Standing more than fourteen feet tall, the bronze sculpture on this terrace commemorates one of the Atlantic world’s most feared and theatrical figures—Edward Teach, known globally as Blackbeard. Though the stone tower behind you was built by the Danes in the late 1600s as Skytsborg, a defensive lookout over Charlotte Amalie, its modern nickname, Blackbeard’s Castle, reflects the powerful legend that has long overshadowed the historical record.
Blackbeard never used this tower, yet the site’s sweeping command of the harbor echoes the type of vantage point pirates relied upon—high ground, full visibility of incoming sails, and strategic control of the waters below. At the ocean-facing base of the hill, an additional statue depicts the dramatic final moment of Blackbeard’s life, forever linking this property with the mythology surrounding his name.
Born into the chaos of early 18th-century warfare, Blackbeard began his maritime career as a British privateer during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). When the conflict ended, many privateers found themselves unemployed but still armed and highly skilled.
Teach joined the pirate captain Benjamin Hornigold around 1716 and quickly distinguished himself.Within a year, he captured a large French slaving vessel and transformed it into his flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, mounting 40 cannons and assembling a formidable fleet.
Blackbeard’s success relied as much on psychological warfare as on naval power. Contemporary accounts describe a towering man with a long black beard braided into thick pigtails, ribbons tied at the ends, and slow-burning fuses woven into his beard and hat during battle.
As the fuses smoldered, smoke curled around his face, giving him a ghostly, demonic appearance. Sailors often surrendered without resistance, sparing their own lives and preserving the cargo Blackbeard sought. His cultivated image—terrifying yet calculated—became one of the earliest examples of brand strategy at sea.
While he preferred his enemies to submit peacefully, Blackbeard ruled his own crew with harsh discipline. Pirate ships operated under written articles that allocated shares of plunder and defined punishments. Teach was known to enforce these codes strictly—famously shooting his first mate, Israel Hands, in the knee “to remind the crew who he was.” Despite this brutality, his men followed him for one reason: with Blackbeard, piracy was profitable.
By 1718, he controlled a small pirate armada. That year, he blockaded Charleston, South Carolina, holding the port hostage for medical supplies in one of piracy’s boldest operations. Later that year, he accepted a royal pardon and briefly lived semi-legitimately in Bath, North Carolina, under the protection of Governor Charles Eden. But continued attacks on merchant ships pushed neighboring colonies to demand his removal.
On November 22, 1718, at Ocracoke Inlet, a British force commanded by Lieutenant Robert Maynard confronted Blackbeard. The battle began with a devastating broadside from Blackbeard’s ship, but Maynard lured him into boarding by hiding his men below deck. When Blackbeard stepped aboard, Maynard’s sailors surged from the hatches, initiating a fierce, close-quarters fight.
Blackbeard was shot multiple times, wounded with more than twenty sword cuts, and finally killed in combat. His head was severed and displayed on Maynard’s bowsprit as proof of victory—a grim warning to other pirates.
The sculpture before you captures Blackbeard at the height of his infamy—bearded, armed, and commanding the sea through fear and spectacle.
While the man himself never stood on this hill, his story became intertwined with Skytsborg in the 20th century as the site evolved into a heritage landmark. The pairing of historic Danish fortification and pirate mythology has created one of St. Thomas’s most iconic cultural juxtapositions.
This exhibit invites visitors to look beyond the legend:
to understand Blackbeard not only as a pirate,
but as a product of empire, warfare, ambition, and the enduring human fascination with outlaw heroes.
From this lookout above the harbor, it is easy to imagine the sails, smoke, and chaos of the world he once ruled.
