By Kevin P. Duffus, author of “The Last Days of Blackbeard the Pirate”
Springers 2007
As I write this, it has been almost 18 years since I met Blackbeard’s Crew, a group of living history pirate reenactors from Virginia, on a cold November day at the Swan Quarter Ferry. From there we traveled to Ocracoke in 2008 to hold a private memorial service on Saturday the 22nd for the lives lost in the battle between Blackbeard, with his paltry crew of 15 semi-retired pirates, and 60 Royal Navy sailors from the James River led by Lt. Robert Maynard.
I had conceived the notion to hold the memorial at Springer’s Point exactly one year earlier when I stood at that same spot at the same time when the historic event took place, between 9 and 10 a.m., in 1718. I took the photo included above–my favorite of the many that appear in my book “The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate.”
The view of the placid windless waters of Teach’s Hole Channel that day eerily replicated the conditions 289 years earlier. I couldn’t help but recall the haunting words of the author Howard Bahr in his book “The Judas Field”: “All that had happened was still there, just beyond the thin curtain of time.” I believe that is true.
2. 2008
In 2008, we simply intended to remember the history that had taken place there at Ocracoke, not thinking about its impact on the future. The memorial event was not promoted publicly, nor did we invite the public. But by the time we solemnly marched from Blackbeard’s Lodge down Lighthouse Road to Springer’s Point, we had more than 100 people following us to see what we were up to. Ocracokers are a curious lot.
3. 2010
We returned to conduct the memorial again in 2009 and 2010. Support for what we were doing grew as did the large group of spectators who would follow us out to Springer’s Point.
Two historic storms, Irene and Sandy, forced the cancellation in 2011 and 2012 of what had become a much-anticipated annual memorial service.
Then, in 2013, with the support of the Ocracoke Civic and Business Association, the original Memorial Service expanded to become Ocracoke’s 1st Annual Blackbeard Pirate Jamboree, at a place in North Carolina where real pirate history took place.
That year featured a living history encampment of pirates hosted by Blackbeard’s Crew; a sea battle between Capt. Horatio Sinbad’s MEKA II, the skipjack ADA MAE, and the longboat FLORIE crewed by the Devil Men of Cape Fear; a Kids Scallywag School; and a program presented by me titled “15 Fallacious Facts About the Fearsome Pyrate Black Beard.” And, once again, the Battle of Ocracoke Memorial was held on the beach at Springer’s Point in warm sunshine on Sunday morning Oct. 27.
2013 was also the first year that we welcomed the madcap mayhem and performances of the popular entertainment groups The Motley Tones and The Shadow Players Stage Combat Group. On a sad note, however, we missed for the first time the presence of my co-founder of the annual Battle of Ocracoke Memorial and the Captain of “Blackbeard’s Crew,” Pernell Taylor, who was bravely battling an insidious enemy of his own—cancer.
4. 2014 pirates
By 2014, word had spread that the Ocracoke Blackbeard Jamboree was a fun, family-oriented educational weekend not to be missed by fans of pirates. And the popularity of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies didn’t hurt. Attendance grew, including the appearance of several Jack Sparrows, and so did the economic benefit to the village that was still recovering from Hurricane Irene.
At the 2014 meeting of the NC Society of Historians a month before that year’s Jamboree, I met Carl White, host and producer of the syndicated TV series “Life in the Carolinas.” I invited Carl to attend the Jamboree and to feature on his show what we do at Ocracoke. He did. The show first aired in 2015 and it can still be viewed on YouTube. I believe the episode was the best he ever produced.
5. 2014 Fact or Fiction
Also in 2014, I pioneered the use of a game show in order to convey real history to the public. “Blackbeard—Fact or Fiction” featuring competing panels of audience members (Carl White included), was widely acclaimed as side-splitting entertainment.
Meanwhile, like the invisible currents that ebb and flow through Ocracoke Inlet, there was also a subtle tide of change that has been part of the history of our Ocracoke pirate event over the past 18 years. At the 2014 memorial on frigid, blustery Sunday morning near the ferry docks on Silver Lake, we bade a tearful farewell to our swashbuckling, much-loved Captain Pern, who had crossed the proverbial bar six months earlier.
