People tend to think of pirates as rather wicked fellows.
People tend to think of pirates as rather wicked fellows. Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was known to be particularly fierce. What few people know is that the ships Blackbeard most often attacked weren’t regular ships… but slave ships. In order to fit as much “human cargo” as possible, the slavers used ships that were larger and more slow to turn than other vessels. This made them an excellent target for Blackbeard and his crew. Upon seizing a slave ship, he would typically free the slaves, and give them an option to join him if they wished. Many did just this — as a result, a large number of Blackbeard’s crew members were of African descent by the time of his death. It made him somewhat of a hero and a legend to runaway slaves and their descendants. As a result of his tendency to free a ton of slaves and disrupt the slave trade, Blackbeard became a problem for the authorities. Because a ton of free black slaves with guns and swords roaming the seven seas was a huge liabilit...