Author Robert Lee speculated that Teach may therefore have been born into a respectable, wealthy family. He could almost certainly read and write he communicated with merchants and when killed had in his possession a letter addressed to him by the Chief Justice and Secretary of the Province of Carolina, Tobias Knight. The 17th-century rise of Britain's American colonies and the rapid 18th-century expansion of the Atlantic slave trade had made Bristol an important international sea port, and Teach was most likely raised in what was then the second-largest city in England. Pirates habitually used fictitious surnames while engaged in piracy, so as not to tarnish the family name, and this makes it unlikely that Teach's real name will ever be known. One early source claims that his surname was Drummond, but the lack of any supporting documentation makes this unlikely. Several spellings of his surname exist-Thatch, Thach, Thache, Thack, Tack, Thatche and Theach. In contemporary records his name is most often given as Blackbeard, Edward Thatch or Edward Teach the latter is most often used. It is commonly believed that at the time of his death he was between 35 and 40 years old and thus born in about 1680. Little is known about Blackbeard's early life. He was romanticized after his death and became the inspiration for an archetypal pirate in works of fiction across many genres. 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. Spotswood arranged for a party of soldiers and sailors to capture him on 22 November 1718 following a ferocious battle Teach and several of his crew were killed by a small force of sailors led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard. However, he was soon back at sea, where he attracted the attention of Alexander Spotswood, the Governor of Virginia. He parted company with Bonnet and settled in Bath, North Carolina, also known as Bath Town, where he accepted a royal pardon. He then ran Queen Anne's Revenge aground on a sandbar near Beaufort, North Carolina. He formed an alliance of pirates and blockaded the port of Charles Town, South Carolina, ransoming the port's inhabitants. 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. 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. 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. Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop that he had captured, and the two engaged in numerous acts of piracy. 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. 1680 – 22 November 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.

Check out the gallery for a few more action shots.Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, c. If I were to make a recommendation to the developers, it would be to drop Cronk's price to $2.99 or less - that's where another Zuma clone, BlackBeard's Assault, sits price-wise. The game is on sale for $4.99 for a limited time, down from the usual price of $7.99. If you can eliminate all of the boulders in a given path and save Cronk's village, you gain points and move to a higher level of play.Ĭronk has a fun soundtrack and good sound effects, and occasional earthquakes make it even more difficult for Cronk to toss his boulder into the right spot in the 'rockslide'. When you do this, those boulders disappear. Your job as Cronk the Caveman is to toss boulders of the same color to get three or more boulders of the same color in a row. features a train of boulders of different colors moving around a path. Looking for a game to keep you occupied while Aunt Fern tells you about all of her operations over Thanksgiving dinner? If you like Zuma from Popcap Games, take a peek at Cronk for iPhone and iPod touch (click opens iTunes).

Blackbeards assault