Originally Posted by Taltarzac725 (Post 630687)

Two very careful watchers of Blackbeard were Benjamin Franklin who was just about or now a 12 year old apprentice for a printer in Boston and Lt. Governor of VA, Alexander Spotswood. Both were interested in the defeat of Blackbeard's pirates. Spotswood feared that Blackbeard would start his pirate career anew and target Virginia shipping. He also felt that graft between some Colonial Governors and Blackbeard was an atrocious development and an afront to King George I. He had sent a hoofed party to NC's Governor Eden to bring home that point. Benjamin Franklin feared that Blackbeard would return to piracy, get caught, and be hung. Many, especially Spotswood, believed the adage that the only good pirate was a dead pirate and Franklin even put a spin on it. "Better to swim in the sea below than to swing in the air and feed the crow, Says Jolly Ned Teach of Bristol." St. Augustine Pirate and Treasure Museum - Torture and Punishments

Blackbeard would often sail up the Delaware River to find a good site to anchor away from prying eyes and then catch a ferry to Philadelphia's waterfront to enjoy telling his stories of piracy on the High Seas. He frequented a store managed by Mrs. Bulah Coates at High Street, No 77 and at least one of his men retired to Philadelphia with Blackbeard's permission. Unfortunately for Blackbeard the Governor of Pennsylvania, William Keith, was well within Lt. Governor of Virginia Aleander Spotswood's orbit and there was soon (August 11, 1718) a PA warrant put out for his arrest. The pirate leader was shocked when he heard the news of the warrant. Now, Blackbeard would not continue trawling for wife No. 15 nor conduct his sermons on piracy from the pulpit of the local waterfront bars. Governor William Keith sent out two sloops under his agency to capture Blackbeard and his new sloop which Blackbeard had named Adventure after the previous ship Israel Hands had run aground at Beaufort Inlet, NC. Rather than stay where he was not wanted, Blackbeard bent to the nagging of his crew to resume their preying on merchant ships. They left Pennsylvania for Bermuda. Pirates in Virginia -- The Republic of Pirates

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725 (Post 631815)

Jumble - Houston Chronicle

Monday's probable answers for Saturday's Jumble:

Nausea.
Hermit.
Omega.
Broke.

Originally Posted by Villages PL (Post 632090)

There once was a very wealthy billionaire who invested everything he had in Omega3 fish oil. He was going to corner-the-market and make a killing. Unfortunately, the product induced nausea in everyone who tried it and he went broke. He now lives a very simple life as a hermit.

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725 (Post 631821)

Blackbeard broke the agreement he made with NC Governor Eden in the eyes of VA Lt. Gov. Alexandre Spotswood while also giving him a case of nausea. Not being content to be the omega dog within the Brethen of the Coast, Blackbeard boarded several English ships and took some of their provisions for his trip to Bermuda upon leaving Philadelphia. He also took two French merchant ships and claimed one had been abandoned at sea which he hid in Ocracoke Inlet in NC. Under Maritime Law, he then shared this booty with the NC Chief Justice and Secretary of the Colony Tobias Knight (20 hogsheads of sugar) as well as with NC Governor Charles Eden (60 hogsheads of sugar). Doubt if even some hermit of the Caribbean would see this deal as being honorable; Alexandre Spotswood did not and made plans to send a hunting party of the Royal Navy to kill and/or capture Blackbeard. Tobias Knight biography Gov Charles Eden Biography -- The Republic of Pirates

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725 (Post 611069)

Jumble - Houston Chronicle

January 17, 2013 solved words:

Frugal.
Undue.
Shove.
Afford.

Originally Posted by Villages PL (Post 632540)

there once was a man who was frugal
his name was Micky McDugal
when push came to shove
he couldn't afford love
please don't let this be you
'cause it's a habit that's hard to undo

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725 (Post 632850)

Politics was another problem Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood had along with Blackbeard. Lt. Governor Spotswood was quite put out by the politics in Virginia concerning trade with North Carolina and other matters. The House of Burgesses of VA members had even snubbed his lavish birthday celebration for George I on May 28, 1718 to go to their own bonfire for his Majesty. They did not even want to have lunch with the Good Lt. Governor. Into Spotswood's very narrow purview came reports from what passed as the police in 1718 VA. that William Howard, Quartermaster of Blackbeard's ship Queen Anne's Revenge, had visited various Virginia seaport taverns along with his two Negro slaves. Spotswood could adapt this to his benefit as he could have misplaced the paperwork of Howard's amnesty from piracy from the September 5, 1717 Royal Proclamation, if there even was such paperwork and sweat Howard for any and all information about Blackbeard's whereabouts. Spotswood had a Justice of the Peace arrest Howard after he tracked him down. The arrest was on the trumped up charge of Howard being a vagrant seaman made after the Justice of the Peace confiscated the 50 pounds Howard had on him. Howard found however one of the best lawyers in VA at that time, John Holloway, who made sure that Howard was protected by the King's Amnesty Proclamation even after Spotswood had Howard tried and condemned to die on the gallows. Spotswood gave the information gleamed from the questioning and the trial about Blackbeard's location to Captains George Gordon and Ellis Brand of the British men-of-war, Pearl and Lyme respectively. Spotswood though still had to defend to the Crown his plan to invade the province of North Carolina at Bath Town as well as Ocracoke Inlet. Based on letters from Spotswood as researched by Robert E. Lee in Blackbeard the Pirate: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times, 1974.