AMAJONIA ENGLISH.: noviembre 2023

miércoles, 15 de noviembre de 2023

Pirates video.

This is the video we will watch at class:

Unfortunately, we have no subtitles. Here I let the full transcription:

Blackbeard.

One of the blood thirstiest to have ever sailed the seas was so ruthless and terrifying that his nick name is still recognizible 300 years after his death. His name was Edward Teach; but he was known has Blackbeard. Records from that era are not very reliable, so his name may have also been Zach or Zack. However, pirates for known never to use their real names, so it could have been a variation of that.

He is believed to have been born in Bristol, Britain, some time around 1680, and History confirms that he could read and write, which means that possibly he grow up in a wealthy family. He is described as a terrifying looking man with a huge black beard that was braided, and he used to put slow lit matches in battle to give the appearence of a demon on fire. He was known to carry several pistols into battle, along with his cutlass (sword). His days as a privateer (the oficial term of pirate) began some time around 1716 when he joined the crew of captain Benjamin Hornigold as a second in command and they attacked the merchant ships of Bahamas around 1717. Their ship was called "The Ranger", and was one of the most heavily armed on the seas.

Queen Anna's revenge.

At one point Hornigold and Blackbeard had a total of 4 ships under their command. Eventually though Hornigold crew got tired of avoiding all British ships and he was voted out of power, taking his ships and leaving. He later received a pardon of King Geroge I, and he started hunting pirates himself.

Teach (Blackbeard) used whatever crew and resources he had left to capture a french slave ship known as "La Concorde", which he renamed "Queen Anne's Revenge". At one point the ship had a pirate crew of over 300 men, and in 1718 he was at the height of his power. He made his base at North Carolina inland and was notorious in the areas of Virginia and North Carolina coasts.

Final battle betwen Blackbear and Maynard.

The lieutenant governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood, sent British ships under the command of lieutenant Robert Maynard to kill Blackbeard and bring his tyranny of the seas to an end. Their ships came into contact at Ocracoke island, off the coast of North Carolina on November 21st 1718, and the two groups went to war. Edward Teach was shot 5 times, and he received 20 sword wounds when his body fell to the deck of the ship and the rest of his crew surrendered. His corpse was thrown overboard after he have been decapitated and his head was hung from Maynard ship. Blackbeard was between 35 and 40 years old when he died. The "Queen Anna's Revenge" (Blackbeard ship) was discovered in the mid 1990s and you can view pictures of the historical artifacts, including cannons and sword hilts, online.