In The Smuggler’s Gambit, one of the characters turns out to have a history with the pirate Blackbeard. As he recounts the experiences of his youth, he tells a different story than what legends and myths have had many of us believe over the years.

I credit my good friend, Kevin Duffus, author of The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate and North Carolina Historian of the Year (2015), with his ground-breaking research on the most famous pirate who ever lived. If you have an hour, you’ll learn in this video that everything you thought you knew about Blackbeard is wrong.

Here are just a few highlights from the lecture:

• Blackbeard was not middle-aged when he was killed in his final battle with Lt. Maynard. In fact, he was probably only about 28 years old.
• None of the artistic impressions (woodcuts, portraits, etc.) of Blackbeard are based on any eyewitness accounts.
• Blackbeard’s real name wasn’t Edward Teach or Edward Thache, or anything of the sort.
• Blackbeard’s greatest treasure wasn’t gold. Do you know what it was? This video will tell you.

What’s Wrong with Black Beard? by Kevin P. Duffus (Video) from Virginia Historical Society on Vimeo.

 

(Originally published May 15, 2015.)