JOURNAL. 



Tefuia, Four Dollars a Year. ( 

 Ten Cents n Copy. t 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1877. 



( Volume 9.-No. 21 . 

 1No. Ill Fulton St.. N.Jf 



For Forest and Stream and Mod and Gun,. 



^hchbqwd. 



" A rakish craft fast plows the sea, 

 And sails amid the blast ; 

 Instead of pennant hung aloft, 

 The black flag trails the mast." 



WHAT an intense but indefinable fascination exists in 

 every breast for tbe thrilling adventures of the pirate 

 — tbat Ishmael of the ocean— who, warring against all man- 

 kind, is hunted to the death by the armed ships of every na- 

 tion ; his hand against every man and every man's hand 

 against him. 



There is a halo of romance thrown around the bold buc- 

 caneer, which neither his fearful crimes nor bloody end can 

 dim ; for the love of the heroic is strong in every heart, and 

 we can but admire the desperate daring, the superb madness 

 that, counting all cost, nails aloft the black flag, with its 

 skull and cross-bones, and throwing to the breeze this emblem 

 of death and destruction, flaunts a single desperate defiance 

 in the face of the whole world. The exploits of the buccaneers 

 have ever been the favorite theme of the novelist, the traveler 

 and the historian. Infesting the bays, lagoons and creeks of 

 the West Indies, they pounced upon the unfortunate ships 

 that entered these latitudes. And not only did they attack 

 ' ships of war," but, increasing in boldness, and combining 

 in strength and numbers, they swept the high seas, carrying 

 war to every land. Like the hardy Norsemen of old, they 

 sacked the towns and cities of the coasts, spreading ruin and 

 destruction wherever they went. 



There was the celebrated Morgan, who, like the great 

 Dutchman, Van Tromp, could significantly have placed a 

 broom at his mast-head, for he swept the seas of hostile fleets, 

 and actually stormed, captured, sacked and burned the cities 

 of Panama and Puerto Velo. Again, we have that accom- 

 plished and fascinating Frenchman, Capt. Mission, the Claude 

 Duval of the ocean, who united the politeness of a Chester- 

 field with the ferocity and malignity of the fiend himself. 

 Can we not now call him to the mind's eye, gracefully apolo- 

 gizing in the softest of tones and with the most courteous of 

 bows for the cruel necessity which impelled him to make his 

 despairing prisoners "walk the plank." And ytt for the 

 satire of the thing, which afforded him enjoyment, even if 

 no one else could share the joke, he styled himself the Patriot 

 of the Ocean; and instead of the suggestive skull and cross- 

 bones, he carried flying at his fore a white flag with the god- 

 dess of liberty inscribed thereon. We read also of Captain 

 Bellamy, who was as merciful to his prisoners as Mission was 

 .merciless. He lurked for a long time among the Florida reefs, 

 "and alter a most eventful career was captured and carried to 

 Jamaica, there to be tried and hung. We have also the fa- 

 mous women pirates, Annie Bonney and Mary Keid,*whose 

 lives read like veritable romances, and whose adventures 

 surpass in reality the most improbable recitals of dime liter- 

 ature. These two women excelled the desperate men wfth 

 whom they were associated both in bravery and cruelty. 

 They were taken and tried in Jamaica in 1728, and, of course, 

 condemned to death, but were afterward reprieved by the 

 Governor, who, in extending pardon, gave that which they 

 little deserved. 



Captain Lorother infested the coast of North Carolina for 

 years. There never lived a more callous villain than this 

 man, who issued a proclamation declaring war against the 

 whole world. Meeting a British "brig of eighteen guns, he 

 boldly engaged, and after a desperate combat was conquered. 

 Then, surrounded by the remaining few of his crew, he sank 

 with his vessel, his colors flying and guns firing to the last, 

 passing grandly to his death. 



Then, too, about the same time, flourished the celebrated 

 Capt. Kidd, who, up and down the Hudson "sailed and 

 Bailed," as the old song hath it, putting in sore fright the 

 merchants and shippers, those sturdy old burghers of New 

 Amsterdam. It was at the head of this renowned pirate that 

 the redoubtable Van Twiller, Governor of New York, 

 launched such mighty curses ; but the captain, like the dwel- 

 lers of earth, passed away to another world, and left buried, 

 they said, the bars and ingots of gold and silver and rich 

 treasures captured from the Spanish galleons. But where? 

 is the all important question that has never found an answer. 



