Island Free Press ...Local News

For the first time in 289 years, the historically significant “Battle of Ocracoke” and the death of the notorious pirate Blackbeard will be memorialized on Ocracoke Island at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22.

The colorful and poignant pageant will be conducted on a soundside sandy beach adjacent to Ocracoke’s Springer’s Point, near the location of the 1718 engagement at Teaches Hole Channel. More than 50 pirate reenactors, dressed in period attire replete with cutlasses, flintlock pistols and cannon, will assemble at the site for a 45-minute ceremony featuring period music, a newly-composed pirate chantey, an elegy, the floating of a wreath and a 23-gun salute for each of the 23 pirates and King’s sailors who were killed in the battle.

The event has been coordinated and sponsored by Blackbeard’s Crew, a Virginia-based living history performance group, and by Kevin Duffus, a Raleigh, N.C., historian and author of the book, “The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate.” The sponsors expect the ceremony to become an annual event similar to Ocracoke’s British War Graves memorial, which is held each year in May.

The public and media are welcome to observe the inaugural Blackbeard Pirate Memorial. Those attending are encouraged to gather at 1 p.m. at Blackbeard’s Lodge in Ocracoke village at 111 Back Road. Last-minute information and contingency plans, if necessary, will be announced at that time. Parking near the ceremony site is limited and carpooling from Blackbeard’s Lodge is recommended.

On November 22, 1718, two hired merchant sloops manned by 60 Royal Navy sailors from Virginia engaged the notorious pirate Edward Thatch, aka Blackbeard, and his 20 shipmates near Ocracoke Inlet. Following a brief gun battle and hand-to-hand combat lasting fewer than six minutes, 12 pirates were killed, including Blackbeard, and nine men were captured. Eleven of the King’s men were killed.

Each year, the non-profit Blackbeard’s Crew performs at maritime heritage events along the East Coast of the U.S. The group has been commissioned by organizations that include the Skipjack Nautical Wares in Portsmouth, Va., The Outer Banks Arts Council, The Pepsi America's Sail Challenge, The International Search and Rescue Competition, The Greater Jacksonville (Fla.) Kingfish Tournament, Norfolk Harborfest, and Oxford Day (Oxford, Md.).

The annual Hampton Blackbeard Pirate Festival is the Crew’s “homeport” celebration. As part of its mission statement, Blackbeard’s Crew strives to employ living history interpretation as a primary method to educate the public by accurately portraying the lifestyle, manner of dress and speech, common knowledge and skills, weapons, tools, and crew organization of both pirates and ordinary seamen both afloat and ashore during the Golden Age of Piracy. More information about the crew can be found at their website: http://www.blackbeardscrew.org/

Since 1997, author, researcher, filmmaker, and history detective Kevin Duffus has published three books and produced four award-winning documentary films, all on Outer Banks history. In 2002, Duffus solved the long-standing mystery of the missing 1854 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Fresnel lens, believed lost for 140 years. As a result of his persistence and passion, the lens and its elegant, Victorian-era, cast-iron pedestal are now on display at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum at Hatteras. In 2008, after completing years of research, Duffus published “The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate,” a detailed examination of the famous seafaring rogue’s final six months in North Carolina. The controversial book presents contradictions to traditional historical accounts about Black Beard’s (also known as Blackbeard) origins, his travels, and motivations as a pirate, his death, and the identity and fate of his most trusted crew members.

Among the many new theories presented in his book, Duffus believes that the 23 bodies belonging to Blackbeard and the others killed at Ocracoke in 1718 were buried in a mass grave near where the 2008 memorial event will be held.