THE BATTLE OF OCRACOKE - T-ISLAND SCREENPLAY

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To Blackbeard's mind, and that of his good wife, Mary Ormond, there way of life was no worse, and possibly better than the English pirates of which he was one, a privateer. But he did not cotton to slavery and slave trading. The couple believed the organized manner of such trade was a crime like no other. To routinely cash in on the lives of free humans in a triangular trade of which the Devil could not have bested. He waged war on those British Kings and Queens, to his last dying breath. Fighting for the freedom of African and other native captives. Possibly, one of the most misunderstood human rights activists in history. 

The South Sea Company (officially: The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in January 1711, created as a public-private partnership to consolidate and reduce the cost of the national debt. To generate income, in 1713 the company was granted a monopoly (the Asiento de Negros) to supply African slaves to the islands in the "South Seas" and South America. When Queen Anne died in 1714, all bets were off. Blackbeard no longer had faith in any British good intentions. His wife, Mary, was never captured and continued to preach against anti-slavery.

<<< PROLOGUE

The notorious pirate, Blackbeard, had been splitting his booty with the Governor of Virginia for some time, but Alexander Spotswood wanted more, to fund his empire building plans for the Colony. He knew Edward Teach had a significant stash from his loose talk when lubricated on rum. Though, he'd never managed to elicit the exact location, he knew it was tucked away on an island frequented by other privateers, the clue to where was marked on a parchment, in a chest, that Blackbeard kept close to him at all times. The island would be out of the way, and somewhat off the beaten track for the black hearted brethren who sailed under a Jolly Roger. None the wiser, and not caring, so long as the rum flowed and women danced, in proportion to the doubloons and pieces of eight, their captains so amply provided.

A plan was hatched, based on Blackbeard's escape route and known tactics, Spotwade double crossing his partner. The legendary pirate's skill and daring would be his undoing.

On the 19th of November 1718, Lieutenant Robert Maynard was given the command of two sloops, the 'Ranger' and 'Jane.'

"Remember the plan," said Spotswood to Maynard, on the dockside of Hampton.

"It's ingrained in my brain. Fear ye not." And with that 'Jane' and 'Ranger' upped anchor and hoisted their sails. Slowly, catching the wind, and picking up speed, as they headed to Pamlico Sound.

Rarely mentioned in the very many accounts of the battle at Ocracoke is how it came to be that Maynard and the other volunteer sailors from the British King’s ships stationed in Virginia, were persuaded to accept the deadly assignment of apprehending or killing the North Carolina pirates. It was the irresistible prospect of acquiring an abundant pirate treasure so vast in one lifetime as to be unimaginable. It must be said that the sixty or so men aboard the two, small, rented vessels under Maynard’s command, were hardly better than the pirates they were hunting.

Lt. Maynard caught up with Blackbeard at Ocracoke Inlet off the coast of North Carolina on 22 November 1718. True to the intelligences Spotswood had furnished, most of Blackbeard's men were ashore in various taverns, for a weekend of carousing. This factor was crucial for Spotswood's plan to succeed.

Maynard out-gunned and out-numbered the pirates three to one in small-arms. But his ship had no cannons, while Blackbeard's Adventure was thought to have up to eight cannons, considerably less than on the Queen Anne's Revenge, that was scuppered by Teach at the Beaufort Inlet, Bar of Topsail-Inlet, North Carolina on June 10th, after blockading Charleston Harbour, some five plus months earlier. In refusing the Governor's offer of the King's Pardon, the pirate had painted a target on his head. He was a marked man and no mistake. Foolish he was in trusting a crooked politician.

Maynard hid most of his men below decks, to lure Blackbeard in for a boarding. Initially, Blackbeard had his ship go to shallower water. Maynard's heavier ship hit a sand-bar and was stuck. Blackbeard then maneuvered his ship to fire a broadside at Maynard's ship. 

"We're stuck men, like a turkey shoot. Fish in a barrel. Look lively now and throw all inessentials to combat overboard."

The band of gold hungry sailors responded at great speed. Just about everything not bolted down was ejected. And eventually the Jane was freed, but not before Blackbeard, aboard Adventure had fired another two broadsides on Maynard. Inflicting heavy losses. He was a skilled sailor first and foremost.

Maynard rounded on the 'Jane' ramming the Adventure amidships. Blackbeard not quite understanding the tactics in the heat of battle, saw Jane's decks bereft of fighting men. He took this to mean the cannon pounding had succeeded, and a boarding would ensure capture, of what he believed to be another merchant ship at first. This was a fine start to a Saturday weekend morning.

Blackbeard ordered grappling irons to pull the Adventure closer to the Jane. Maynard's plan was sprung and working well. All the Navy men had to do was play dead for a while longer, then call for their ship mates below, like a spider's web catching a fly.

"Grappling irons mates, lets pull her closer and tie us in." Ordered Blackbeard.

In reply, shots fired from the deck of the Jane, hitting two of Teach's men. But his crew returned fire, taking down four of those on the deck of the Jane. Fewer to overcome by the boarding party.

Thus emboldened, Blackbeard bellowed: "Now to it me hearties," as he swung from the Adventure to the Jane. A knife in his teeth, and shock of black hair trailing wisps of smoke, to strike fear into those about to be savaged. His crew duly chased their leader, hearts beating loud, as the red blood of battle coursed through their veins. But there was nothing to strike. The few men on deck threw down their weapons.

