could not follow him into shallow water, he took refuge in Albemarle 

 and Pamlico sounds. The old oak was the favorite rendezvous of him- 

 self and his crew, and large holes were later dug around its foot, in 

 fruitless efforts to discover the treasure he was known to have amassed 

 and supposed to have concealed there. 



When the English king, hopeless of controlling the lawless rovers 

 who terrorized sailors far and near, offered a pardon to all of them 

 who would surrender and live as peaceable citizens, Teach availed 

 himself of the opportunity. He soon tired of the monotony, however, 

 and started out again, a menace to all he met. At length, Governor 

 Spottswood, of Virginia, brought matters to a head by dispatching 

 Lieutenant Maynard in search of him. After a sharp fight, Teach 

 was killed, and his head was fastened to the bowsprit of Maynard's 

 ship, as a trophy. Tradition has it that the headless body swam 

 round Ocracoke Island nearby, in quest of the pirate crew and their 

 vessel. 



Two Royal Oaks 



Two American trees have each borne the title of Royal Oak. One 

 of them, whose fame is perpetuated in the village of that name, near 

 the spot where it stood, in the vicinity of Easton, Md., had grown to 

 such a size that it was supposed to have been standing before the dis- 

 covery of the New World. Soldiers who fought in the Revolution 

 were drilled under its branches, but its name originated in an occur- 

 rence of the War of 1812. 



During that struggle, a British ship came to anchor opposite the 

 town of St. Michaels, Talbot County, Md., a few miles from the 

 veteran oak, and opened fire. 



The inhabitants, who were unprotected, resorted to a bit of 

 strategy that proved highly effective. Hanging lighted lanterns in 

 the tops of the high trees, they deceived the enemy into mistaking them 

 for the lights of the town, with the satisfactory result that their shots 

 passed harmlessly overhead. 



For a long time, two cannon balls said to be of "local fame" 

 were suspended from the limbs of the Royal Oak, and after its fall 

 in 1864, they were placed on a locust post nearby. 



A white oak bearing the same distinguished name, stood on a 

 plain northeast of the Indian trail leading from Detroit to the village 

 of Pontiac, Mich., and the township of Royal Oak of that neighbor- 

 hood is named in its honor. The reason for its august title seems, 

 however, decidedly obscure, as its associations are chiefly with doings 

 of the red men. There is a tradition that, beneath it, an unfriendly 

 meeting occurred, Chief Pontiac and representatives of another tribe 

 being the interested jparties. As late as 1825, the scars of arrows, 

 tomahawks and bullets were said to be visible in its wood. It figured, 

 also, as a boundary tree, when, in 1819 Governor Case laid out a road 

 "from Woodward Avenue, Detroit, to the end of the road built by 



18 