6. 2014 Pern tribute + Cindy
Jack Meshaw, aka Rum Maker, blasted Pern’s ashes out of a cannon as was his dying wish. A photo of singer/songwriter Cindy Warner, shown in a clip on “Life in the Carolinas,” revealed the grief felt by our close-knit family of pirates. Four years later, we would lose Cindy, too.
Even more people and pirates attended the 2015 Blackbeard Jamboree, and it expanded to a three-day event spanning Friday to Sunday. Vendors in the Brigands Bazaar filled the lawn of the Wahab House, pirates and King’s Rangers welcomed visitors to their encampments, and roving minstrels entertained throngs of fans walking down Irvin Garrish Highway. A U.S. Coast Guard 47-foot motor lifeboat from Hatteras Station tied up alongside the pirate and Royal Navy ships to keep a wary eye on the combatants and the Coasties offered tours of their search and rescue craft.
7. Tones Howards 2015
The 2015 parade on Sunday morning to Springer’s Point was longer than ever and we concluded the weekend with a rollicking performance by The Motley Tones at a luncheon at the crowded Howard’s Pub. An indelible memory for me was when they sang, “At Ocracoke we’re on the beach; we hope Kevin Duffus doesn’t make another speech!”
The following year, on Oct. 8 to 9, 2016, Hurricane Matthew delivered historic levels of floodwater to Ocracoke and submerged the ground floor of Blackbeard’s Lodge, pirate headquarters for the Jamboree and Memorial Service since its inception. For the third time, the event was cancelled and the coffers of the many family-owned businesses on the island suffered at the close of the season when they are finally able to make enough money to get them through the winter months.
8. Three Blackbeards 2017
We, the pirates and pirate history fans, returned for pristine weather in 2017 for what was, of sorts, a rehearsal for the following year’s big 300th anniversary of the Battle of Ocracoke. I wrote and hosted at the Ocracoke Community Center a production of “Will the Real Blackbeard Please Stand Up,” a game show based on the old “To Tell the Truth” series of the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Three Blackbeard’s were questioned by four panelists selected from the audience who had to determine who was the real Blackbeard. The laughter became so out of control at one point that the entire production nearly couldn’t proceed—but it did. Here’s a sample from the script:
Tom Poston: Blackbeard number 1, how many wives did you have?
BB#1 (Carl Cannon): Heh, heh, heh. You must be thinkin’ I’s got me a good memory. Let me see, (he starts mumbling and counting on his fingers, then stops). What do you consider a wife, anyway? I mean, do I count the ones I was with just once?
Tom: Use whatever qualifications you feel are appropriate.
“BB#1 (Carl Cannon): Well, I’m a little uncomfortable answering the question because at least three of ‘em is right ‘ere tonight.
And then came 2018, the grand 300th anniversary of the historic Battle of Ocracoke and poor old Blackbeard’s untimely demise. The event was expanded, rightly so, to four days running from Thursday evening to early Sunday afternoon.
For the first time we were able to hold some of the programs and music performances at various village venues including Books To Be Red and the Berkley Barn. Against the melodic wishes of The Motley Tones, I gave another speech—a provocative one titled, “Was Blackbeard Murdered?”
The Shadow Players performed before an enormous crowd of spectators at the Community Store Square. And we reprised the production of “Will the Real Blackbeard Please Stand Up” at the Barn. A colonial-dressed bread maker from Charleston, South Carolina, came with his wood-fired masonry bread oven on wheels to the delight of everyone who purchased his wares. And all the way from Nashville, Tennessee, Tom Mason and the Blue Buccaneers performed rock-and-roll pirate music to a packed house at the Ocracoke Oyster Company. Sadly, Tom joined the growing list of Jamboree friends who left us in his wide and joyful wake when he, too, crossed the bar in 2024.
