“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.’