Hunting Down the Pirates

• Robert Maynard of the HMS Pearl was assigned to kill Captain Teach (aka Blackbeard)
• He took crew from the HMS Lyme and Pearl in smaller sloops because Pamlico Sound, where Blackbeard was holed up, was too shallow for the larger ships
• Naval forces attacked Blackbeard, during the battle he boarded one of the Navy sloops thinking most of the crew was dead, however the crew was hiding below deck
• During the ensuing battle on board the sloop Blackbeard’s head was struck off
• Maynard hung the head from the bowsprit of his sloop
• Pirate activity peaked around 1720 with about 2,000 known pirates; by 1726 there were no more than 200
• The pirate problem was addressed with legislation, by pardoning them, increasing naval patrols, reward for their capture, and with trial and execution
• The biggest change came with a 1700 law that allowed trials to be held outside of England
• Captain Ogle in the HMS Swallow defeated Bartholomew Roberts in Cape Lopez in 1722
  • He drew out Ranger, Robert’s consort, allowed it to catch up and took it prize
  • Returned to Cape Lopez where Roberts was killed in battle and his ship, the Royal Fortune, taken
• The Royal Navy also gave out Letters of Marque for the taking of pirates to assist the cause