Today I will share information about Kevin Duffus' 2008 book, The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate. Kevin Duffus has done extensive research on the life of "Edward Thatch," research that leads to the conclusion that much of conventional "wisdom" about this most notorious of pirates is wrong.
Duffus writes that "[h]istory remembers the infamous Black Beard as one of the greatest, most successful pirates who ever lived—a paragon of pirates. But what if history got it wrong?" He claims that "many historical accounts describing the pirate’s last days—the six months following the wreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge at Beaufort Inlet—were inaccurate, insufficiently researched, and, as it turned out, not nearly as interesting as the truth.
For more information about Kevin Duffus' book (including the fascinating claim that the famous pirate's real name was Edward Beard, son of Gov. Charles Eden's neighbor Capt. James Beard) click on this link: http://lookingglassproductions.org/LookingGlass2008/LastDaysofBlackBeard.html.
Kevin Duffus' book, which is richly illustrated with full color photographs, is a "must read" for anyone interested in the true story of Black Beard the pirate.
Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is a brief history of the Soundfront Inn, one of the oldest structures on the island. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news102113.htm.
A note from Kevin Duffus: "Soon I will be getting to work on the 4th edition which I expect to have printed by next spring. America’s pirate history is nothing like the Hollywood pop-culture, romantic, fairy tale version so perpetuated by publishers and producers and adored by its fans. True pirate history is actually more interesting, more complex, more relevant to our own life and times. Certainly, there’s a place in our hearts and minds for folklore and fiction, for swashbuckling, swaggering, Errol Flynn-like pirates, but we should never fail to understand and appreciate the real story."
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