it also helped with crew acquisition. Being infamous and advertising for crew meant that you had a larger slate of candidates from which to pick. Likely, he may have liked the idea of being viewed as fearsome for various reasons.
I myself am often surprised at life's little quirks.
Even though Black Flag is a game about fictional Pirate Edward Kenway, some of the information about Black Beard was played out in the game with the Black Beard character. It was a lot of fun to play! I learned a lot about the real pirates mentioned by looking them up as they were introduced during gameplay. Piracy stories are fascinating!
During the first half of the video I kinda thought the history guy had just played ac4, made a video out of it and called it a day.
My 7yo declared he's Captain No-Beard the Pirate.
Interesting! Mainly in the fact that news sources long ago were just as disreputable as they are today.
If he was as well known as we think he was during his time I wouldn't be surprised if people impersonated him just for the intimidation Factor.
I always kind of assumed Bartholomew Roberts was blamed/credited with more ships than he actually pirated. 400 ships is a lot of ships for one pirate captain to seize.
I'd bet it was common to say you were some famous pirate. It makes sense really. Intimidating the prey and helps keep a noose from your less well known neck.
I can also imagine a captain that didn't put up as much a fight as he really should have saying "well it was Blackbeard!" So they are absolved of losing everything
Like the dread pirate roberts in the Princess bride...
@@ytcensorhack1876 My thinking as well.
@@ytcensorhack1876 I am here, you are here, but soon you will not be here! The Dread Pirate Roberts has come for your souls!
As a Marine I was stationed at MCAS Cherry Point, NC. There is a coastal town close to Cherry Point called Beaufort, NC and there is a house there that was a home owned by Blackbeard and is believed to haunt it.
There are records of my ancestors living in Bath, North Carolina at the same time that Blackbeard was there. Every since I discovered that a few years ago, I often wondered if any of my relatives ever crossed paths with blackbeard the pirate.
Direct descendants? Wow, you
Must be really old ; )
@@davidalvarez1560 No mate . Nothings nastier than a fair dinkum Aussie Drop Bear !
Wonderful presentation. But pirates really did and do exist outside of the Carribbean. Modern piracy in the Gulf of Gulf of Guinea, the east African coast and in the straits of Malacca is still a major focus of the UNODC Global Maritime Crime Program. Pirates operated in the English channel from ports such as Dunkirk and along the French and Belgian coasts (and some have statues celebrating them!). Piracy still exists in the Caribbean, particularly around Trinidad and Tobago. I truly enjoy your work and doesn't everybody love pirate stories?
And then there were the swishbucklers or bugganeers like the butt pirates of the fire islands.Famous for the plundering of ill gotten booty.
@@hughgrection9439 The"butt"pirates got ill gotten"booty"?! Lmao!!🤣
I wish our history classes would have been taught the way you present it. You weave a story around interesting facts. Thank you THG.
What I found interesting in this topic, was how complicated, difficult and problematic it can be for historians to really get to the roots of real history. The scholarship to get the facts it seems is a never ending struggle.
"Don't all good stories come from The History Guy?"
I've learned more about Blackbeard and the questions around him than anything I've read or watched in a long time. As for his wife, Mary, I suspect he simply ran out on her. You would think there would be some record about her being abducted or murdered if either of those things happened.
Death in childbirth is also a possibility. Something like 1 out of every 100 births resulted in death, prior to modern medicine. :(
@@karldubhe8619 I agree. That's definitely a possibility, especially if the child died as well. Suddenly, Blackbeard has no family or obligations.
According to local historians, Blackbeard had a sister named Susannah Franck who lived in Pitt County, NC. Mary Ormond lived in the house that Teach purchased in Bath, NC for a while and returned to her family and never remarried. She is reported to have died in 1752.
I've griped plenty about the whole pirates thing given that reliable histories are so remarkable that the novelist Patrick O'Brian, in his forward to Master and Commander, noted that many actual exploits of people like Thomas, Lord Cochrane would seem too improbable as fiction. But that's not the point. Piracy remains a stangely compelling concept to so many people regardless. 🤔
It seems likely that more people are robbed with a fountain pen every day, or the stroke of a computer keyboard, then with a gun, knife or cutlass.
@@goodun2974 Indeed! 😂 🤣
"Piracy remains a strangely compelling concept to so many people regardless."
Many people fantasize about living above or outside the law.
Really enjoyed this. This one was personal for me. I've always loved pirate movies, and as a boy I was enthralled by Mr B.I.G.'s, "Boy and the Pirates".
Thanks for this history about a favorite subject of mine. It spurred me to order copies of the Charles Johnson book and Colin Woodard's "The Republic of Pirates". After a long recess, you have me reading history again.
You can read Johnson’s book online at the Internet Archive
As a native North Carolinian I just want to thank you for this video, every kid that grows up here learns about Blackbeard at some point in history class. 🏴☠️
He left out that Blackbeard's ship was found in the waters near Beaufort NC and is being excavated.
That quote by Mark Twain at the end had me rolling as I'm trying to get out the door to get to work.
🤔 Hmm. Newspapers over sensationalizing stories to boost circulation. The playbook has never changed !:-(
💜🙏⚡️
I highly recommend "Under the Black Flag" for reading about pirates. Very good book. Excellent beach reading.
The real Blackbeard retired some 15 years prior, relinquishing the ship and crew to a man named Ryan who became very wealthy and also retired, relinquishing ship and crew to one of his captives named Westley who later was reunited with his true love and gave up piracy and gave it all to a man named Inigo Montoya, the man who all the legends are made of.
Exactly
The Princess Bride, a History.
I AM INIGO MONTOYA. YOU HAVE KILLED MY FATHER. PREPARE TO DIE.🤺🤺🤺✌✌✌✌
I myself am often surprised at life's little quirks.
INCONCEIVABLE!
Sounds about right, with one little caveat; Every time a ship failed to make port, regardless her actual fate, it was Blackbeard.
I think this was a very good episode. Others may disagree, but only a pirate would Arrrrrrgue about it.
LOL
Aye!
ARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
Parley
You can't take little children to pirate movies because they're all rated Arrrrrrr!
Nelson DeMille constructed his novel "Plum island" around the legend that Blackbeard had indeed buried treasure on that island off of New York, which was later used as a biological research facility into animal diseases. (Some wild stories have been constructed around that research lab as well; but I prefer to leave conspiracy theories to the conspiracy minded).
Good book
The whole story about pirates is like the telling of a good fishing trip , the one that got away is always the biggest one of them all.
The last pirate of any worth was Barry Bonds!!
I grew up playing Sid Meier's Pirates! on the Commodore 64 with my brother and hearing stories about how Blackbeard would tie hemp strands into his beard and light them on fire before he attacked a ship to increase the terror in his victims. And who can forget how, when he was beheaded, his body was thrown into the water and it swam around the ship three times before sinking into the depths? That story in particular used to scare the heck out of me and fascinate me at the same time. It's one of the feelings I miss most about being a kid.
I love history like this, stuff you don't do in school, but it's absolutely fascinating. Learned a bit about blackbeard from an assassin's creed game.
Loved the closing quote from Twain! Arrgh!
Maybe it's a case of Dread Pirate Robert, where there was many men impersonating Blackbeard.
I'm Jamaican and this one blow me away.
You're awesome THG, love this channel. 👍🏼
Dear THG, you should look at Jean Lafitte Revealed: unraveling one of America’s longest-running mysteries by Ashley Oliphant and Beth Yarborough. The hero of the Battle of New Orleans rebranded himself Lorenzo Ferrer, and ended up being buried here in Lincolnton, NC. However he could never quite escape his past, which also included trying to spirit Napoleon from exile and bring him to Galveston and become emperor there.
I wanted this to continue! Is there any possible truth to the stories of Blackbeard tying fuses in his beard and hair, lighting them to create a terrifying appearance during a raid? How much of might be true of his connection with Stede Bonnet ("the gentleman pirate")? MORE, MORE !!! -- and THANK YOU for yet another great clip!