9. 2018 Blackbeard defeats Maynard
My favorite moment of the 2018 Jamboree came when, just minutes before we were to reenact the hand-to-hand sword-fighting combat phase of the battle between Blackbeard and Lt. Maynard, I whispered to Clay Raines (Blackbeard) and Steve Whetzel (Lt. Maynard) that, after 300 years, it was time for Blackbeard to win the battle. And, so he did, much to the surprise and delight of the hundreds of spectators.
Little did we know when we departed the island in 2018 what threats lay over the horizon for the next two years—Hurricane Dorian and the pandemic Covid-19. The Jamborees for 2019 and 2020 were cancelled. Ocracoke once again had to rebuild after a record-breaking flood and the village economy struggled. Seeing on Facebook an outboard boat motor past Blackbeard’s Lodge on the flooded Back Road was heartbreaking.
A blazing cannon blast at 9 a.m. on Oct. 30, 2021, informed the residents of Ocracoke that the pirates were back on the island to help put doubloons in the pockets of the business community. That year we held Ocracoke’s first pirate parade featuring a giant walking Blackbeard puppet and his sidekick, Jimmy Bones, riding a tricycle. And in Silver Lake, the Battle of Ocracoke was again reenacted between Sinbad’s MEKA II, Carl Cannon’s ADVENTURE, and a long boat crewed by the Beaufort Oars.
On Friday night at the Berkley Barn, we screened the 1968 comedy “Blackbeard’s Ghost,” which had been my introduction to the pirate when I was 14 years old. The first time I came to Ocracoke was in 1971 on a Schwinn Varsity 10-speed bicycle from Greenville after three days of pedaling. I asked an old timer on the porch of the community story where I could find the 100-foot-high rocky cliff atop of which Blackbeard built his hotel in the movie. He laughed and with his “hoi-toide” brogue told me I had come to the wrong place.
10. 2025
Under the steady command of Ocracoke Civic & Business Association events coordinator Connie Leinbach, the next five years of the Jamboree were storm-free and well-organized. Families returned year after year and a new generation of “scallywags” learned the ways, not only of pirates, but of our colonial-era forefathers—navigation, crafts, medicine and food preparation over open fires.
Play sword fighting with pool noodles instead of steel blades led by members of the faith-based educational group Sword Circle have become a yearly favorite.
The ship’s surgeon of the Leviathan Nautical Living History shocked children and adults alike with his various saws for shipboard amputations. And massive crowds surrounded performances by the Shadow Players.
11. 2025 Blackbeard’s Head
All-new productions in recent years included a pirate fashion show, lectures on Blackbeard’s Treasure and the fate of Blackbeard’s Head, and the rip-roaring adult-themed game show “The Dating Game featuring Blackbeard the Pyrate.” (I’m still debating whether to write and stage a Newlywed Game or Family Feud featuring Blackbeard.)
In 2024 we celebrated the life of our beloved captain, friend and indisputable “OG,” the 81-year-old Horatio Sinbad.
12. Sinbad & Lt. Brown 2024
Peter Vankevich interviewed Sinbad on WOVV; he was my featured guest before an audience at the Berkley Barn while we debated Blackbeard Myths and Legends; and we screened Sinbad’s amazing and amusing self-produced film “Boat Building In Your Own Backyard” that documented how he built his pirate ship aboard which he lived for more than half a century.
Tragically and unexpectedly, the shadow of loss loomed over our pirate family again when Sinbad died aboard the MEKA II at Beaufort just six months later. Sinbad’s well-known trademark valediction in letters and when telling someone goodbye was “Carry On.”
And so, we will as long as we are welcome. We hope to see you this year on Oct. 30 and 31.
Photo credits
By Kevin Duffus:
1. Springers 2007
2. 2008
3. 2010
7. Motley Tones at Howards 2015
8. Three Blackbeards 2017
9. 2018 Blackbeard defeats Maynard
Unknown:
4. 2014 pirates
Courtesy of Carl White:
5. 2014 Fact or Fiction
6. 2014 Pern tribute + Cindy
Natasha Jackson:
10. 2025
12. Sinbad & Lt. Brown 2024
John Havel:
11. 2025 Blackbeard’s Head
Editor’s note: stay tuned to this website and to the OCBA and Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree pages on Facebook for changes/cancellations in the event.
