Editing Blackbeard (section)

===Blackbeard===
{{multiple image
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|image1=Blackbeard the Pirate.jpg
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|image2=General History of the Pyrates - Blackbeard the Pirate (1725).jpg
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|footer=Blackbeard, as pictured within [[Captain Charles Johnson|Charles Johnson]]'s ''[[A General History of the Pyrates]]''. The first image is a 1724 depiction by [[Benjamin Cole (instrument maker)|Benjamin Cole]],<ref name="Johnson 1724 70"/> the second is from 1725.
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On 28 November 1717 Teach's two ships attacked a French merchant vessel off the coast of [[Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)|Saint Vincent]]. They each fired a [[Broadside (naval)|broadside]] across its bulwarks, killing several of its crew, and forcing its captain to surrender.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lee|1974|p=14}}</ref> The ship was {{lang|fr|La Concorde}}, a large French [[Guineaman]] registered in [[Saint-Malo]] and carrying a cargo of slaves. This ship had originally been the English merchantman ''Concord'', captured in 1711 by a French squadron, and then changed hands several times by 1717.<ref>''French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626–1786'', Rif Winfield and Stephen S. Roberts, Seaforth Publishing, 2017.</ref> Teach and his crews sailed the vessel south along [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]] to [[Bequia]], where they disembarked her crew and cargo, and converted the ship for their own use. The crew of {{lang|fr|La Concorde}} were given the smaller of Teach's two sloops, which they renamed {{lang|fr|Mauvaise Rencontre}} ("Bad Meeting"), and sailed for Martinique. Teach may have recruited some of their slaves, but the remainder were left on the island and were later recaptured by the returning crew of {{lang|fr|Mauvaise Rencontre}}.<ref>{{Harvnb|Konstam|2007|pp=81–88}}</ref>

Teach immediately renamed {{lang|fr|La Concorde}} as ''Queen Anne's Revenge'' and equipped her with 40&nbsp;guns. By this time Teach had placed his [[Lieutenant Richards (pirate)|lieutenant Richards]] in command of Bonnet's ''Revenge''.<ref name="Gosse">{{citation|last1=Gosse|first1=Philip|title=The Pirates' Who's Who by Philip Gosse|date=1924|publisher=Burt Franklin|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19564/19564-h/19564-h.htm|access-date=23 June 2017|archive-date=16 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216221651/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19564/19564-h/19564-h.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In late November the same year, near Saint Vincent, he attacked the ''Great Allen''. After a lengthy engagement, he forced the large and well-armed merchant ship to surrender. He ordered her to move closer to the shore, disembarked her crew and emptied her cargo holds, and then burned and sank the vessel. The incident was chronicled in the ''Boston News-Letter'', which called Teach the commander of a "French ship of 32&nbsp;Guns, a [[Brigantine|Briganteen]] of 10&nbsp;guns and a Sloop of 12&nbsp;guns." It is not known when or where Teach collected the ten-gun briganteen, but by that time he may have been in command of at least 150&nbsp;men split among three vessels.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lee|1974|p=18}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Konstam|2007|p=88}}</ref>

On 5 December 1717 Teach stopped the merchant sloop ''Margaret'' off the coast of Crab Island, near [[Anguilla]]. Her captain, Henry Bostock, and crew, remained Teach's prisoners for about eight hours, and were forced to watch as their sloop was ransacked. Bostock, who had been held aboard ''Queen Anne's Revenge'', was returned unharmed to ''Margaret'' and was allowed to leave with his crew.<ref>{{Harvnb|Konstam|2007|pp=154–155}}</ref> He returned to his base of operations on [[Saint Christopher Island]] and reported the matter to Governor Walter Hamilton, who requested that he sign an [[affidavit]] about the encounter. Bostock's deposition details Teach's command of two vessels: a sloop and a large French guineaman, Dutch-built, with 36&nbsp;cannons and a crew of 300&nbsp;men. The captain believed that the larger ship carried valuable gold dust, silver plate, and "a very fine cup" supposedly taken from the commander of ''Great Allen''.{{refn|Konstam (2007) considers this unlikely and that the pirates were almost certainly "teasing the captive with tall stories."<ref>{{Harvnb|Konstam|2007|pp=90–91}}</ref>|group="nb"}} Teach's crew had apparently informed Bostock that they had destroyed several other vessels, and that they intended to sail to [[Hispaniola]] and lie in wait for an expected Spanish armada, supposedly laden with money to pay the garrisons. Bostock also claimed that Teach had questioned him about the movements of local ships,{{refn|Among these other ships, Bostock reported that Teach was intent on finding a Captain Pinkentham and asked about him repeatedly. Teach never found Pinkentham, who had instead been caught by a pirate named [[Captain Grinnaway|Grinnaway]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Woodard|2007|pp=224–225}}</ref>|group="nb"}} but also that he had seemed unsurprised when Bostock told him of an expected royal pardon from London for all pirates.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lee|1974|pp=27–28}}</ref>