To this day there are strange tales of a ghostly crew seen in 

 the dim, misty light, flitting among the secluded nooks of the 

 Highlands, doomed, in expiation of their many sins, to linger 

 by the treasure they lost their souls to win. And some there 

 are who stoutly maintain that they know the exact spot where 

 all these riches lie, but as they seem never to have been able 

 to profit by the information, their assertions have but little 

 worth, aud the secret commands cheap sale. 



Of all these rovers of tbe sea, John Teach, or Blackbeard 

 as he was called, was the most remarkable. His origin is in- 

 volved in obscurity, but he is believed to have been an Eng- 

 lishman, who joined the buccaneers while comparatively 

 young, soon rising into prominence among those desperadoes 

 by his utter fearlessness and indomitable will, supplemented 

 by great physical strength. The details of his life are un- 

 known until he bloomed into celebrity as the captain of a pi- 

 rate ship off the coasts of Virginia and Nokh Carolina some 

 time in the early part of 1700. Making many captures and 

 increasing his forces, he commanded two vessels and sailed 

 along the coast from Virginia to New Orleans, in the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and around the West India Islands; and woe to the 

 vessel so unfortunate as to cross his path. Everything of 

 value was at once appropriated, and if any resistance was 

 made a bloody retaliation was exacted. Throughout the 

 whole career of this man were united wonderful incidents, 

 strange escapes, and most bloody, sickening details of crime 

 — indeed his history only shows to what a total depravity and 

 depth of wickedness a man's passions and caprices may sink 

 him when unchecked by law and unbridled by restraint. 

 Blackbeard was most remarkable in that he was the right man 

 in the right place; for this much can be said of him, and truly, 

 that if there ever lived a more bloodthirsty, hardened wretch, 

 history does not tell of him. There never were probably 

 more evil qualities condensed in one man before, and to say 

 this is not to speak too strongly. Cruel, utterly remorseless, 

 ferocious as a tiger, dangerous even in his better moods, terri- 

 ble when the light of angry passion gleamed from his eyes, 

 he was in verity a devil on earth. He had friends on shore 

 and among the skippers, to whom he gave great quantities of 

 rum and tobacco, but the majority even of these feared him. 

 From the Governor of the Province down to the humble fish- 

 erman on the shore, his name was a terror and a dread. 

 Many a childish timid heart has been hushed into terrified, 

 choking silence by the very sound of that name, the fear of 

 him looming over its young life like a great shadow to dark- 

 en it. "Blackbeard is comiDg! Blackbeard is coming!" 

 uttered by the lips of thoughtless, selfish mothers, was as po- 

 tent to hush the wailing cry into suffering stillness as the 

 threat of Black Douglass was to the Scottish children of the 

 olden days. 



The smugglers and hucksters of the coast feared and dis- 

 trusted him ; for, though he rarely disturbed them, it being 

 in his interest to keep on good terms with them, yet they 

 never knew what savage impulse might move him, and hence 

 deemed it safer to avoid his dreaded presence. 



On one occasion, while cruising off Cape Charles, near 

 Hog's Island, Blackbeard ran down and captured a Virginian 

 vessel, laden with lumber. The ship was of that class of 

 non-combatants whose taking could do him no good, but on 

 the contrary incalculable harm, should the enmity of these 

 sea-faring men be once aroused : for thereafter his hiding- 

 places in the creeks and inlets would, from mere precaution- 

 ary measures, be conveyed to the naval vessels already on the 

 search for him, and so his death or capture become a matter 

 of absolute certainty, and that without much loss of time. 

 Well, Captain Dory, of the schooner Seafowl, as the old 

 chronicles tell us, was sailing placidly along with just-enough 

 wind to fill her sails, the steersman keeping the helm straight 

 by a slight touch of his hand, the while the bronzed old mas- 

 ter sat at the prow and watched the pirate craft tacking to- 

 ward him. Did there pass through the brain of the honest 

 " toiler of the sea " who earned his bread so hardly, an envi- 

 ous wish for the gain of the man winning an easy, reckless 

 livelihood with such facility ? Or was he thinking, in his 

 rectitude and peace of mind "that the way of the transgres- 

 sor is hard," and that the balances sooner or latter are adjust- 

 ed" with an even hand ? Be that as it may, his deep medita- 

 tions were suddenly broken by a hail from Blackbeard to 

 "heave to." The helm was put down, the foresheet hauled 

 to windward, and the schooner drifted idly on the water. 



