On this day the English pirate, Blackbeard, ransacked the merchant ship “Margaret” and imprisoned her captain, Henry Bostock, for 8 hours before releasing him. Bostock was later able to provide the first record of Blackbeard’s appearance, and was also the source for Blackbeard’s real name: Edward Teach. Blackbeard was a shrewd and calculating leader who spurned the use of violence, relying instead on his fearsome image to obtain the response that he desired from those whom he robbed. He was romanticised after his death and became the inspiration for an archetypal pirate in works of fiction across many genres. He was eventually killed in battle on 22nd November 1718.
