Man Finds Pirate in Bath

A new book claims that Blackbeard wasn't English, but North Carolinian.

Kevin P. Duffus said his review of archives and genealogical research indicates that Blackbeard was probably Edward Beard, son of a landowner in Bath in Beaufort County.

With the help of genealogists, Duffus has found a descendant of one of Blackbeard's known crew members, Edward Salter. Under prodding by Duffus, state officials are investigating whether a skeleton kept for years in a state archaeology lab in Raleigh is that of Salter, who lived out his life near Bath.

The bones were recovered in 1986 from a crypt near the Pamlico River. If DNA tests show that the bones are Salter's, the identification would establish that at least one of Blackbeard's men had family roots in Bath. [Link]

Buccaneer Bloodline Not Required

If you can prove you descend from any of six notorious pirates (Sir Henry Morgan, William Kidd, Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, John "Calico Jack" Rackham, Anne Bonny, or Mary Read), you can get free admission to English Heritage's Pirates of Land and Sea events. And by "descend from" I mean "happen to share the same last name as."

To be eligible for free entry, adult visitors must present their passport, drivers licence or birth certificate to prove that their surname is one of the following names:

Morgan
Kidd
Teach
Rackham
Bonny
Read

Up to three children will be admitted free of charge with any eligible adult pirate descendent. Only the above surnames will be eligible for free admission, no other pirate surnames will be accepted.

Oy Vey ... I Mean Arrrgh!

International Talk Like a Pirate Day and Rosh Hashanah are both just days away, so what better time to learn about Jewish pirates?

"The Jewish pirates were Sephardic. Once they were kicked out of Spain [in 1492], the more adventurous Jews went to the New World," said Ed Kritzler, whose yet-untitled book on Jewish pirates will be published by Doubleday in spring 2007.

One such pirate was Moses Cohen Henriques, who helped plan one of history's largest heists against Spain. In 1628, Henriques set sail with Dutch West India Co. Admiral Piet Hein, whose own hatred of Spain was fueled by four years spent as a galley slave aboard a Spanish ship. Henriques and Hein boarded Spanish ships off Cuba and seized shipments of New World gold and silver worth in today's dollars about the same as Disney's total box office for "Dead Man's Chest."

Henriques set up his own pirate island off the coast of Brazil afterward, and even though his role in the raid was disclosed during the Spanish Inquisition, he was never caught, Kritzler told The Journal. [Link, via Boing Boing]

Piledriving in a Puffy Shirt

British professional wrestler Paul Burchill (or Birchall, depending on his mood) recently adopted a pirate persona because of his interest in genealogy.

Burchill broached the subject last month in a completely unchoreographed exchange with fellow wrestlers William Regal and Palmer Canon.

Burchill said his mother's second cousin's great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was the second lieutenant to Blackbeard the pirate, the fiercest pirate in the seven seas! Canon asked Burchill if he wants to bring this to Friday Night Smackdown, his network. Burchill said to picture this: Swashbuckling on Smackdown! Canon said this would be dynamite, huge, fabulous! Regal wished him all the best. Burchill left. Regal asked Canon if he could imagine if Burchill had come from a long line of proctologists. [Link]

[tagged: genealogy, family tree, ancestry]

Did Columbus Wear an Eye Patch?

From The (London, U.K.) Independent:

Was Colombus really a Catalan pirate? DNA test will decide

By Elizabeth Nash in Madrid
Published: 13 January 2006

Spanish scientists are to test the DNA of hundreds of Catalans with the surname Colom to prove that Christopher Columbus, far from the Italian gentleman he has long been believed to be, was in fact a pirate born in Catalonia.

The experiment, in determining whether any of the participants are related to the explorer, is designed to clarify the disputed origins of the man who made landfall in America in 1492. While historians have mostly reckoned he was born in Genoa in 1451, a counter-lobby argues that he was the Catalan Cristofol Colom, who airbrushed his past to conceal activities as a pirate and conspirator against the king.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

tags: genealogy, family history, family tree