Stede Bonnet, imprisoned in Charleston, SC, I think. And escaped by dressing as a woman, only to be recaptured. And hanged there. He was well regarded by the higher authorities, I believe.
@@bloodybones63
_"...by dressing as a woman."_
Now, I'm picturing Ernest in 'Ernest Goes To Jail' and when the shackled ball falls out of his bra. 😂
I grew up in Murrells Inlet SC, one of Blackbeard's safe harbors. As children, we were always aware of his legend.
For April Fools Day, you should do a episode on Yellowbeard the pirate. Be sure to include Cheech and Chong 😃
Mark Twain sure could turn a phrase, and he was right, perhaps of we were good we would be permitted to be pirates. All good stories do indeed involve pirates. Thank you history guy.
It amazes me that Edward Teach and J.S. Bach were contemporaries.
Interesting video! Always difficult separating fact from fiction especially in parts of history where there were vested interests in exaggeration.
Your videos are always a pleasure, but including the N. C. Wyeth illustrations was a special treat.
Another interesting pirate was the Irish Grace O'Malley, the "Pirate Queen"
I suppose it's very difficult to have good primary sources about pirates.
1. The pirate captains often obscured their true background (as noted in the video) and exaggerated their feats for intimidation.
2. The pirate captains usually didn't live to write memoirs, didn't keep diaries, and didn't write home to their families.
3. Most of the pirate crews were probably illiterate.
Great story which helps me make up my mind for my yearly Halloween model build. An Alantics model of Blackbread himself. My childern just don't understand my love of pirate stories. I was given a great opportunity to live with my uncle on the Albemarble sound hearing stories and playing on wreaked wooden sailing ships on the Outer Banks was paradise. It cemented my love of history. Keep the history flowing and if one could write a story on plastic model kits and building them I would say think about it. After all it is history.
As a Pirate myself on RUclips and in my quaint little village of St Augustine it is so important to continue keep Pirate legends alive for future generations. When little kids and their parents walk up to me for a photo op, I go into character to bring history alive for them. It both educates and visualize the days of High Seas Piracy of the 1700's and 1800's. It was said best on the last episode "Black Sails" about the Pirate stories... "A story is true. A story is untrue. As time extends, it matters less and less. The stories we want to believe, those are the ones that survive, despite upheaval and transition and progress. Those are the stories that shape history."―Jack Rackham
Excellently told,perhaps you can dive into the many men who portrayed Billy Bowlegs also a rouge .
As we learned from the Dread Pirate Roberts, the name and legend are more important than who the person is! ;)
Nice to see your Internet awards behind you in this episode.
Good morning, fellow students!
Particularly fascinating video and significant compliment to Captain Johnson's work. Will you be doing anything on Vasari's Lives the of Artists? Was Cellini a big fibber? 👍
Really good episode, very interesting. 👍👌
Maybe he wanted to have the reputation like Dread Pirate Roberts
Right. "Blackbeard" is a much better moniker than "The Dread Pirate Edward".
I grew up going back and forth to Jekyll Island, a barrier island on the Ga coast. I had family that lived there as far back as the 1930's and there is a legend that Blackbeard had stopped and buried a hidden treasure somewhere on the island. My father recalled a time back in the 70's when a couple of guys showed up to the island with a piece of very old parchment and said they were doing "research" for their colege paper. They hired several local teens and handyman to show them around the island and kept referencing the parchment when they were wandering about the island. Then one day, when the 2 were supposed to go looking on another part of the island, never showed up. The teens went to where they had showed them the day before and there was a large hole in the sand with 2 shovels sitting in them and no sign of the 2 "colege kids". There was a restaurant on the island when I was growing up there named "Balckbeards" that had a pretty good bar as I recall.
I now have a sudden urge to have my timbers shivered
The best Pirate history I have heard, and probably the most correct...from a guy who is interested and has lived on the Atlantic coast from New York to Florida with points in between.
Indeed all good stories involve pirates! I finally ran down the rabbit hole looking for your outro bumper music, GOOD STUFF! However, all I found was Reach For The Stars Volume 2 by Inspirational World, was there a Volume 1? Is it 'in the wild'? Very reminiscent of the early days of internet's 'soundclip' libraries. For lovers of this genre' may I recommend Dampa by Plain Strolls, same vein different drug.
