In 1718, Blackbeard, a famed English pirate, is killed in combat at the age of 38.
In his own time, Edward "Blackbeard" Teach (1680-1718) was a legend. He was born in England and robbed ships moving to and from the American colonies, as well as ships in the Caribbean Sea. Despite the fact that his reign of terror lasted only two years, he became one of history's most well-known marine pirates. On November 22, 1718, a British naval expedition personally supported by Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood attacked Blackbeard and most of his men in a brutal fight near Ocracoke Island. As a warning to other lawbreakers, Blackbeard's skull was nailed to a piling off the coast of Hampton, Virginia.
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