I am very much impressed by the amount of knowledge held by my collegues in this forum, so perhaps I can ask for some slight assistance. For several years now, I have been trying to locate Blackbeards Skull. It was cut off by Lt. Maynard of the Royal Navy when Blackbeard was killed at Ocracoke, North Carolina in 1718. After being stuck on a pole and displayed at the entrance to Norfolk, Virginia the skull disappears. According to some stories the skull was made into a silver plated drinking cup, but as of yet I have been unable to find the real McCoy. Can anyone help out there? By the way, it's not that phoney skull painted with radiator paint that the Essex Institute palms off as Blackbeards.

Arrg ? Blackbeards skull you say ? Arrg. I'd think it would be cursed  :(

I dig for antique bottles in the Detroit area . If I find Jimmy H. I'll ask him  8)

No really, I'm serious.

Just curious, but why exactly do you want to find this relic?  Are you planning on taking a trip to visit or are you writing a book or something?

Sorry, just being nosey.
Brian

I am writing a book. :)

I read Edgar Allan Poes story "The Gold Bug" It had a pirates skull in it also . Are you writing a fiction book based on facts ? When you are done let us know . I'll read it  :)

Just the facts. :)

Uhhhhhh...well I had it but then I lost it.  Funny story, really :-[.

Have you come across any sinister pirates storys to go with the skull ? Please share ? :)

hmmm I am very interest In William   my self After you find the goblet what you say we head down to the boars head and have us a pint in it

William?? ???

sorry Edward as in
Edward Teach   I was thinking of a differnt pirate

It's over the river and through the woods...

just make it up. as long as nobody knows where it really is and you have good logic behind you, you win by default.  There was a show on the history channel about blackbeard once... and they didnt have any good explanation.

my theory: someone took his skull as a souveigneer, packed it away for safe keeping and died. person who inherited it somewhere down the line didn't know what it was and tossed it out.  ::)

Arrg ! And a fine skull it probalbly was ..Arrg  :-/

Well, that would be one way to handle it. The problem is that stories about the skull keep cropping up in the historic record. It was supposedly at Williamsburg Va. for a while and it is said to have belonged to a college fraternity for a while along with many other stories about it. If it is still around somewhere I will find it. I have been looking for over 15 years now. :P

lets face it stories bout blackbeards skull would most likely be exagerated or downright lies if so many people claim to have seen it heard from it or have it  :-/

can't all be right can they ?

you mentioned the head was mounted in front of the fort
I just read a acount where it was put on a pole in front of the ship

When Blackbeard was killed at Ocracoke North Carolina, his head was cut off and tied in the rigging to prove it was him. When they got back to Virginia, the head was placed on a pole at the entrance to Norfolk  harbor. At some point after this the skull disappears. According to legend, Blackbeards crew took the skull had it silver plated and made into a drinking cup. A lawyer from Va. was offering a $1000.00 reward to anyone who could produce the cup for examination. Ben Cherry a fellow from Va. who impersonates Blackbeard at Pirate festivals throughout the Carribean thinks the skull is now lost. Like  I said ,I have been tracking this thing for 15 years and from all the stories I have traced I think it is possible that this silverplated cup is out there. 8)

I am sure you have read these but I thought I  would copy and paste for the benifitt of others
Reputable sources declare that the relic was later taken down and fashioned into a silver-mounted drinking cup. Antiquarian and publisher John F. Watson states that the "skull was made into the bottom part of a very large punch bowl, called the infant, which was long used as a drinking vessel at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg. It was enlarged with silver, or silver plated; and I have seen those whose forefathers have spoken of their drinking punch from it, with a silver ladle appurtenant to that bowl." Historian and author John Esten Cooke, in his Virginia, states that the cup was still preserved in the state in 1903. The usage of skulls as drinking cups is an ancient practice. The Roman historian Livy makes reference to northern Italians cleaning and gilding crania for use as drinking goblets; Plutarch and Herodotus record similar rituals practiced by the Teutons, Scythians, and Tibetans.
As recently as 1989, Charles H. Whedbee, a lawyer and state legislator in North Carolina, wrote a volume of reminiscences describing an event of the early 1930s when he visited a law school friend from the University of North Carolina at his home on the coast. Touring Ocracoke, they stopped at Blackbeard's Castle near Silver Lake. It was an odd but convivial evening, spent among rough seamen speaking with the Elizabethan inflection familiar to the area. They drank from what was purported to be Blackbeard's silver-plated skull. Incised around the outer circumference were the words: "Deth to Spotswoode."
heres the linkhttp://www.shrews.org/public_html/level2/bbaccounts.html

Anybody want to buy my skull when I'm finished with it ? :P

i just thought, "oh sweet, i could make a lot of money like that!"..... then the full implications kind of set in...

