- The day he died in a bloody battle off the coast of Ocracoke
Island, the pirate Blackbeard bade his 13th wife a final farewell.
-
- "Look for me in the afternoon," he told his
bride. "You will hear the cannons firing. And the creatures of the
sea will dance at your feet when I return."
-
- Today, villagers swear they can still hear the volley
of gunfire booming off Pamlico Sound. And as the sun rises over the misty
inlet Blackbeard called home, they sometimes catch a glimpse of his masted
ghost ship gliding through the silver water.
-
-
- The pirate Blackbeard favored the mists of Ocracoke Inlet
in North Carolina's Outer Banks so much he lost his head there
-
-
- A triumphant British Royal Navy impaled the bloody trophy
on the bowsprit of its sloop after the pirate's fiercest battle in November
1718.
-
- The sea-worn face and flowing, black-as-night beard rotted
there for weeks as an example to other bandits of the sea.
-
- Blackbeard was the boldest pirate to infest the waters
of Colonial America. His Jolly Roger flag displayed an eerie, horned skeleton
holding fish bones in one hand and a spear in the other. A blood red heart
dripped below its deadly blade.
-
- The isolated barrier island was Blackbeard's most beloved
hideout. Anchored close to shore, his crew could spot merchant ships cruising
the coast without being spotted in return.
-
- The pirate would braid his long, salty beard with brightly-colored
ribbons and tuck slow-burning matches in the tangles, letting wisps of
smoke curl around his face. He wore pistols, daggers and a cutlass in a
belt about his waist. Across his chest he carried a sling that held six
pistols primed, cocked and ready to fire.
-
- He would rally his men and sail out on his ship, Queen
Anne's Revenge, to plunder cargoes and slay crews.
-
- But in 1718, Lt. Robert Maynard of the British Royal
Navy took a fleet of sloops to Ocracoke and attacked the band of pirates
off shore.
-
- The legendary Blackbeard was shot 20 times--then beheaded.
-
- But many say his spirit remains in the silvery waters
of his inlet anchorage and today his name graces many shops and restaurants
in the historic village of Ocracoke.
-
- One legend holds that Blackbeard, who went by the alias
Edward Teach, gave the island its name the morning of his death. Impatient
for dawn, he supposedly bellowed "Oh Cock Crow!"
-
- But the name more likely comes from the American Indian
tribes that have inhabited the haunted beaches since the 1500s. No one
knows what the name means.
-
- The 16-mile long stretch of abandoned sand sits at the
southernmost tip of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, maintained by
the National Park Service. The sparkling blue-green waters, warmed by the
nearby Gulf Stream, wash a wild beach.
-
- It's rare to see another soul wandering the lonely seashore.
-
- At the end of the island is the little village of Ocracoke,
which was incorporated in 1753.
-
- Today, residents and visitors amble along on bicycles,
shaded by crooked oak trees warped by the ocean winds. Cars are allowed,
but they just don't seem to fit in on the quiet streets.
-
- The village is packed with restaurants, shops, cottages
and little motels.
-
- Even in the middle of town in the middle of summer, the
feeling of isolation from the rest of the world clings like sea spray.
-
- Ocracoke is North Carolina's land's end. You can only
get there by boat or by plane. And it's a 40-minute ferry ride from the
closest land neighbor--Hatteras Island.
-
- In summer, ferries chug across warm seas to Ocracoke
day and night. Cackling seagulls follow, hoping for a free meal.
-
- Once the ferry unloads, it's a 16-mile, sand-swept drive
to the village. Great dunes covered in sea oats rise along either side
of narrow State Highway 12, offering glimpses of the clear, turquoise water.
-
- Along the way to town, visitors notice a pen the National
Park Service maintains for the island's Banker ponies. The horses are likely
descendants of those brought to the Outer Banks by English explorer Sir
Walter Raleigh.
-
- Today they live in a fenced pasture near the ocean where
they once roamed wild.
-
- During tourist season, the town of Ocracoke's narrow
streets are crowded with bicyclists and sunburned beach-goers eating ice
cream cones. It's not easy to get around town by car, but there's no need.
Everything is within walking distance
-
- At the visitors center in the middle of town is a reminder
of the sea's unforgiving power--the jaws of a whale stranded ashore in
1988.
-
- Across the street, the metal masts of sailboats clang
like wind chimes in the inlet now known as Teach's Hole, named, of course,
for Blackbeard.
-
- Follow the road from the visitors center to fudge shops,
ice cream stands, bait-and-tackle stores and lazy outdoor eateries offering
cold beer and cheap spicy steamed shrimp.
-
- A museum and shop dedicated to all things Blackbeard
is a few blocks away. Across the street, there's a coffeehouse that also
offers handmade pottery.
-
- On the other side of town, one of the oldest lighthouses
on the East Coast casts its beams over Ocracoke's jeweled waters.
-
- Built in 1823, it is a survivor of hundreds of coastal
hurricanes and nor'easters, sending its light 14 miles out to sea
-
-
- Many sailors have died along the coast the Ocracoke lighthouse
protects. The sea is a graveyard to most of their bodies.
-
- But during World War II, a British ship was torpedoed
by a German submarine and four bodies washed ashore. They were buried by
villagers in a tiny homemade graveyard. Two of the grave sites are marked
"unknown" and the other two bear the remains of Thomas Cunningham
and Stanley R. Craig.
-
- A bronze plaque among the graves reads: "If I should
die think only this of me, that there's some forever corner of a foreign
field that is forever England."
-
- But for visitors to the strange little island at land's
end, the opposite might be true. Visit and some part of you may be forever
Ocracoke.
-
- On the Web: www.ocracokenc.com http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2001/072001/07282001/347128/printer_frien
dly
|