From the pirate's vessel a boat was lowered and in it lightly 

 dropped some six men besides himself. A few strokes of the 

 oars and Blackbeard stood on deck. The skipper believed 

 the captain wanted information and had no fears, but he was 

 soon undeceived. Blackbeard had but recently captured a 

 brig from Bordeaux, bound north with a cargo of wine and 

 tropical fruit, the former of which lie transferred to his own 

 ship. The affrighted captain was generously permitted to 

 continue his voyage, bereft of his treasure to be sure, but 

 with his life safe, and what will a man not give for his life ? 

 Blackbeard, on the high seas, always kept his men in order ; 

 but once within his haunts he allowed them the wildest li- 

 cense and surpassed them in all their 'excesses. On this occa- 

 sion he was in one of his maddest moods, but as jovially in- 

 clined as he was i ntoxicated. This the skipper perceived as soon 

 as the dangerous visitor touched his deck, and most heartily did 

 he wish him away. But his guest ordered his men to bring 

 on deck a cask of rum and claret, as was done. Then filling 

 an immense silver punch bowl to the brim, tendered it to the 

 skipper. The invitation was accepted, and a moderate amount 

 partaken of. But on handing back the bowl, Blackbeard 

 commanded him to drink all. The man demurred, upon 

 which the pirate declared with a mighty oath that the last 

 drop should be drained. A point blank refusal was the an- 

 swer, and here this bold buccaneer jerked out his pistol and 

 cocking it, placed the cold muzzle to the forehead of the man, 

 giving him, with another deep curse, his choice to " drink or 

 die." In this day many a man would rather have enjoyed tho 

 dilemma— for tney drink till they can hold no more— drink 

 and die ; but the old skipper, it seems, liked moderation only 

 second to his life. But his life was the dearer, and so he 

 drained the flowing bowl, even to the last drop; and if the 

 fumes at last mounted rapidly to his brain, was it any won- 

 der ? And can we not stop to drop a tear of pity over his 

 prostrate head, inasmuch as he was the first and last man who 

 ever became intoxicated on compulsion J Blackbeard was in 

 a generous mood, and insisted on the whole crew drinking til 

 they lost their senses ; nay, he found the wife of the skipper 

 in the cabin and actually made her share the contents of his 

 tankard. Then this hospitable pirate left, laughing until his 

 thick beard quivered and his huge sides shook. And as he 

 sailed away, the bacchanalian shouts, the drunken laughter 

 the mad revelry of the schooner's crew floated wildly over 

 the peaceful water. 



This was Blackbeard in his merriest moments. But some 

 of his drunken caprices surpassed in deviltry even his cool 

 ferocity. 



One night, after a successfid marauding excursion along the 

 coast, he invited the pilot, the sailing master of a schooner 

 and some of his own crew to take supper with him. After 

 the substantials were cleared away and the debauch begun, 

 and Blackbeard with his splendid voice had sung a sea song, 

 all hands joining in the chorus, the mirth waxing fast and 

 furious as the potations became deeper, he slyly drew a pair 

 of pistols and discharged them at random beneath the table. 

 One bullet entered the floor, but Hanks, his sailing master, 

 was shot in the knee and lamed for life. When asked what 

 motive prompted the deed, he replied by cursing them, and 

 said if he did not shoot one of them occasionally they would 

 forget who he was and cease to fear him. 



But now, to describe this redoubtable buccaneer, and fortu- 

 nately history and local tradition have preserved his likeness 

 aud physique complete. 



John Teach was over sis feet in height, as straight, too, 

 as an arrow, with the frame of the Farnese Hercules. He 

 always claimed to be of a gentle descent, and would point in 

 proof thereof to his small ears and hands, of which, by the 

 way, he was inordinately vain. Be that as it may, he was 

 a striking, but savage-looking man, with a winning tongue 

 when he choose to use it, and one that talked away the heart 

 of many a poor trusting womati ; for it is worthy of observa- 

 tion that the weaker sex care less about a man's character or 

 antecedents than they should, provided he can charm or 

 amuse them. 



Woman's Parentliesis.— (They will bs veiy apt to hollo e 

 every word that proceeds out of his mouth, and take his own 

 version of himself and his past against the verdict of the 

 world ; and we know very certainly a man is apt to aay favor- 

 able things of himself, especially t:> a woman who?e admira- 

 tion he seeks. ) 