Fritz Ill trade you........ Oh wrong thread sorry

I tracked down Mr Whedbee at his office in North Carolina. I wanted to see if he was just making up stories or was serious. Unfortunately he passed away two day after I located his phone number. :'(

try not to call me :-/ just kidding ::)

I promise I will never call you "just kidding", only DTB. ;D ;D

;D

awe and trail for the pursuit of the holy crainum cup of drummond  grows cold once again

haha

So kahuna,
Did you have any luck when you research the law school body

No! :(

Drummond, Teach or?........What do you think?

Bigkahuna,

You can have my skull if I die before you.  Edward Teach was my 12th great grand uncle (I come from the legitimate side of the family...through his brother who was a lawyer and his father a Baron).  And if you look at the names in regard to pronunciation, everyone today pronounces "teach" like teach in teacher.  I am of the opinion that the original pronunciation was more in lines with "theack" with the "h" being like the "h" in "huh."  The original records are full with various spellings, and they wrote it down like it sounded when the author heard the name...hence we get teach, tack, thach, thack, etc. etc. etc.  What is the basis on the Drummond claim?  I have heard that argument before that his name was Drummond, but even the modern Drummonds haven't formed a geneaological connection.  Most likely it was an alias if anything at all.  

Cheers,
Adam C.

P.S.  I'll post my lineage back to Blackbeard if you really want it, otherwise I'm not going to take up board space on a discussion group about slinging (off topic or not).  

P.P.S.  I also do early 18th century maritime living history...go figure....

I would love to see the documentation on your relationship to Capt. Teach. Please post it or email it to me. If you can truly document this I would like to write it up for "No Quarter Given" a historical pirate journal, with your permission of course.

Bigkahuna,

I didn't actually find the lineage myself.  My Grandmother was big in geneaology before she died, and used to brag about how we had no black sheep in the family....until she found blackbeard.  Anyway, the best I can do is pass on what she told me.  

Baron Owen Theach (sometimes spelled Teach or Thatch) of Wales had two sons, John and Edward.   Edward eventually becoming Edward "black beard" Theach (Teach, Thatch, Thach, etc.) the pirate.  John was a lawyer and led a good life, eventually immigrating to North Carolina.  John married a Mrs. Elizabeth Weeks.  Their Daughter, Elizabeth Theach, married Willoughby Adams.  Their daughter, also named Elizabeth Theach, married Baron John Davis (also from Wales).  Their daughter Cecelia Davis, married a man by the name of Pope (We don't know his first name, but it might have been Clinton).  They had a son who was named Owen Clinton Pope, who then married Sarah Singuefield. Cecelia and Pope also had a daughter, Mary Wilde Pope, who married a man by the name of Ephraim Jordan.  Mary and Ephraim had a daughter by the name of Martha Elizabeth Jordan, who eventually married Thomas Turlington.  Their daughter Sally Mae Turlington married William Bailey Greene.  Sally and William had a daughter, Martha Sue Greene, who eventually married John Charles Cripps.  Martha and John had a son whom they also named John Charles Cripps, who eventually married Diane Johnson.  John and Diane had.....me....

So, there it is according to what my Grandmother gave my Dad and I before she died.  She only gave me the names of the children that continued our line, and so not all the children from each union was included.  Our family tree takes up a whole wall in a room without the addition of the other siblings branching off.  

As for NQG, I wouldn't call it "historical" as it's mostly the hollywood pirate variety, but sure, what the heck.  If you want to do it, be my guest.  Put a plug in for my Maritime reenactment group while you're at it.  :-)

Cheers,
Adam C.

