In 1492, Columbus discovers The United States of America...
NO. he discovers The Bahamas.
He finds that the Central American mainland is full of treasure (like cocoa, tobacco,
sugar, slaves, and gold) and Spain declares all of the new world their own
because finders-keepers.
They start sending countless Ships to take these goods from the native people and um
take the native people to a better place
You mean slavery...
Yeah...
Meanwhile, England gets really jealous and decides to start sending their own ships of
private mercenary sailors to what they call The Spanish Main to intercept and raid the
Spanish treasure ships.
The English Privateers start settling the Caribbean islands.
Since the only meat they can find are the pigs the Spanish navy left behind...
they start eating a lot of bacon.
These Bacon eaters or, in French, Buccaneers start causing a lot of ruckus.
By 1701 it reaches a head and Queen Anne’s War begins pitting England and The Dutch against
Spain and France over who gets all the bacon.
During this war, England sends to the Caribbean over 40,000 privateers who know nothing but
sailing, raiding ships, fighting and wearing amazing hats.
After they win the war, England decides to just abandon these men in the Caribbean
and stops paying them.
Which leads to, you guessed it...
Mr. Toad’s WIld Ride!
Wait, sorry, The Pirates of the Caribbean!
One of these men was one Edward Teach, who in 1716 starts sailing under a pirate named
Captain Benjamin Hornigold.
Teach’s theatrics like wearing six pistols, lit fuses on his hat, and a long Black beard
earn him the nickname...
Betty.
Blackbeard.
In 1717, Hornigold decides to retire leaving Blackbeard in charge.
The new captain attacks a large FRENCH slave ship and gets them to...
Surrender?
How did you know?
And renames the captured Ship, Queen Ann’s Revenge to remind you once again, these guys
hated the British.
He then sails up to the waters off the Carolinas and spends a full year amassing a fleet of
400 men and sacking countless ships stealing their treasure...
of gold!?!
Some, but mostly sugar, tea, ammunitions....
and rum!?
Yeah, a lot of Rum.
He would then sell this booty to the English colonists without all the taxes the English
put on imports, which turns him into a folk-hero.
A robinhood of sugar!
But this doesn’t last long because in May 1718, Blackbeard decides to park his boat
at the entry of the Charleston harbor and blockade the city for ransom for a week.
This is the last straw for England and they send a fleet of pirate hunters led by none
other than Captain Benjamin Hornigold (guys, this is the plottwist).
Blackbeard hears the news, but because it takes over 6 months for ships to get across
the Atlantic, decides its time for an early retirement and sails to his hideout on Ocracoke
Island.
Meanwhile, word gets out of the bounty to find Blackbeard and a Lieutenant Robert Maynard
sails his ship from Virginia to find the pirate...
Which wasn’t exactly a hard task as Blackbeard was throwing a big pirate party on his island.
Maynard finds Blackbeard on the night of November 21, 1718.
He anchors his ship off Blackbeard’s island and the pirate crew starts preparing for battle...
but Blackbeard just keeps drinking through the night.
At morning light, Blackbeard cuts anchor and breaks for it steering towards a nearby sandbar,
which the pursuing Maynard gets stuck on.
Yelling out “Damn you, cowardly puppies!”
Blackbeard starts bombarding the ship with his guns.
Sailing closer, Blackbeard can’t see a single sailor and believes everyone dead, so he and
his crew begin to board.
But Maynard and his crew had hidden below deck and ambush the pirates.
Maynard attacks Blackbeard and the two begin to sword-fight.
Blackbeard’s sword breaks Maynards in half, but not before the lieutenant lands over 20
slashes on the pirate.
This doesn’t stop Maynard who shoots the still attacking Blackbeard five times with
his pistol.
After this barely slows Blackbeard, a member of Maynard’s crew is able to sneak up behind
him and slash his throat.
With his last breaths, the blood soaked pirate says “Well done lad” and collapses on
the ship.
Maynard cuts off the dead pirate’s head and hangs it on his bow as a warning for all
pirates.
Some observers say when they threw Blackbear’s body overboard it circled the ship several
times before it sank.He and his crew would search for Blackbeard’s treasure in the
surrounding islands for several days, but could find nothing and no one has to.
this.
day.
Wow.
you can’t make this stuff up!
Fun Fact:
The Spanish are actually the ones who brought horses to America.
Horses never existed prior to the Spanish colonization in America prior to 1700.
Now, excuse me I have a tri-fecta I have to check.