Edward Teach was undoubtedly was one the most feared and most despised pirates of all time, known to most as "black Beard".  Edward Teach is thought to have lived in England before his pirate career, although his exact origins are unknown. He accumulated the nickname "Blackbeard", due to his large black beard that almost covered his entire face. To strike dread and shock in the hearts of his enemies, he would weave hemp into his hair, and light it during a battle. Edward Teach was an unusually large man, carrying two swords, numerous knives, and pistols- he was feared by his own crew.

At the sight of this pirate, many of his sufferers were swift to surrender without a struggle. If they did, he would often times just take their proceeds, rum, and weapons— permitting them to sail away. However, if the vessel resisted detainment, he would either kill the crew, or maroon them. Blackbeard needed to maintain his devilish figure in order to maintain the respect of his crew (most of the members of the crew thought that he was the devil himself, very few didn’t fear him, and therefore obeyed him).

Blackbeard commenced his pirating livelihood sometime after 1713, as an ordinary crewmember aboard a Jamaican ship ruled by the pirate Benjamin Hornigold. In 1716, Hornigold supplied Teach with a small crew, and a small captured vessel to command. By 1717 Hornigold and Teach were sailing in accord, and together were feared all over the seas. In November 1717, Hornigold and Teach were able to capture a 26 gun French vessel called the Concorde, which was built and constructed in Great Britain.  Blackbeard’s bootlegging colleague, Hornigold, decided to take accept a recent offer of general pardon from the British Crown- and to retire in comfort. Teach rejecting the offer, resolved to convert the captured French vessel Concorde into his own flagship. Teach increased her armament to 40 guns, renaming  her the "Queen Anne's Revenge".

Soon Teach and the Queen Anne's Revenge met another pirate vessel. She was the ten-gun pirate sloop Revenge from Barbados, commanded by Stede Bonnet. Soon after agreeing to sail together, Blackbeard thought that Bonnet was a poor leader and an incompetent sailor. He promptly appointed a different pirate to command the Revenge, and made Bonnet a "guest" aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge , where he remained until the ship finally wrecked six months later.

During  the winter of 1717-1718, Blackeard sailed throughout the Caribbean with his two ships. While plundering ships, Teach decided to add two more captured vessels to his group of pirating fleet. By the Spring of 1718, Blackbeard was now in command of four pirate ships, and more than 300 pirates.

In late May, Blackbeard’s flagship was lost at Beaufort Inlet, and a smaller vessel of his fleet was lost that same day while trying to assist the stranded Queen Anne's Revenge . Before leaving Beaufort Inlet, Blackbeard left twenty-five members of his crew on a deserted rocky ledge, and stripped the Revenge of her provisions. Stede Bonnet helped the marooned men, and in return they agreed to obey his commands. Together with his crew, Bonnet resumed his lawless ways aboard the Revenge, which he re-named the Royal James.

Meanwhile, Teach and his crew had sailed to Bath, and then to the capital of North Carolina, where Governor Charles Eden pardoned them. Blackbeard; however, did not stop his pirate habits, and continued to take ships after the period of amnesty had expired. A government official spotted him and thus a fleet of Royal Navy ships surprised Blackbeard at Ocracoke Inlet on November 22, 1718, where he was killed. Although it was a short battle, it was one of the most bloody in Blackbeard’s pirating career. Before he fell, he had a reported 5 bullet wounds and more than twenty sword cuts before dying. As a show of victory, the Royal Navy captain decapitated Blackbeard, and hung his head on the ships rigging. Blackbeard had captured over 40 ships during his piratical career, and had been the cause of the deaths of hundreds of people. Although Blackbeard's lawless career lasted only a few years, his fearsome reputation has long outlived him.