Back in the Saddle Again Naturally
Good one buddy
@@interwebtubes Thank you 😊 just to keep smile on everyone's face
@@constipatedinsincity4424 Since THG comes on at 8am Eastern time, I still can’t get over that you Western folks must get up at what, 5 or
6am to catch the latest History lesson? I admire that dedication!
@@stuartriefe1740 I haven't been to sleep yet. I will sleep 💤 between 10:00am and 2:00pm
@@constipatedinsincity4424 I saw you again slumming over at Adam Reader’s channel… “Zenni Eyewear.” 🤓😎.
I just have to ask, are you a young guy or a retired guy like me who has time for all this RUclips stuff?😜🤪😝
I turn the big 6-5 in a few months. Just an FYI, I find a lot of your comments as interesting as the content I’m supposed to
be watching- perhaps you should start your very own channel? 🤔🙀🫣
Absolutely love your work
that was pretty interesting and informative. just what I love about this channel.
What about the Devil Fruits he ate and his history with Whitebeard?
Great Episode!
Great episode! Love you THG!
"...If we lived and were good, god would permit us to be pirates".
Well, THG, you seem rather pleased with 16:19 this.
You're really doing justice to your CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt vibe these days.✨
"Us Yellowbeards are never so dangerous as when we're dead." That seems to be the case with Blackbeard.
Stagger, stagger,stagger, roll, roll, stagger, stagger roll.
@@kdrapertrucker LOL
Good morning from Chicago heights Illinois
I grew up in Beaufort County, NC where Bath is located. My family used to have a house opposite where Teach's house would have stood when he lived in Bath.
AS ALWAYS THE HISTORY GUY, AN EXCELLENT VIDEO!!
Mr. Lance, I thank you for including Blackbeard holding Charles Towne
hostage while he was waiting for his medicine (I've read that the medicine
was for yellow fever, and, not VD.)
A fact about Blackbeard was that before he went into action, he would (INTENTIONALLY) light the curls he wore around his beard. They lit up his face, and, as one ship described it , " like a demon from the nether regions"
Blackbeard was using Psychological
Warfare very effectively. 🤺🤺🤺✌✌✌✌
Huge fan. Would love to hear you do a history of paper and paper industry today.
Paper sacs, towels, TP, packing, boxes and on worldwide. Has internet lessened use as daily newspapers wane?
ruclips.net/video/eKJjbJxk1yU/видео.html
Just when I was in the mood for another good story, lol ☠️
Love that quote by Twain. I can remember being fascinated with pirates when I was little. I don't even know where I heard of them, pre-reading days. However, I had a dandy plastic sword, which made nice whooshing and thwack sounds, then was quickly taken away. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn have been two f my lifelong favorites, as well. Twain, too, knew a good story had pirates. 💜😎
Newspapers have always told tall tales - just like in Pirates of the Caribbean:
"Never leave any survivors? Then where do the stories come from, I wonder?" - Captain Jack Sparrow
And, was it 'Desperado' where Steve Buschemi's character is recounting the story of said Desperado who rolls into town and kills everyone.
The bartender asks, _"If he kills everyone, how does anyone know the tale?"_
So, he quickly amends his story to say the Desperado always leaves the bartender alive? 😂
Fascinating, thanks 👍
I wonder if the exaggerated villainy might also have to do with merchants and governments trying to convince law enforcement to double down. It could also move people in general to collaborate with authorities.....
Just a thought.....I wasn't there🙃
Great video.
Teach must have told the crew the Scot was paying for dinner & drinks when they made port
It is said that Pirates were the first real democracy both on ships and their safe harbors like Nassau and Port Royal.
The use of initial privateers was a great strategy of England in it's fight against Spain, and although life expectancy may not have been long it would have been an exciting time if you were a pirate.
I remember a foot note in an article on blacbeard saying he had a sister that lived on the Tar River near what is now Grimesland,NC.
