The Pirates OF THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST AND OXB

• The Pirate Years (1690 to 1720) at Ocean Isle Beach
• Between 1690 and 1720, pirates operated freely off Ocean Isle Beach—especially three pirates—Sam Bellamy, Stede Bonnet, and Edward Teach. One pirate who looted over 50 ships from his vessel Whydah, was Sam Bellamy, often called “Black Bellamy.” Bellamy’s pirate career ended on April 26, 1717, when a bad storm sank his ship, and nearly all onboard died, including Bellamy.
• Another notorious pirate who attacked ships off Ocean Isle was Stede Bonnet, often called “The Gentleman Pirate.” Stede Bonnet, however, made a big mistake on August 12, 1718. After capturing two large ships, he sailed into the Cape Bear River to divide up his booty with his men and repair his ship. But Colonel Rhett in Charleston heard about this and dispatched two warships—the Henry and the Sea Empathy. A furious battle soon occurred near Southport, with twelve of Rhett’s men killed and eighteen wounded by the pirates. However, nine of the pirates were killed, and all the others were captured and taken to Charleston and hanged for piracy on December 10, 1718.

Another famous pirate, Edward Teach, or Blackbeard, ambushed ships off Shallotte and Tubbs Inlets along the Atlantic coast. Blackbeard’s ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, was one of the largest pirate ships ever sailing. Blackbeard used Queen Anne’s Revenge to blockade the entire port of Charleston for a whole week in May 1718. However, while onboard another ship, the Adventure, Blackbeard was killed and beheaded in a battle off Ocracoke, NC, on October 22, 1718, the same year that Stede Bonnet was hanged. Two years later, in 1720, three more pirates who operated in the Ocean Isle Beach area were caught. They were Calico Jack Rackham and two female pirates—Anne Bonny and Mary Read. The era of pirates off Ocean Isle was at its height between 1690 and 1720. This time coincided with the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe, which began in 1701 and ended in 1714. That was a war where England fought France and Spain, and all three countries hired privateers to attack other ships. The War of the Spanish Succession spread to North America, and many of these privateers turned into pirates and attacked and looted any boat they could overpower. Ironically, 1720 was the year that pirates and Indians were virtually eliminated from the Ocean Isle Beach area.