she lay, they obtained
the governor's liberty to drag her into the river, where she was set on
fire, and when burnt down to the water, her bottom was sunk, that so she
might never rise in judgment against the governor and his confederates.

[Illustration: _The crews of Black Beard's and Vane's vessels carousing
on the coast of Carolina._]

Black Beard now being in the province of Friendship, passed several
months in the river, giving and receiving visits from the planters;
while he traded with the vessels which came to that river, sometimes in
the way of lawful commerce, and sometimes in his own way. When he chose
to appear the honest man, he made fair purchases on equal barter; but
when this did not suit his necessities, or his humor, he would rob at
pleasure, and leave them to seek their redress from the governor; and
the better to cover his intrigues with his excellency, he would
sometimes outbrave him to his face, and administer to him a share of
that contempt and insolence which he so liberally bestowed upon the rest
of the inhabitants of the province.

But there are limits to human insolence and depravity. The captains of
the vessels who frequented that river, and had been so often harrassed
and plundered by Black Beard, secretly consulted with some of the
planters what measures to pursue, in order to banish such an infamous
miscreant from their coasts, and to bring him to deserved punishment.
Convinced from long experience, that the governor himself, to whom it
belonged, would give no redress, they represented the matter to the
governor of Virginia, and entreated that an armed force might be sent
from the men-of-war lying there, either to take or to destroy those
pirates who infested their coast.

Upon this representation, the Governor of Virginia consulted with the
captains of the two men-of-war as to the best measures to be adopted. It
was resolved that the governor should hire two small vessels, which
could pursue Bleak Beard into all his inlets and creeks; that they
should be manned from the men-of-war, and the command given to
Lieutenant Maynard, an experienced and resolute officer. When all was
ready for his departure, the governor called an assembly, in which it
was resolved to issue a proclamation, offering a great reward to any
who, within a year, should take or destroy any pirate.

Upon the 17th of November, 1717, Maynard left James's river in quest of
Black Beard, and on the evening of the 21st c