Becoming Americans

by Donald Batchelor

  For two days, he lay on the cot as Carman and Louis, the cook, nursed him back with beer and chicken broth. Lieutenant Richards came to speak to him once, telling him that he'd live, but suggesting that he learn to take care of himself or stay out of harm's way. He ordered Carman to supervise his nephew. He was disgusted that the lubber had fallen into an open hatch.

  Stephen thanked God that that was what they thought had happened.

  On the morning of the eighth day, Stephen was cutting turnips and carrots into a large wooden bowl when he heard the man in the crow's nest call, "Ship ahoy!" He heard feet running to starboard, then more crying of, "ship ahoy!" The crew shouted up cheers and then hurried to trim the sails as they followed Lieutenant Richards's calls to set course for the prize ship. He grabbed onto the cot while the Revenge heaved to port in response to full sail and a hard rudder. He lay there, waiting for the cannon shot, hoping the pirate who'd done this to him wasn't killed before he could find him out and kill him himself.

  The men rushed about, above and below decks, like dogs that had finally caught scent of a bear. Guns and swords rattled and clanked as the men readied for battle. More cheers greeted the boom of the cannon. The muffled sounds of the ship's boat being boarded and lowered were followed by the silence of anticipation. Another, smaller cheer of approval came from the men remaining on board when the intimidated ship was taken.

  It had been too easy, Stephen thought. There'd only been the one warning shot from the cannon. He was anxious to be well so that he could use his strength in a melee.

  Two more merchant ships were taken as easily before Stephen was up and back to work with his piggin and broom. He kept his eyes alert at all times, looking for a man who might have been his attacker. He became suspicious of everyone whose eye he caught, but everyone looked at him with a knowing look, he thought, and when a sailor made a suggestive clicking sound one morning, Stephen swung around and knocked the man to the deck. He jumped on top of him and pounded the man with his fists until he was unconscious. A dozen men stood around cheering, until Carman and Lieutenant Richards came and pulled him off and dragged him away. Carman swore at him and ordered him below.

  As he sat below waiting for Carman, he heard the familiar call of, "ship ahoy!" Soon the cannon fired its warning, but this time was answered with returned fire. A battle raged, and the crew worked smoothly together, manning the cannons and the sails with expertise and precision.

  When quiet returned, Stephen knew the battle was over. Carman had never come below, so Stephen went up to see what was happening. Gunsmoke clouded the horizon and the smell of powder burned his nose. Cannon balls had ripped sails and shattered the top deck near the bow. Gunshot had poked hundreds of holes in the sails and peppered the deck. Three men lay dead on the deck, piled atop one another by their shipmates. Stephen studied them for clues. Blood soaked their clothes and their insides had spilled out. Two of them were smaller than he, but the third was a giant who'd been killed when something had torn half of his face away. Stephen saw that a finger of the man's left hand had been bandaged before the battle. He knew it was his attacker, and he kicked the dead man in the gut, angry that the man was dead. He kicked the man again and again, until the force of his blows re-awakened the pain in his jaw and blood was spattered onto his pants.

  The Queen Anne's Revenge had taken the prize, and Teach's crew had already grappled and boarded her. Stephen watched Captain Teach standing by the defeated Captain as the crew transferred the cargo of sugar and ten slaves. Teach yelled commands to his men and ran to a captured sailor who had dropped his end of a chest. He picked the man up with one hand, held him above his head for all to see, and then heaved the sailor into the ocean.

  Stephen saw the great Blackbeard that was feared by friend and foe, alike. Smoking matches of twined hemp stuck out from under his cocked hat. His beard was plaited into little pigtails and tied with bright, colored ribbons, some of them pulled back behind his ears. He'd shed his coat for battle, and across his shaggy chest he wore a bandoleer which held three brace of pistols, all six of which, Stephen knew, were primed again, cocked, and ready for firing. The belt around his waist held more pistols, daggers, and the sheath for the cutlass he was holding. He was an awesome sight, and Stephen felt a little shudder, wondering if he were looking at the Devil, himself, as many thought Blackbeard was.

