ry gallantry, and is thereby entitled to be
distinguished by some post, and if such a one has but courage, he must
certainly be a great man. The hero of whom we are writing was thoroughly
accomplished this way, and some of his frolics of wickedness were so
extravagant, as if he aimed at making his men believe he was a devil
incarnate; for being one day at sea, and a little flushed with drink,
"Come," says he, "let us make a hell of our own, and try how long we can
bear it." Accordingly he, with two or three others, went down into the
hold, and closing up all the hatches, filled several pots full of
brimstone and other combustible matter, and set it on fire, and so
continued till they were almost suffocated, when some of the men cried
out for air. At length he opened the hatches, not a little pleased that
he held out the longest.

The night before he was killed he sat up and drank till the morning with
some of his own men and the master of a merchantman; and having had
intelligence of the two sloops coming to attack him, as has been before
observed, one of his men asked him, in case anything should happen to
him in the engagement with the sloops, whether his wife knew where he
had buried his money? He answered, "That nobody but himself and the
devil knew where it was, and the longest liver should take all."

Those of his crew who were taken alive told a story which may appear a
little incredible; however, we think it will not be fair to omit it
since we had it from their own mouths. That once upon a cruise they
found out that they had a man on board more than their crew; such a one
was seen several days amongst them, sometimes below and sometimes upon
deck, yet no man in the ship could give an account who he was, or from
whence he came, but that he disappeared a little before they were cast
away in their great ship; but it seems they verily believed it was the
devil.

One would think these things should induce them to reform their lives,
but so many reprobates together, encouraged and spirited one another up
in their wickedness, to which a continual course of drinking did not a
little contribute, for in Black-beard's journal, which was taken, there
were several memorandums of the following nature found writ with his own
hand: Such a day rum all out; our company somewhat sober; a damned
confusion amongst us; rouges a-plotting; great talk of separation; so I
looked sharp for a prize; such a day took one with a great deal