The two fell in love, and when attempts to buy Bonny from her husband failed, Bonny joined RackhamвЂ™s crew as a pirate. Rackham met Anne Bonny, the wife of a smuggler, in The Bahamas. What keeps Calico Jack in the forefront among his peers is that two of his crew - and likely the fiercest - were women. Jack Rackham was not an especially ruthless pirate nor was he notably successful. It is said that the Indians tore Nau apart, throwing pieces of his body in a fire and scattering the ashes so no trace of the horrible pirate would remain. While trying to recruit a new crew, Nau was attacked and captured by local natives. Fearful of their psychotic captain, NauвЂ™s crew mutinied and left him with a single craft that ran aground off Las Petras Islands. With faltering success, his hatred of the Spanish intensified. The invading pirates garnered more than 260,000 pieces of eight (aka Spanish dollar), as well as other booty, but these spoils soon vanished into the pockets of TortugaвЂ™s tavern keepers and prostitutes.Дesperate for treasure, Nau continued his assaults on Spanish ships and the colonies. Partnering with freebooter Michel de Basco, Nau was able to amass a fleet of eight ships and 400 men and managed to seize the towns of Gibraltar and Maracaibo in the Gulf of Venezuela, where the townspeople endured unimaginable atrocities. Spanish ships would fight to the death rather than surrender to the merciless Nau. Sanctioned by the French government to attack Spanish enemies, he would develop an insatiable blood-thirst and penchant for torture (particularly against the Spanish), which prolonged his reign of terror well into times of peace between France and Spain.ДЄs word of NauвЂ™s unspeakable cruelty spread, his successes became fewer. Having won favor with the French Governor of Tortuga, Nau was given command of his own ship. Following his period of servitude, Nau relocated to Hispaniola where he joined the Buccaneers. Nau arrived in Martinique from France as an indentured servant child. Nau is widely considered one of the most ruthless and barbaric pirates ever to set sail in the Caribbean. It is said that Maynard stabbed Blackbeard more than 20 times and shot him no less than five times before Blackbeard finally died of blood loss. The two men came to blows near Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, and legend has it that the hand-to-hand battle lasted 40 minutes. Robert Maynard was sent to dispatch Blackbeard. Teach once put the town of Charleston, South Carolina, under siege - holding a prominent citizen hostage - to gain a ransom of medicine to treat himself and a number of his crew for syphilis. During BlackbeardвЂ™s reign in the Caribbean, his only adversary was disease. Teach once shot his own first mate so that people would remember his name and just how cruel he could be. If victims would hesitate in handing over jewelry, Blackbeard would simply brandish a cutlass or ax and take the entire appendage. In battle, Teach would place lit matches under his hat and in his beard so his enemies would think his head was on fire. eastern seaboard and throughout the Caribbean.ДЄlthough Blackbeard was considered an extremely brave man, by modern standards he was nothing short of psychotic. Following the end of Queen AnneвЂ™s War, Teach converted a captured warship into a pirate ship he would call Queen AnneвЂ™s Revenge and continued his reign of terror along the U.S. Here we reveal six real pirates of the Caribbean that certainly were not the affable swashbuckling miscreants of the Silver Screen.Д«orn in Bristol, England, Teach came to the Caribbean as a privateer. When youвЂ™re vacationing or enjoying a luxury yacht charter on the tranquil Caribbean Sea, imagine that 300 years ago the most notorious gangsters of the seas sailed these same waters, dropping hook in the same coves.

Words by Kelly Sanford This story first appeared in the November edition of ShowBoats

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