Edward Teach or more commonly known as Blackbeard was one of the most fearsome and famous pirates of all time, although he was not pirate only for 2 years. He was born in the 1680s and died on November 22, 1718. So he was only 38 years old. He was thought to have been born in Bristol, England and was a sailor on privateer ships during Queen Anne's War. He fought against Spain and France before robbing, murdering, and living at sea as a pirate. He spent most of his time as a pirate roaming the coasts of the United States, plundering cargo ships and attacking ships in port. Blackbeard was merciless and formidable; anyone who didn't want to give him a ring lost a finger as punishment. Not only did Blackbeard want to scare his victims, he wanted to scare his crew; he even shot his first mate in the knee just so they would remember who he was and not commit mutiny (overthrowing the captain and stealing his ship). He ended up wanting to scare his victims so much that he had lit fuse cords hanging from his hat so that he would always have a cloud of smoke around him. He was so determined to fear that he had 6 guns strapped to his chest. Sometime during the year 1716, Blackbeard joined Benjamin Hornigold's crew, and at that time he was one of the most feared pirates in the Caribbean. Benjamin saw great potential in Teach and in turn gave him his own ship to command so they could capture and corner ships more easily. Then Hornigold withdrew and sailed the seas under his own command. Then, between August and October 1717, Stede Bonnet, who was one of the worst pirates at the time, sailed to the port of Nassau and luckily Blackbeard was there at the same time as them. The crew then begged Blackbeard to take over and seeing that the Vengeance Ship (the ship that Steede Bonnet owned) was in good condition, Blackbeard agreed...... middle of paper .... .. Against intense training and large numbers, the pirates were brought back to the front of the ship. Cornered Blackbeard desperately tried to attack but one of Maynard's men advanced and struck Teach in the neck, seriously injured. Seven other members of Maynard's crew intervened and killed him, the remaining pirates surrendered. Those remaining on Blackbeard's ship were captured by Maynard's crew, including the pirate who planned to blow up the powder room and destroy the ship. Maynard reports that 8 of his men and 12 pirates were killed. Maynard then inspected Teaches' body and found that he was dead with no more than 7 bullets in him and approximately 20 cutlass wounds. Maynard then threw Teaches' body into the cove (a bay or lagoon) and his head was hung triumphantly from the bowsprit of one of Maynard's boats. sloops to collect as rewards later.