These wooden plaques depict famous pirates from the Golden Age of piracy, and their famous flag ships. Blackbeard was the nickname of the notorious pirate Edward Teach (also Edward Thatch, c.1680—22 November 1718), who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies. After sailing with Captain Benjamin Hornigold around 1716, Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop from where he captured a French merchant vessel, renaming her the Queen Anne's Revenge. Using his thick black beard from where he lit fuses to make his head smoke, he garnered a fearsome appearance, utilizing that appearance alone rather than using force or violence. This tatic worked, for although he and his crew were able to capture numerous vessels they did so with no historical record of torture or murder. On 22 November 1718, during a ferocious battle, Teach and several of his crew were killed by a small force of sailors led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the British Royal Navy.. Original illustration.