Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #707128 in Books
• Published on: 1974-12
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

Customer Reviews

Blackbeard the Pirate: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times
Blackbeard the Pirate: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times is another great Blackbeard book! Blackbeard is my favorite pirate, he truly was a frightening character! A must for all pirate fans!

A Proclamation for the Suppressing of Pyrates
"Have you heard of Teach the Rover, / And his Knavery on the Main; / How of Gold he was a Lover, / How he lov'd all ill got Gain."

His name is that of the world's most disreputable pirates. His final years in and around North Carolina and Virginia bring a certain romantic twist to the colonial history of New England.

Robert E. Lee's purpose in writing this book was to quell the exaggerated lore behind the captain. He does so gallantly, without making references to incorrect legends (which could serve to confuse the reader). His research and references are excellent and explained in the preface.

Lee commences from the beginning, and the introduction to Blackbeard suggests it was sea faring fate for the boy. Lee admits information on the young Edward Teach is in short supply, but his reasoning behind the liminal inspirations make sense: Bristol, Teach's hometown, was a maritime village. Popular 17th century publications blazoned a world of extravagant adventure, filling landlubbers' heads with images of buccaneers brandishing firearms and blades; these were not unlike the effects of modern naval histories upon today's readers.

The exciting piratical escapades are not delayed for long. Within the first chapter, Lee will already dive into a 1717 attack by Blackbeard and his mentor, Hornigold. The plunder was enormous, and to this day it has yet to be recovered. These are the tales we all love to hear and read about that evoke a trembling thrill deep within us. There's still treasure to be had!

As Blackbeard matures and grows in the deviant (but sometimes necessary) career, Lee finds less and less records to recount. His explanation: Teach came from a well-to-do family and would not keep records of his travels/attacks/plunders lest his ancestry is traced and his family's name tarnished. One of the most exciting chapters is, naturally, the conquest for Blackbeard's body.

The reader must take care to note the subtitle of the book: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times. In truth, Blackbeard does not fill the pages of this book; rather, the 250 pages depend on a textbook-like account of Virginia's and the Carolina's histories that were briefly defiled or abetted by Blackbeard's presence. There is a lot of politics to sift through and, while it reads like a legal thriller at times, the reader should not be fooled by the book's self-description as an "exciting swashbuckler." That said, the way Blackbeard's crew (especially his quartermaster) is brought to justice, or pardoned, is as twisted as any fiction.

Pirates are a brotherhood that seem curiously strange and most intriguing to pretty much anyone alive. Why did they do what they did? Why did Blackbeard become Blackbeard? In his preface, Robert E. Lee doesn't try to explicate these outlaws. Rather, he asks the reader to not "judge the historical figures of a past age by the moral standards of the present." Instead, the reader will see just how these men were judged when in their own element.

One very cool thing is the inclusion of a lengthy poem, "The Downfall of Piracy" (excerpted above, from Appendix A), believed to have been written by a 12 year old Benjamin Franklin.

Edward Teach and the Outer Banks
Piracy in the 1600s was an accepted way of life; Queen Elizabeth allowed English pirates free rein against the Spanish, which added greatly to Spain's defeat. Edward Teach (Blackbeard) ruled over unruly seamen and struck terror in coastal towns in North Carolina (Bath, Edenton). He also had 14 wives! He was killed in Orakoke Inlet by Robert Maynard, who was sent by the governor of Virginia. It's an interesting story in our Colonial history, but Lee is not so compelling a writer. He relates the facts, but leaves out the human side.