Edward Teach (1680–1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain’s North American colonies. Teach was a shrewd and calculating leader who spurned the use of violence, relying instead on his fearsome image to elicit the response that he desired from those whom he robbed. He was romanticized after his death and became the inspiration for an archetypal pirate in works of fiction across many genres.
Little is known about his early life, but he may have been a sailor on privateer ships during Queen Anne’s War before he settled on the Bahamian island of New Providence, a base for Captain Benjamin Hornigold, whose crew Teach joined around 1716. Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop that he had captured, and the two engaged in numerous acts of piracy. Their numbers were boosted by the addition to their fleet of two more ships, one of which was commanded by Stede Bonnet; but Hornigold retired from piracy toward the end of 1717, taking two vessels with him.
Teach captured a French slave ship known as La Concorde, renamed her Queen Anne’s Revenge, equipped her with 40 guns, and crewed her with over 300 men. He became a renowned pirate. His nickname derived from his thick black beard and fearsome appearance; he was reported to have tied lit fuses (slow matches) under his hat to frighten his enemies.
The stamp depicts Blackbeard the Pirate as published in Defoe, Daniel; Johnson, Charles (1736 – although Angus Konstam says the image is circa 1726) “Capt. Teach alias Black-Beard.”
Details
- Designer: John Waddington of Kirkstall Ltd, Leeds, England
- Printer: Format International Security Printers Ltd
- Process: Lithography
- Paper:
- Watermark: Crown CA (Diagonal)
- Perf: 14.5 (comb)
- Cylinders: Printed in four panes separated by gutter between the four panes, and guillotined into two horizontal panes.
- 1A (Cyan) 1A (Yellow) 1A (Magenta) 1A (Black) 1A (Dark Grey) : 1B (Cyan) 1B (Yellow) 1B (Magenta) 1B (Black) 1B (Dark Grey) [upper left : upper right]
- 1C (Cyan) 1C (Yellow) 1C (Magenta) 1C (Black) 1C (Dark Grey) : 1D (Cyan) 1D (Yellow) 1D (Magenta) 1D (Black) 1D (Dark Grey) [lower left : lower right]
- Sheet: R10 x 5 in two panes separated by a gutter (100 stamps)
- Quantity: