eparated it from the
Body of the Patient in as little Time as he could have cut a Deal Board in
two." This surgeon-carpenter evidently appreciated the importance of
aseptics, for, "after that he had heated his Ax red hot in the Fire,
cauteriz'd the Wound but not with so much Art as he perform'd the other
Part for he so burnt the Flesh distant from the Place of Amputation that
it had like to have mortify'd." Taylor was tried and condemned to death at
Boston on May 12th, 1714, but for some reason not explained was reprieved.

TEACH, CAPTAIN EDWARD, or THATCH, or THACH, _alias_ DRUMMOND, _alias_
BLACKBEARD. Arch-pirate.

A Bristol man who settled in Jamaica, sailing in privateers, but not in
the capacity of an officer.

In 1716, Teach took to piracy, being put in command of a sloop by the
pirate Benjamin Hornigold. In 1717, Hornigold and Teach sailed together
from Providence towards the American coast, taking a billop from Havana
and several other prizes. After careening their vessels on the coast of
Virginia, the pirates took a fine French Guineaman bound to Martinico;
this ship they armed with forty guns, named her the _Queen Ann's Revenge_,
and Blackbeard went aboard as captain. Teach now had a ship that allowed
him to go for larger prizes, and he began by taking a big ship called the
_Great Allen_, which he plundered and then set fire to. A few days later,
Teach was attacked by H.M.S. _Scarborough_, of thirty guns, but after a
sharp engagement lasting some hours, the pirate was able to drive off the
King's ship.

The next ship he met with was the sloop of that amateur pirate and
landsman, Major Stede Bonnet. Teach and Bonnet became friends and sailed
together for a few days, when Teach, finding that Bonnet was quite
ignorant of maritime matters, ordered the Major, in the most high-handed
way, to come aboard his ship, while he put another officer in command of
Bonnet's vessel. Teach now took ship after ship, one of which, with the
curious name of the _Protestant Caesar_, the pirates burnt out of spite,
not because of her name, but because she belonged to Boston, where there
had lately been a hanging of pirates.

Blackbeard now sailed north along the American coast, arriving off
Charleston, South Carolina. Here he lay off the bar for several days,
seizing every vessel that attempted to enter or leave the port, "striking
great Terror to the whole Province of Carolina," the more so since the
colony was scarcely reco