The Queen Anne's Revenge
After a formal act of piracy, the pirates now have control of La Concorde. They reached the island of Bequia, in the Grenadines, to land African slaves and the French crew. The buccaneers then undertook a major excavation of the boat, discovering hidden treasures. It was then that the cabin boy, Louis Arot, informed them of the presence of gold dust on board.
The young boy and three of his teammates voluntarily decided to join the pirate crew. Ten others were captured, including the commander's advisor, three surgeons, two carpenters, two sailors and the cook.
As "compensation" the pirates offered the French the smaller of their two sloops, renamed Mauvaise Rencontre. It will take them two trips, to transport the remaining slaves from Bequia to Martinique.
Barbe-Noire left Bequia at the end of November 1717, aboard her ship now renamed Queen Anne's Revenge. He sailed in the Caribbean, stealing ships and expanding his fleet. He roamed the Lesser Antilles, looting boats near Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia, Nevis and Antigua, joining Puerto Rico's east coast in early December.
The ship continued its journey - and its looting - towards Samana Bay in Hispaniola (Dominican Republic). Then, in April 1718, pirates were found off the Turneffe Islands in the Bay of Honduras. Barbe-Noire captured the sloop Adventure and forced its captain - David Herriot - to join its crew.
Sailing eastward again, the pirates passed near the Cayman Islands, boarding a Spanish sloop off Cuba, which they integrated into their fleet.
Heading north, they crossed the Bahamas and went up the North American coast. In May 1718, Blackbeard arrived in Charleston, South Carolina aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge and accompanied by her fleet of three smaller sloops.
Last act of piracy and grounding
One of the last most cheeky acts of piracy in the famous Blackbeard was undoubtedly the blockade of Charleston Harbour for nearly a week. The pirates seized several ships attempting to enter or leave the port and took the crew and passengers of the Crowley prisoner. In exchange for the release of the hostages, Blackbeard will ask for a safe deposit box of medicines, which he will obtain.
The ship resumed its journey along the coast and attempted to enter Old Topsail (now Beaufort City), North Carolina. But the Queen Anne's Revenge and the sloop Adventure ran aground on a sandbank near the entrance to the city and were abandoned by the pirates.
In his statement, David Herriot, captain of the sloop Adventure, claimed that Blackbeard had intentionally grounded his ship to put an end to his pirate "company", which now had 300 members. Whether intentional or not, the famous pirate left the port with a hand-picked crew and much of the precious loot.
Blackbeard's pirate career ended six months later in Ocracoke, on the coast of North Carolina. The buccaneer came across an armed contingent sent by Virginia's Governor Alexander Spotswood and led by Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard. During a fierce battle, aboard Maynard's sloop, Blackbeard and several of his crew were killed. Maynard then joined Virginia, accompanied by the survivors and the sinister trophy of Blackbeard's severed head planted on the bowsprit of the boat.
