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Edward Drummond began a life at sea
during the reign of Queen Anne 1702 -
1714. Queen Anne was the last of the
British monarchs from the house of
Stewart. With her having no surviving
children at the time of her death in
1714, her German Cousin George I
(Hanover) succeeded her to the throne of
Great Britain.
Although Queen Anne was responsible
for the kingdoms of England and Scotland
uniting in 1707, her greatest achievement
was in defeating the French in the wars
for North America and Canada.
At that time, England controlled most
of the East coast of North America with
France controlling most of Canada. These
wars began after England, Denmark,
Portugal and the Netherlands declared war
on France May 4th 1702.
The declaration of war was seen
necessary to prevent the union of the
French and Spanish thrones after the
death of Charles II of Spain November 1st
1700. As Charles II left no heirs, the
French King Louis XIV intended taking
control of Spain.
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When Edward Drummond began
working at sea, he probably joined
as a privateer working on one of
many English ships that were
encouraged by Queen Anne to attack
French ships along the coast of
North America and Canada.
These privateers were used to
help England win the battle against
France and use any booty they
captured from French ships to
finance their exploits.
Queen Anne's War came to an end
April 11th 1713 after the Treaty of
Utrecht in which France ceded the
territories of Hudson Bay, New
Foundland and Nova Scotia to Great
Britain.
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With the lucrative business of working
as a privateer along the coast of North
America now at an end, Edward Drummond
joined up with Benjamin Hornigold to
begin pirating.
Drummond changed his name to Edward
Teach at that time as he began earning a
reputation as a fearsome individual.
Hornigold led his band of cutthroats
along the East Coast of America
terrorizing merchant shipping in the
regions of Providence, Delaware Capes and
St Vincent near Barbados.
After capturing the French ship La
Concorde at St Vincent, Hornigold gave
the command of his most recent conquest
to Teach.
Teach had his ship renamed Queen
Anne's Revenge as he fitted her out with
around 40 cannon. With pirating
escalating out of control along the East
Coast of America at that time, in 1717,
King George offered all pirates a royal
pardon if they gave up their ways or
otherwise be hunted down by warships.
Hornigold took that opportunity to
mend his ways leaving Teach in control of
his band of pirates. Teach then became
the most famous pirate ever.
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With Teach being well over six
feet tall and growing his black
beard as long as possible, he
became instantly recognizable by
anyone on board a merchant ship
unfortunate enough to encounter
him.
With his ruthless and barbaric
exploits soon making news
throughout America, many ships
surrendered without a fight after
seeing the pirates ship approaching
with Teach on deck wearing his long
black beard in tassels, a black
three pointed cap and pistols and
saber slung over his shoulders.
Teach soon became known as
Blackbeard as he successfully
captured over 20 merchant ships and
amassing a small fortune.
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In November 1718, the Governor of
Virginia dispatched an English Navy
Lieutenant, Robert Maynard, to hunt
Blackbeard down.
After Maynard's two ships tracked
Blackbeard's new ship Adventure down at
Okracoke North Carolina on the 21st of
that month, a bloody battle soon
followed.
Maynard and his men stormed the
Adventure where Maynard met Blackbeard
head on. Although Maynard shot Blackbeard
in the neck with his pistol, Blackbeard
continued to fight on with it taking over
30 saber strikes by Maynard and his men
to finish him off.
Maynard Cut off Blackbeard's head and
hung it from the bowsprit for the return
to port.
Blackbeard's body was then thrown
overboard as his men either jumped
overboard or surrendered.
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