  With their holds full of captured cargo, the Revenge and the Queen Anne's Revenge put into the port of Havana. The best of their goods were often disposed of in Havana, and Blackbeard had one of his many wives there. Many of the men had women in Havana, and the others could find one there.

  Stephen was among the crew that carried empty water casks ashore for filling. He was promised a woman by his mates, and they were all well-drunk by the time they found a tavern that they liked. He was barely able to stand when they were all led upstairs where the wenches were paraded before them.

  The women were dark and enticing, but they were all as used and dirty as the wench he'd had in Norfolk Town. The man selling the women spoke no English, but he understood that the young Englishman wanted better. A frightened girl, younger than he, was brought to Stephen, and after crude bargaining with her owner, he pulled her to a pallet in a corner.

  The girl was beautiful and clean, but it never occurred to Stephen to wonder how she got there. He looked into her frightened eyes and they excited him. He reached for her breast, but she said, "no," and slapped his hand away. Stephen slapped the girl hard in the face and said, "yes!" He grabbed her with both hands and pulled her to him. Again she screamed, "no," and slapped him with her free hand.

  The blow jarred Stephen's head and brought back the pain. He ripped away the front of the girl's dress and threw her on the floor. He held her down as he forced himself into her, hearing her scream just as he'd screamed two weeks earlier when it was done to him.

  A gentle snow was falling as the Revenge dropped anchor on the sound side of Ocracoke. Stephen wandered away from his celebrating crewmates and walked to the ocean side of the island. It was a strange sight, snow covering the sand up to a line cleared by the waves. It was winter again, and he'd been gone for less than two months. Nothing had changed in Bath, he knew. He, too, would have been the same had he stayed. But he had changed; he was one of Blackbeard's crew; no better, no worse. His solitude was interrupted by Thomas Carman, who'd come upon him without warning in the silent snow.

  "We're going to Machapungo, Stephen," he said.

  "I have no need to go to Machapungo."

  "Teach thinks you have a need, so you do. He wants the 'Adventure' keel hauled. Didn't do it last trip. If we do it now, it'll last 'till summer."

  Stephen didn't want to go to Machapungo. He didn't want to see his Uncle Richard. His uncle would be angry, and there'd be questions that Stephen didn't want to answer. Carman was out of patience, and let him know there was no choice. Stephen had taken what he'd been allotted as prize money; he'd do what he was told to do.

  The sailed across the sound in near silence, the thick curtain of big snowflakes muffling the ripples of the smooth water. Only the slow creaking of the ship intruded on the quiet. Lieutenant Richards's skill and knowledge of these waters got them to Richard Williams's dock in little more than six hours, and they dropped anchor in mid-afternoon. Stephen asked that he be allowed to go on shore alone, at first.

  He knocked on the door and was greeted by a strange woman. She let him in and Stephen saw his uncle standing by a bowl of snow in which he was mixing cream and sugar.

  "You made it back alive," his uncle said.

  "I'm sorry," Stephen said.

  "Sorry that you're alive, or sorry that you went?"

  "Both, maybe," Stephen said.

  "Come, in, Boy. You look cold, but you're brown as an Indian. Sinfully brown, Mother would say. I guess you got to those places you wanted to see?"

  Stephen didn't say anything, he just sat by the fire and warmed his cold hands.

  "Your Grandmother F
ewox died while you were off on your grand adventure. The roof at Scuppernong fell in on her and broke both legs. She asked me and Robert to shoot her. Took her a week to die. Did you have a good time?"

  Stephen still said nothing. He didn't know what to say. His grandmother was almost as old as Virginia, but people died all the time. He was filled with regret and shame, but his mind was frozen with the things done to him and the things he'd done; things he couldn't speak of. His uncle wanted apologies, coupled with tales of adventure, but he could give him neither. He just stared into the fire.

