Blackbeard was born in about 1680. He joined the crew of Captain Benjamin Hornigold around 1716. Hornigold gave Blackbeard command of a sloop that he had captured, after which he and Hornigold engaged in many more acts of piracy together. In 1717, Hornigold retired and took two of their ships with him. Blackbeard later took command of a captured French merchant vessel which he renamed Queen Anne’s Revenge and had it equipped with forty cannons.
Blackbeard’s renowned rein as a fearsome pirate ended, as did his life, on 22 November 1718 when Lieutenant Robert Maynard’s attempt to capture him failed.