Do we really know who he was? Maybe it was like the fictional Dread Pirate Roberts, when he retired or died, a new pirate assumed the persona. I believe most of the pirates and outlaws were bigger than life anyway.
And as we know the DPR started an online market for narcotics.
Bath, NC is a quaint little town, also the oldest town in NC. Also, there is a place called "Devil's Hoofprints" where legend has it that a man lost a horse race with the devil.
Shiny! Edward Teach was a character in The Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag video game, not a bad representation.
The home (The Plank House)of one of his Pennsylvanian mistresses, Margaret, was listed recently on the National Register of Historic Places. There's also an Annual Pirates Festival as well in Pennsylvania.
I don't think it was mentioned in the video, but the part of Blackbeard's legend I always liked in particular was how his headless body [after it was thrown into the water] supposedly swam around Maynard's ship [Jane] three times before finally disappearing. I am not a doctor, but I think I can safely chalk that one up to yet another myth. I am still keeping my "Blackbeard flag" hat, though I guess now when people ask what it is I will have to explain the historical inaccuracy.
"This is the day you ALMOST caught Captain Jack Sparrow!"
Danke!
Even Gold & Gunpowder would agree about the video, that Blackbeard as a person is deeply misunderstood. Would've been cool had Blackbeard had the chance to sue the people who sullied his good name.
FANTASTIC! I was waiting for Cordingly to be mentioned! I keep his books on my desk, next to my computer.
How ironic, I just recently have been reading alot about the Blackbeard, Benjamin Hornigold, Steve Bonnet, Jack Rackham, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, because of the game Black Flag. It's almost like your tracking me! Thanks for the video though, excited to learn more, I never really put much thought to the story line of the game, but turns out I guess some of them really knew each other, and ALL of them were Real people. I was born In the wrong era, I wish it was not 2022! I think the old ways are much more nostalgic & more exciting to live by. From Midevil, all the way to the 1970's. The 70's was the last decade of more human freedom, & real life than we have today, were stuck in The Matrix, and I don't see how our future history will be anything like "The Legends" that were famous enough to have their names written down somewhere, important enough to remember. Government owns everything now, and the people have no voice! Gone are the days of "the American Dream", and owning what is yours, and living off the land! The knights are gone, The musketeers are gone, Native Americans are gone, The Irish & Scottish clans are gone, The American Revolution is gone, it's all gone, our future will be flying cars and space travel. Not very exciting in my opinion!
"Give me Liberty, or give me Death"
"All for one, & one for All"
"Death before Dishonor"
"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country"
"it has become appallingly clear, that our technology, has surpassed our humanity"
"No, a merry Life, and a short one shall be my motto"
Long Live All the Renegades & Revolutionaries! R.I.P
Today your theme song is Jimmy Buffett's son of a son of a sailor
@@HM2SGT , I prefer "A Sailor's Life" from Fairport Convention, which begins: " A sailor's life, it is a merry life / he robs young girls of their heart's delight/ Leaving them behind to weep and mourn/ they never know when they will return...."
Wasn't the pirate coalition known as the Brethren of the Coast?
Growing up in the Bath, North Carolina, community, I have known of Blackbeard since my early youth. For many years there was a summer theatre play of his exploits presented there, always entertaing; including his marriage to a young Mary Ormond during his time there. Ormond remains a common family name in the area. There is a monument on the main street giving information about him, and legends of buried treasure on Teache's Point. I enjoyed your detailed recount, as always. Thank you.
Fantastic.
His wife most likely assumed a new name after Teach returned to his old life. This was a common thing, and could have been aided by the governor himself.because of his role in her plight.
This explains a lot about the plot of Our Flag Means Death!
Thanks for setting the history straight.
I learned from a family history book published in the late 1800's that Blackbeard was one of my distant ancestors!
Dude named Hornygold will always make me chuckle.
You Rock History !
I've so many different stories of Blackbeard ??
Thank you.
I just finished a college class on pirates of the Golden Age a few months ago. I did a project on Anne Bonny, one of the great female pirates. This video is a good refresher.