Blackbeard and Hampton
Our "first from the sea, first to the stars" city is the oldest continuous English-speaking settlement in North America. That's just one of many momentous turning points in Hampton's and our nation's history.
Blackbeard’s Point on the Hampton River was named for the infamous pirate. Legend has it that after Blackbeard was hunted down and killed, his severed head was displayed on a spike (at what is now Blackbeard’s Point) to serve as a warning to other would-be pirates. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, pirates roamed rampant on the coastal colonial waters. Plundering ships and robbing seafarers, these lowly marauders wreaked havoc on Virginia’s shores and economy. Tobacco grown in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay region was like gold to pirates. Ships carrying this tempting cargo, as well as those transporting European goods to the colonies, lured brigands of all nationalities to Virginia’s coast.
Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood resolved to end their escapades. Learning that the most menacing of them all had found sanctuary among the North Carolina sound, Spotswood outfitted and dispatched ships from Hampton, Virginia in search of Captain Edward Teach, alias Blackbeard the Pirate. Lieutenant Robert Maynard was commissioned to command the two small vessels armed with 55 men and no artillery in pursuit of the notorious Blackbeard. After running Blackbeard’s ship, the Adventure, aground and blocking her escape, Maynard ordered his crew below deck and directed one of his ships, the Jane, in the direction of the pirate. With the intention of capturing and mangling the few on deck, Blackbeard and his motley crew swarmed the Jane. At that moment Maynard and his men rushed from below. Pirate and officer squared off with cutlasses and pistols at point blank range.
No bullet or wound would halt Blackbeard’s ferocious assaults. Yet Maynard was just as determined and finally, prevailed. Riddled with pistol balls and bloody gashes, Blackbeard’s body fell to the deck.
The victorious, battle-worn lieutenant and his crew returned to Hampton aboard the Adventure and were greeted with a hero’s welcome, Blackbeard’s severed head was swinging from the ship’s bow. Later impaled upon a pole near the mouth of the Hampton Creek, now known as Blackbeard’s Point, it served as a reminder to all that piracy would not be tolerated in Virginia. Celebrate the demise of Blackbeard with your own seafaring escapades at our Annual Hampton Blackbeard Festival. See our calendar of events for this year’s dates.
Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood resolved to end their escapades. Learning that the most menacing of them all had found sanctuary among the North Carolina sound, Spotswood outfitted and dispatched ships from Hampton, Virginia in search of Captain Edward Teach, alias Blackbeard the Pirate. Lieutenant Robert Maynard was commissioned to command the two small vessels armed with 55 men and no artillery in pursuit of the notorious Blackbeard. After running Blackbeard’s ship, the Adventure, aground and blocking her escape, Maynard ordered his crew below deck and directed one of his ships, the Jane, in the direction of the pirate. With the intention of capturing and mangling the few on deck, Blackbeard and his motley crew swarmed the Jane. At that moment Maynard and his men rushed from below. Pirate and officer squared off with cutlasses and pistols at point blank range.
No bullet or wound would halt Blackbeard’s ferocious assaults. Yet Maynard was just as determined and finally, prevailed. Riddled with pistol balls and bloody gashes, Blackbeard’s body fell to the deck.
The victorious, battle-worn lieutenant and his crew returned to Hampton aboard the Adventure and were greeted with a hero’s welcome, Blackbeard’s severed head was swinging from the ship’s bow. Later impaled upon a pole near the mouth of the Hampton Creek, now known as Blackbeard’s Point, it served as a reminder to all that piracy would not be tolerated in Virginia. Celebrate the demise of Blackbeard with your own seafaring escapades at our Annual Hampton Blackbeard Festival. See our calendar of events for this year’s dates.
