Pirates Return to Ocracoke 291 Years After the Death of Blackbeard to Remember Their Fallen Brethren
Ocracoke, NC - For only the second time in 291 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 Sunday, November 22, 2009. The observance 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. Pirate living-history reenactors, dressed in period attire replete with cutlasses, flintlock pistols and cannon, will assemble at the site for a 45-minute ceremony featuring an elegy, period music, and a specially-composed pirate chanty. The ceremony will include the floating of a wreath and military-like honors for the 23 pirates and King’s sailors who were killed in the battle.
Ocracoke Inlet was one of Blackbeard’s hideouts, and it was here that two small sloops hired by Virginia governor Alexander Spotswood found and cornered Blackbeard on the inner side of the island. In the battle that ensued, Blackbeard was killed on November 22, 1718. His headless body is believed to be buried in a mass grave somewhere on the island.
In addition to Blackbeard’s historical demise, the largest pirate gathering and pirate party in Colonial America took place on the island in 1718. Ocracoke is an ancient watering hole visited by many seafarers since the early 16th century.
North Carolina claims a remarkable and rich heritage of privateers, pirates and sea rovers and has for centuries, been widely known as the place where the notorious pirate, Black Beard, lived his last days. Two historic battles took place in North Carolina between pirates and colonial authorities heralding the beginning of the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. Today, pirate enthusiasts and visitors of all ages can visit many fascinating destinations along the state’s 375-mile-long coast and inland waters where pirate history was made, or was made world-famous by popular pirate literature.
For more on Ocracoke Island visit www.OcracokeVillage.com
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Contact
Kevin Duffus
919-845-9244
kevin_duffus@earthlink.net
