Quote:
Originally Posted by Taltarzac725
Blackbeard's semi-retirement and long term partying at Ocracoke Inlet had greatly reduced his forces to only eighteen. Many of his former forces had abandoned him to sail with other pirate captains in more lucrative pursuits than getting drunk and laid. A third of these were escaped slaves or slaves taken off of slave ships who were they taught in the ways of the pirate like the brisk parlay--bets on feats of strength which also built up the bettors' arm and leg muscles as well as vaulting over men with cutlasses held low. On the other side, the Royal Naval force paid and sent by Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia and comprised on two sloops had at least fifty-eight men on the Pearl and the Lyme. He also gave the force two smaller vessels for shallower waters- the Ranger and the Jane. Each of the pirates had to buy his own cutlass and pistols. Blackbeard usually went into battle with at least six of these ready to fire and with lit cannon fuses stuck drooping from his hat. Blackbeard's new sloop Adventure also had eight cannons whereas the Royal Naval sloops had none. They did have quite a lot of men armed with muskets. Unfortunately for Blackbeard and his men, they had spent most of Friday night before the November 22, 1718 Saturday Battle at Ocracoke Inlet getting rip-roaring drunk. This would play out in some rash decisions that would prove fatal in the upcoming battle. (Days of the week are in the Julian Calendar which the Colonials did not stop using until 1752. Going to the Gregorian in 1752 ). The Gregorian Calendar—History | Infoplease.com Calendar [1718] |
On an
alpaca blanket stolen from a rich merchant captain, Blackbeard
awakened on his last day on earth and first in hell to the sound of round shot from one of his cannon and a ship that
stunk of gunpowder.
Adventure had fired at a rowboat sent from two unknown sloops (
the Ranger and
the Jane) flying Royal Naval colors. Blackbeard surmised that the rowboat had been taking soundings so that the sloops could approach closer to Blackbeard's ship without running aground. He could also see no cannon on either sloop. Since he had been in these waters at least six months he knew their depth very well and where the shoals were. He knew he had the upper hand. Neither was Blackbeard going to run despite his crew of only eighteen. He had a warrior's
ethic taken straight out of the books of Homer which he read often.
Blackbeard yelled at the ships loudly: "Damn you for villains, who are you? And from whence come you?"
"You may see by our colors we are no pirates," Lt. Robert Maynard responded from the small sloop
The Jane.
"Send your boat on board so that I might see who you are," demanded Blackbeard.
Maynard answered: "I cannot spare my boat, but I will come aboard you as soon as I can with my sloop."
Blackbeard knew he was about to be attacked by the Royal Naval sloops so taking up a bowl of liquor saluted them with: "Damnation seize my soul if I give you quarter or take any from you."
This got the response of Maynard of: "I expect no quarter from you, nor shall I give any."
Blackbeard the Pirate: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times, Robert E. Lee, 1974, p 118 and other sources.