assengers were collected in the cabin. "Gentlemen, I
have served both on shore and afloat, and have seen as many shots fired
as most people. I cannot quite recollect Admiral Benbow's action in
these seas, but I was afloat when that pretty man Edward Teach was the
terror of all quiet-going merchantmen. His parents lived at Spanish
Town, Jamaica, and were very respectable people. Some of his brothers
turned out very well; and one of them was in the king's service, in
command of a company of artillery. He, however, at an early age showed
himself to be of a somewhat wildish disposition, and rather than submit
to control, ran away to sea. For many years he knocked about, among not
the best of characters perhaps, in different parts of the world, till he
became as daring a fellow as ever stepped a plank. In a short time,
while still very young, he got together a band of youths much of his own
way of thinking; and they commenced, after the old fashion, the life of
gentlemen rovers. Their mode of proceeding was to run alongside any
merchantman they fell in with, which they thought would prove a prize
worth having. Having taken possession of everything they wanted, they
then made every landsman walk the plank, as they did likewise every
seaman who would not join them. Those only who would take their oaths,
and sign their articles, were allowed to live. Mr Teach used to dress
himself out in a wild fashion, and as he wore a great black beard, he
certainly did look very ferocious. From this circumstance he got the
name of Blackbeard. I don't fancy that he committed all the acts
imputed to him, but he did enough to gain himself a very bad name. The
governors of the West India Islands, in those days, and the American
settlements, were rather fonder of their ease than anything else, so
they allowed him to range those seas with impunity. At last, however, a
naval officer, feeling indignant that one man should hold a whole
community in awe, undertook to destroy the pirate. He got a ship fitted
out, well-armed and well-manned, and larger than any Teach was likely to
have with him. After a long search, he fell in with the pirate. Teach
had never given quarter, and it was not expected that he would take it.
More than half drunk, the pirates went to their quarters, and fought
more like demons than men. The crew of the king's ship had to fight
desperately also. For a long time it was doubtful which would come off
the conquer