  "My mother died, and your mother gave birth to twin girls. But, I guess you're not interested."

  Stephen couldn't answer. Finally he said, "I need help to get away from Blackbeard, Uncle,"

  This time, it was Richard's turn to be silent.

  "He and his men wouldn't let me go, now, after what I've seen."

  Stephen's eyes revealed his desperation. Richard had never seen the look before. They were not the eyes of a boy who'd run away, they were the eyes of a condemned man.

  "What did you do, Stephen? What's happened to you?"

  Richard left his bowl of melting snow and went to sit by the fire with his nephew.

  "I am become a dangerous, evil man. The Devil has taken over my body, and he haunts my dreams. He's made me do things…. I can't trust myself. If I go back to sea—if I go to Bath Town—I'll do awful, evil things! Evil spirits have entered my body!"

  The woman stranger chanced a run for the rope of garlic that hung by the fire, and wrapped it around her neck. She started chanting verses from the Bible and protective incantations that she knew. Richard realized that his nephew was serious, that something awful had happened.

  "Can you tell me…?"

  "No," Stephen said, staring into the fire.

  "Shut up, woman!" Richard said. "I can't think!"

  Stephen and the praying woman would take her small pirogue and row under cover of the thick snow to the western shore of the Machapungo River. There, at a point opposite Richard's land, began a path that led to Bath Town. Stephen could rest at Cary's Romney Marsh, borrow a horse, ride from there to Bath Town, then up the Bath Town Road to near Scuppernong. Robert Fewox would hide him.

  ***

  Six months later, Blackbeard was at the height of his power, while Stephen Williams and the devils in him hid in the pine forests and swamps at Scuppernong.

  Robert Fewox took him into the propped-up cabin and saw that he was fed. For weeks, Stephen feared being found by vengeful pirates. Robert tried to reassure him that Blackbeard's men had more pressing things to do than look for him, but Stephen felt pursued. On good days he would work at scoring Robert's pines or trapping furs for him to sell, but on most days he wandered aimlessly through the woods or sat by the river with a jug of Robert's plentiful scuppernong wine. He avoided the occasional visitor, seeing only Robert and the other two men who worked the small plantation of pines. Twice, during the next year, his Uncle Richard came to visit and tried to draw him out of the woods. But, Stephen had lost interest in the world, and he spent more time with his jug of wine than he did with people.

  In June, Teach's ship had returned again to North Carolina from a very successful raid on shipping off the port of Charles Town, even blackmailing the citizens and government of that town for medicines and money. His ships sailed back to Topsail Inlet where he had two of them run aground. He replaced Bonnet in command of the Revenge, and confided that he intended to take advantage of the king's extended offer of amnesty, urging Bonnet to do the same. Bonnet left immediately for Bath. As soon as he was gone, Blackbeard loaded all of the amassed booty onto the Adventure and set sail with only forty men. Some of the other men fled, some he marooned on a deserted island with no food or water.

  When Bonnet returned with his pardon, he found the Revenge stripped of food and equipment. He re-supplied the ship as best he could, and with an irate crew set out to find Teach. Having no luck with the search, he renamed his ship the Royal James and himself, "Captain Thomas," and started pirating again.

  Blackbeard had successfully double-crossed the gentleman pirate, Bonnet, and now sailed into Bath, himself, to Governor Eden's friendly welcome and the offered amnesty.

  Captain Teach declared himself retired from piracy and settled comfortably into Bath society. He socialized often and openly with Governor Eden and his secretary, Tobias Knight. Many people were still saying, privately, that both officials had been accomplices of the pirate. Teach built a lavish home, and acquired another wife, the ceremony being performed by Governor Eden, himself. He made friends with neighboring planters by bestowing upon them gifts of rum and sugar. When his lavish spending had depleted his wealth, he resorted to small-time piracy on the inland waters then, again, to the open sea.