Thanks Adam. I'll let you know when I post it to them. What's the name of your reinactment group? :)

Bigkahuna,

We're a mess in the HMS Squirrel Living History Association called "The Fish-Broth Society."  Our main focus is the accurate portrayal of seaman (everything from Merchant and Fisherman through Royal Navy) from 1700-1739.  We do F&I with the rest of the Squirrel sometimes, and you can usually find us doing naval at some RevWar events (like we'll be participating in Williamsburg again this coming June) also.  

I'd like to get a copy of the write up if they decide to use it.  I'm trying to go back and find the records that my Grandmother had found, but I fear that some of them might have been lost since she found the connection.  

Cheers,
Adam

According to Prof. Robert E. Lee in his book "Blackbeard, a Reappraisal of His life and Times", no relations of Blackbeard could be found, so this is really great news! :D

Bigkahuna,

If I remember correctly, he was writing back in the 60s?  I have my copy somewhere around here, just I need to get to bed right now.  

I wouldn't go as far as to say the lineage is proven, as I'm basing it off the family tree my grandmother developed, so I would classify it as a secondary source (heck, I work as an archivist...I always have to classify things stringently...).  I have had to suspend the search due to everyday life now, but as I mentioned, I'm trying to go back and find the records my Grandmother found. Anyway, I need to head below decks and climb in my hammock....

Cheers,
Adam C.

A quick search of the database shows no Baron by the name of Owen Thatch or Teach or any similar Surname. Do you have any more info? ???

Bigkahuna,

I haven't been able to find anything online, myself.  This is why I'm probably going to have to hit the archives in Wales (if they have one...if not, most records are probably in Britain).  Were you looking at Welsh barons on the system or English?  This is one of the reasons I'm trying to go back and find the actual letters and get pictures (digital, of course) of me holding them....

I have no reason to doubt the connection my Grandmother made, as she was very proud of having no black sheep in the family, and it shocked her pretty bad (according to my Dad...I wasn't alive yet) when she found the connection.  Like I said in my last post, I tend to be a hard_ss when it comes to documentation as that's my field of expertise, which is why I said I'd classify what my Grandmother gave us as a secondary source until I can try and get documents myself.  It would be interesting if he wasn't in my family tree, as that would make my family just appear out of nowhere in the middle of the 18th century.  Good times.


Cheers,
Adam

I did a quick look at both Welsh and English Baronies with no luck. :-/

Bigkahuna,

I really don't know what to tell you, as I'm still on the hunt to validate this lineage myself.  In fact, at lunch today I was discussing the lineage with my Dad, only to find out that my Grandmother had gotten it from a letter sent to her from a great-aunt who found out that she was into geneaology.  I have no clue where the great aunt got her information, but seeing as it was so long ago, it could be that some of it is lost.  Either way, I'm not claiming the lineage is valid, but that's how it has always been on the family tree.

Cheers,
Adam C.

To anyone interested there will be a T V show about Blackbeard on the National Geograpic Channel tonight at  8PM eastern time

I missed that :(

Tonight at 10 eastern time theres a show called "black beards mystery ship" on the history channel. just thought I'd let you know.

I found it! It's right here...

http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110360/Images/pirate10.jpg

just kidding ;)

Tried that one already. That's not it. :-/

tell you what if you can find me some of st. johns teeth to put in the pommel of my sword ill give you my spare blackbeard skull :)

" I told him we already got one"................. ;D

well can we see it? ???

wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2006 at 8:56am:

" I told him we already got one"................. ;D

"Is there someone else there we can talk to?" ;D

wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2006 at 5:18pm:

"Is there someone else there we can talk to?" ;D

No! Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.

wrote on Mar 28^th, 2006 at 4:30am:

No! Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.

thats ok just don't be flashing any private parts at my aunties some of them might have  fits  :o

I'd have to see what your Aunties look like first. ;D

Lol :p one of them is a mother to 6 another i havent seen in a Long time and the third sortoff looks like my grandma only 30 years younger :P lol That would be the one to have a fit i'm sure  ;D

Bring em on......... ;D

Lol  :D  no surprises at the 6 kids ?:P most people who hear that don't belive it they believe it even less when i tell them there all girls none of em are twins and when i start naming then they Really think i lost it since there all named after egytian godesses :P

To have 6 kids she must be (or have been) a Hottie. I love the Egyptian name thing.