Q&A
Who was history’s most notorious pirate?
It must surely be Edward Teach, who terrorised the seas of the British Atlantic world from 1716-18, towards the end of the so-called “Golden Age of Piracy”. He killed fewer people than other pirates, captured only one major ship, and did not plunder enough goods to make himself very wealthy – yet by the time he died he was practically a household name. How did a seemingly average pirate become one of the most notorious in history?
Teach became a celebrity thanks to his nickname: Blackbeard. In an era when it was fashionable for men