  Bonnet's lone cruise brought him ten ships, but the Royal James was badly in need of repair by September. He entered the Cape Fear River and started the work, but news of his presence spread to Charles Town. By the end of the month, he and the crew were captured and jailed in that city. By the end of November, his crew had been hanged. Bonnet, himself, was hanged in December. A year after Stephen's pirating adventure was over; he learned that his Uncle Thomas Carman was dead and rotting on the gallows.

  Out of retirement, Blackbeard entered the Atlantic from Bath, this time with only the eight-gun Adventure. That was enough to capture a French ship, richly laden with sugar, cocoa, and spices. He returned with the ship to Bath and reported to the governor that he'd found the ship drifting at sea, with no sign of life on board.

  A court was convened by Governor Eden with Tobias Knight sitting as judge. The French vessel was condemned by the court and the pirates given permission to sell their cargo. It was rumored that the governor received sixty hogsheads of sugar and Tobias Knight twenty as their shares of the loot.

  The government of Virginia was less forgiving of Blackbeard's relapse. A former quartermaster of his was captured and tried in that colony, confessing that Captain Teach had, indeed, returned to piracy since his pardon by the king. Governor Spotswood was determined to capture Blackbeard and, with his own funds for privacy's sake, hired two small sloops for that purpose, which he dispatched to the waters off the coast of his southern neighbor

  Just days after Carman was hanged in Charles Town, Blackbeard the pirate was killed during a battle with the Virginia sloops. His head was cut off and displayed from the bowsprit of the victor's boat. The people of Bath had stared at it in disbelief.

  Stephen stood in the edge of the woods as a visitor told the news to Robert.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Stephen seldom left the woods; the evil spirits that lived in him were excited in the presence of other people. He didn't miss the noisy life at Deep Creek and he didn't miss the ordinaries and the brothels of Norfolk Town. He did miss his mother, and he missed James. He wondered about his new twin sisters. But returning to Deep Creek—even for a visit—was not possible, now. His mother would see into him and know that he'd done evil things. She'd insist that he talk with a minister to be freed of his devils, but the church would have no interest in his demons and his soul; he had no money. He thought of his Uncle Richard and regretted his behavior toward the generous kinsman.

  Robert Fewox had married for the first time shortly after the death of his stepmother, Anne. The young bride's dark eyes and black hair reminded Stephen of the girl in Havana. Being around her aroused the terrifying, lustful spirits in him, so that Scuppernong was no longer a refuge. With his gun and powder, Stephen moved deeper into the forest.

  The restless spirits moved him on, not caring where he went. In winter he trapped beaver and stretched their skins to dry. He sold furs to the Indian traders for rum and ammunition, and he ate well from the food he killed and the corn and peas he stole from unguarded fields. He seldom heard a human voice. Sometimes he sang loudly to himself as he sat by his fire at night.

  On such a night the desire for human contact conquered his devils a
nd led him to the town on Matencomack Creek—now called Edenton—during the Christmas celebration of 1727. With his few coins he made a rare trip to a tavern. He was pleased to see that little had changed. He stopped at the ordinary on the edge of town where his rough appearance wouldn't be noticed.

  The talk around him was about the transfer of North Carolina from the Lords Proprietors back to the Crown. A revolution in South Carolina had effected that change in 1719, and the people here were ready for it. The people resented the Proprietors for their too little and too late help during the Tuscarora War, and—lately converted—for the scandalous conduct of the governors and officials who had profited with the pirates. For their part, the Proprietors were tired of their whining colonists and a losing business proposition. Transfer to the Crown would be soon, and everyone seemed pleased with the prospect except the worried majority of residents who lived in the disputed territory between the Albemarle Sound and Virginia. They were afraid they might be confirmed as Virginians; a very few were afraid they would not. A survey was to be made in the Spring, it was said, and men were needed to carry the line through the Great Swamp.