{{Quote box |quoted=true |bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=center | quote = So our Heroe, Captain ''Teach'', assumed the Cognomen of ''Black-beard'', from that large Quantity of Hair, which, like a frightful Meteor, covered his whole Face, and frightened ''America'' more than any Comet that has appeared there a long Time. This Beard was black, which he suffered to grow of an extravagant Length; as to Breadth, it came up to his Eyes; he was accustomed to twist it with Ribbons, in small Tails, after the Manner of our [[Battle of Ramillies|Ramilies]] Wiggs, and turn them about his Ears. | source = [[Captain Charles Johnson|Charles Johnson]]<ref name="Johnsonp87"/> | align = right | width = 33%}}

Bostock's deposition describes Teach as a "tall spare man with a very black beard which he wore very long". It is the first recorded account of Teach's appearance and is the source of his nickname Blackbeard.<ref>{{Harvnb|Konstam|2007|p=91}}</ref> Later descriptions mention that his thick black beard was braided into pigtails, sometimes tied in with small coloured ribbons. Johnson (1724) described him as "such a figure that imagination cannot form an idea of a fury from hell to look more frightful." Whether Johnson's description was entirely truthful or embellished is unclear, but it seems likely that Teach understood the value of appearances; better to strike fear into the heart of one's enemies than rely on bluster alone.<ref>{{Harvnb|Konstam|2007|p=155}}</ref> Teach was tall, with broad shoulders. He wore knee-length boots and dark clothing, topped with a wide hat and sometimes a long coat of brightly coloured silk or velvet. Johnson also described Teach in times of battle as wearing "a sling over his shoulders, with three brace of pistols, hanging in holsters like bandoliers; and stuck lighted [[slow match]]es under his hat",<ref name="Johnsonp87">{{Harvnb|Johnson|1724|p=87}}</ref>{{refn|Lee (1974) describes these matches as "fuses made of hemp cord about the thickness of a pencil and dipped in a solution of saltpeter and lime water."<ref>{{Harvnb|Lee|1974|p=21}}</ref>|group="nb"}} the latter apparently to emphasise the fearsome appearance he wished to present to his enemies.<ref name="Johnsonp57">{{Harvnb|Johnson|1724|p=57}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Lee|1974|p=20}}</ref> Despite his ferocious reputation, there are no verified accounts of his ever having murdered or harmed those he held captive.{{refn|For Teach, at least, this policy paid off. According to historian Angus Konstam, until Teach's final battle, he had not so much as killed a single man.<ref>{{Harvnb|Konstam|2007|p=157}}</ref> According to University of Chicago economist Peter Leeson, he apparently did not need to.<ref>{{cite web | last = Leeson | first = Peter T. | title = Pirational Choice: The Economics of Infamous Pirate Practices | url = http://www.peterleeson.com/Papers.html | page = 21 | access-date = 21 April 2010 | year = 2010 | archive-date = 1 December 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211201193906/https://www.peterleeson.com/Papers.html | url-status = live }}</ref>|group="nb"}} Teach may have used other aliases; on 30 November, the ''Monserrat Merchant'' encountered two ships and a sloop, commanded by a Captain Kentish and Captain Edwards (the latter a known alias of Stede Bonnet).<ref>{{Harvnb|Konstam|2007|pp=88–89}}</ref>