SIDE LIGHTS.

* The golden age of piracy began around 1550--58 years after Christopher Columbus's first voyage. At that time, Spanishmerchant ships, loaded with valuable cargo, traveled between South America, the Caribbean Islands, and Spain. English, Dutch, and French pirates robbed Spanish ships and looted Spanish settlements along the Spanish Main (the coast of Central America and Northern South America from Panama to Venezuela).

* Perhaps the most fearsome pirate was Edward Teach, known as "Blackbeard." Blackbeard and his fleet terrorized the coasts of Virginia and the Carolinas between 1717 and 1718. Blackbeard reportedly once made a man eat his own ear (after adding salt and pepper), kidnapped babies for ransom, and even gleefully shot members of his own crew during a drunken spree. The hairy pirate captain also was said to have attached burning ropes to his beard (drawing at right) to convince people he was in league with the devil.

* In 1718, after Blackbeard blockaded the harbor in Charleston, S. C., his ship was cornered by HMS Pearl, commanded by Lieutenant Maynard. Blackbeard fought like a demon. He did not die easily. When his corpse was examined, it was found to have 25 wounds, including five bullet wounds. Maynard cut off Blackbeard's head and tied it as trophy to the Pearl's yardarm. The death of blackbeard brought the golden age of piracy in North America to an end. By the 1720s, pirate activity in had almost disappeared.