12 out of 14 wives and 6 out of 13 kids.
12 out of Blackbeard's eventual 14 wives often accompanied him on short journies out of their home base of New Providence, the Bahamas with at least 6 of his 13 children coming along. These sea urchins from so many marriages were extremely difficult to manage being of all different temperaments. Blackbeard, however, wanted to get the 6 boys accustomed to the ways of sailoring starting at a very early age. One of these boy's descendents--Victorien Sardou-- would even make a mark on the world not through seafaring but by writing the 1882 play Fédora for Sarah Bernhardt which created the fedora hat craze. The kids had to get used to even more humid weather they experienced on New Providence. In addition, they could easily break an ankle, arm, leg, or their neck if not very careful when climbing around on the sloop's rigging if they fell or got caught up in the ropes.
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