How Blackbeard went from pardoned to beheaded in just 164 days at Ocracoke

Blackbeard’s Last Stand After Losing His Flagship

The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras displays actual artifacts from Blackbeard’s flagship, telling the story of history’s most famous pirate’s final months.

After running the Queen Anne’s Revenge aground in June 1718, Edward Teach got a royal pardon and tried going straight in Bath, North Carolina. He even got married.

But by August, he was back to piracy, operating from Ocracoke Island until Virginia’s governor sent Lieutenant Robert Maynard to hunt him down.

On November 22, 1718, Maynard trapped Blackbeard in brutal combat that left the pirate dead with twenty-five wounds. The museum’s Queen Anne’s Revenge collection brings this legendary showdown to life.

Blackbeard’s Ship Hit a Sandbar and Changed Everything

Blackbeard crashed Queen Anne’s Revenge and the sloop Adventure into a sandbar at Beaufort Inlet on June 10, 1718.

Captain Ellis Brand of HMS Lyme wrote that “a large pyrate Ship of forty Guns with three Sloops” tried to enter the harbor but got stuck.

David Herriot, former captain of Adventure, later said Blackbeard ran the ships aground on purpose to break up his crew of over 300 pirates.

Blackbeard moved supplies to smaller boats and left about 25 crew members stranded on a sandy island. Two days later, Stede Bonnet came back and picked up the men.

The Pirate Moved to a Tiny Colonial Capital

Blackbeard headed to Bath, North Carolina with his smaller crew in June 1718, just days after Bonnet left. He set up home at Plum Point on Bath Creek, right next to Governor Eden’s house.

Bath was North Carolina’s capital then, though it was just a small town about fifty miles from the Atlantic Ocean on the Pamlico River.

Blackbeard brought only his most trusted crew and most valuable treasure from Queen Anne’s Revenge to his new base.

A Governor’s Pardon Gave Blackbeard a Fresh Start

Governor Charles Eden gave Blackbeard and his crew a “gracious pardon” under King George I’s offer to stop piracy.

Pirates who turned themselves in before September 5, 1718, could get pardoned, but only for crimes before January 5. The Bath pirates had done plenty of pirating after January, making their pardons worthless.

Eden also gave Blackbeard official ownership of his remaining sloop, now called Adventure.

Captain Charles Johnson wrote that Blackbeard married a local plantation owner’s daughter during this time, with some saying Eden performed the wedding.

The Pirate Tried Going Straight for a Few Weeks

During July and August, Blackbeard split his time between Bath town and his sloop off Ocracoke. Governor Eden let him sail to St.

Thomas to get a privateer license, a clever way to get troublesome pirates out of the small town. Bath folks treated their pardoned pirate like a celebrity.

Blackbeard and his Bath friends were local North Carolina sailors who had crossed from legal privateering into piracy.

Many broke the law simply to survive because of harsh colonial trade rules and shortages of basic goods.

His Criminal Career Resumed by Summer’s End

By late August 1718, Blackbeard went back to piracy. The Pennsylvania governor put out a warrant for his arrest that same month.

Between late June and July, he took five ships in waters between Bermuda and North Carolina. He likely worked in Delaware Bay, close to Pennsylvania.

His crew had grown much smaller by this point.

His best officers and fighters had left him because they couldn’t make money unless they were actively robbing ships.

A Tiny Island Became the Perfect Pirate Hideout

Ocracoke Inlet became Blackbeard’s favorite spot to anchor and hide.

Every ocean-going ship heading to or from northeastern North Carolina had to pass through this inlet. He usually stayed on the sound side of Ocracoke Island’s southern tip.

In September 1718, Blackbeard hosted what became the biggest pirate gathering ever held in North America near Ocracoke inlet.

Dozens of outlaw sailors spent days singing, dancing, roasting hogs, and drinking rum until they ran out of food and drink.

Virginia’s Leader Launched a Secret Mission

North Carolina planters asked for help, so Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood sent British naval forces after Blackbeard.

Spotswood paid for the mission himself, possibly thinking Blackbeard had hidden treasures somewhere. He offered a reward of £100 for capturing Blackbeard, worth several years’ wages for most workers.

According to royal rules, Spotswood had no right to send armed forces into North Carolina without Governor Eden asking first. His attack on a neighboring colony broke colonial law.

A Navy Man Led the Hunt for America’s Most Wanted Pirate

Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy led the hunt with two small sloops named Jane and Ranger. The 34-year-old Maynard left Williamsburg on November 17, 1718, sailing down the James River with 60 men.

Neither ship had cannons because they were too small, leaving the men with only pistols, muskets, and swords. This put them at a disadvantage against Blackbeard’s Adventure, which had 8-10 guns on deck.

Naval men in 1718 wore no uniforms, making them look just like pirates or merchant sailors from far away.

Both Sides Prepared for Battle at Ocracoke

Maynard’s ships reached Ocracoke Island on the evening of November 21, 1718. Local guides who knew the tricky waters led them through the maze of channels and sandbars.

Blackbeard had thirteen white men and six black men aboard Adventure. At first, the pirates had no idea who was coming in the two sloops.

Maynard kept quiet about who he was and why he had come. The stage was set for a fight at dawn.

Dawn Brought a Deadly Naval Showdown

The battle started around 9 AM on November 22, 1718, when Maynard’s ships entered the channel. Both navy vessels ran onto sandbars as they got closer, forcing the crews to throw cargo overboard to float free.

Blackbeard saw the danger, told his men to cut the anchor rope, and fired as the navy ships got closer.

His blast sent large shot, nails, and metal pieces sweeping across Maynard’s vessels, killing five men on Ranger including Captain Hyde.

Ranger got stuck on a sandbar and couldn’t keep fighting, leaving only Maynard’s Jane to face Blackbeard.

America’s Most Famous Pirate Met His Bloody End

Maynard kept most of his men below deck to trick Blackbeard into thinking he had fewer fighters. Blackbeard and his crew jumped onto Maynard’s ship, believing they had killed most of the crew.

Maynard sprung his trap as his surviving crew came up from below deck for close combat.

Blackbeard took five musket-ball wounds and twenty sword cuts before a Scottish sailor in Maynard’s crew delivered the killing blow from behind.

Maynard cut off Blackbeard’s head and hung it from his ship’s bowsprit, then threw the headless body into the sea, ending the pirate’s six-month final chapter.

Visiting Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras, NC

The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum at 59200 Museum Drive in Hatteras Village is free to visit Monday through Friday from 10am to 4pm.

You can see over 40 real artifacts recovered from Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck, plus interactive displays about his crew and a detailed ship model. The museum accepts donations if you want to contribute.

It’s right next to the Hatteras ferry terminal, making it easy to combine with other Outer Banks adventures.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• How North Carolina Democrats used 2,000 armed terrorists to overthrow a legal biracial government in 1898
• Pennsylvania’s mountain-climbing railroad killed dozens of Irish workers but connected East to West in 1834
• How one Cherokee’s execution saved his entire tribe from the Trail of Tears death march