The Last Days of Blackbeard

      What really happened those last few days that Blackbeard was alive? Who was Edward Teach? Was his treasure really "treasure" or was it precious commodities that was needed in colonial North Carolina at the time? Can you visualize Blackbeard sailing by our little island and possibly stepping foot on our shores?  I recently read the book The Last Days of Blackbeard the Pirate by Kevin Duffus. Reading this book transported one back to the days of schooners and sharpies, plying the waters of Pamlico River and Pamlico Sound.
      Duffus thoroughly researched numerous archives, haunts, and locations for the basis of his book.  The book takes the reader to trodden grounds, the actual places that Edward Teach roamed, such as Bristol England, Bath, Ocracoke, Philadelphia.  The author gives a historical narrative to those things we deem as legend, but with a grain of some truths.
      In the book, Brant Island Shoals is mentioned many times as treacherous passage between Bath and Ocracoke.  Duffus painted a poignant picture, that navigating Pamlico Sound and Pamlico River without the use of modern navigation aids, may have hampered and helped the pirate.  With the help of local genealogists in Bath and other areas, I learned of his relationship with Tobias Knight and where Knight's plantation stood along the shores of Bath Creek - on property presently owned by PCS Phosphate.  Also, the book recounts a vivid encounter with a young man from Swan Quarter who happens upon the pirate in the vicinity of present day Pamlico Point.
      I am an avid reader of history and this book explores the mysteries of government conspiracies, coverups, possessions, and clues that reveal a true Edward Teach, not the Edward Teach that legends have been built upon.  I encourage you to pick up a copy of this book and I am sure will become intrigued about the new discoveries of his actual life.  You will be surprised when your mind is transported to the golden age of piracy near the shores of Goose Creek Island.