"Wise ye be," called Blackbeard, daring any reprisals with his fearsome appearance. "Catch up those arms lads. Let's not fuse a foolish heart."

Blackbeard saw Maynard as the biggest built and best attired. "Bind this fellow." The pirate moved to weigh up other opposition, and satisfied there would be none from the scrawny offerings before him. Rested for a moment. A moment that would cost him dear.

The whole encounter at sea had lasted just twenty minutes. Then Maynard gave a pre-arranged signal, and suddenly thirty men swarmed from below decks, engaging in hand to hand combat, with many pistol shots fired. The swordplay was savage on both sides. Then Blackbeard rounded on Robert Maynard. The two coming together with equal gusto. Maynard proved to be an expert swordsman. Blackbeard's cutlass was no match for the precision of the Royal Navy officer's blade. 

Blackbeard was shot, once, twice, but this did not slow him. Maynard inflicted cut after cut with his sword.

"Don't kill him," said the Lieutenant to his men, as more shots were fired. "We need what is in this scoundrel's head."

"So tell me, Mr Edward Thatch, where is your booty?" With this Maynard cut Blackbeard twice more with his blade.

"This ship is too small."

"Aye, that it be," said Blackbeard, giving his most evil grin."

"Then where. Tell me and I'll spare you and your crew?" Maynard hit out again, but Blackbeard struck Maynard, drawing blood from his right leg.

Maynard responded with a thrust to Blackbeard's left arm. Blood gushing from the wound.

"It'll do you no good, fancy as you are with that steel."

Maynard lost it momentarily, letting loose another pistol shot. This caught Blackbeard in the side, taking out a rib. He knew he was done for. His men were dropping all around him, the deck awash with blood, much of it his own.

"The secret goes with me to the Devil and my grave. I curse you, your crew and kin." With this, Blackbeard charged Maynard, cutting him fiercely with his cutlass. To no avail. Maynard dealt him a death blow to the neck, as he pushed the pirate down, and Edward Teach dropped to the deck, mortally wounded.

Maynard pressed forward, twisting his blade in Blackbeard's right arm. Despite the excruciating pain, Blackbeard just laughed. "Dead men tell no tales." He fell silent, blood pumping from his neck wound. Then the blood stopped gushing. Blackbeard was dead.

The remaining pirates threw down their weapons. Without their fearsome leader, they had no chance and no plan.

"Bind the prisoners men," ordered the Navy Lieutenant, as he headed for Blackbeard's cabin. "We'll question them later."

Maynard searched in the roundhouse of the 65-foot-long Jamaica-rigged sloop. Surely the world’s best-known and most-feared pirate captain kept a chest of Spanish gold, silver pieces of eight and jewels hidden beneath his bunk, just for his walkin’ around money.

The Spanish stole from the Aztecs, the British stole from the Spanish. Along the Gold Coast of Africa, the Royal African Company exploited the river Gambia, then turned their attention to slavery, to run the plantations that produced white gold: sugar. Men seemed not to be civilised, shipping some 31,000,000 million people in barbaric slave-ships, across the Atlantic to Caribbean and US east coast colonies. With such atrocities by Dutch, Portuguese and British governments, piracy might have seemed relatively tame in the morality code league tables.

But there was naught. Just a small bag of gold nuggets for wine and rum. In a chest there were letters and other documents, the most interesting of which was a parchment, with directions and measurements, but no name or coordinates to identify the land mass it applied to.

"Vexed I am, cursed indeed with frustration. That festering mound of flesh was right." With that Robert Maynard chopped off Blackbeard's head. He bagged the offending body part, in a canvass sack. Then counted the gunshot wounds on the torso, five in all, and cuts to the body, twenty in number.

"The treasure must be mountainous to warrant such pain. I'll be lucky not to be court marshaled for my excess, if the Governor is displeased with our account of this morning. I wonder if Teach's wife will be more forthcoming." 

With that, Maynard ordered Blackbeard's body thrown over the side, into the deep blue Atlantic.

Maynard sailed Blackbeard’s ship 'Adventure' across Pamlico Sound up to Bath, but not with the pirate’s head hanging under the bowsprit as is so often told. It was too valuable, worth a bounty of £100 pounds sterling back in Virginia.

Search as they might, Blackbeard's wife, Mary Ormond, could not be found.

With that, Lieutenant Maynard began his descent into obscurity. His account of the encounter, bore little resemblance to the battle real, and the manner in which Blackbeard was overcome, and for what reason. 

>>> SCENE 2

 

Blackbeard was one of the most feared pirate captains operating in the Caribbean Sea. When he resumed pirating, the British made it their business to capture him as an example to other would be renegades.

Damn you for Villains, who are you? And, from whence came you? The Lieutenant made him Answer, You may see by our Colours we are no Pyrates. Black-beard bid him send his Boat on Board, that he might see who he was; but Mr. Maynard reply'd thus; I cannot spare my Boat, but I will come aboard of you as soon as I can, with my Sloop. Upon this, Black-beard took a Glass of Liquor and drank to him with these Words: Damnation seize my Soul if I give you Quarters, or take any from you. In Answer to which, Mr. Maynard told him, that he expected no Quarters from him, nor should he give him any.

PROLOGUE: ROYAL AFRICAN COMPANY - King Charles II, Royal Charter James Stuart II, transport goods from Africa: Bloody Triangle.

SCENE 1. THE BATTLE OF OCRACOKE - Lt Robert Maynard, Blackbeard's curse, beheading & torturous interrogation on the Adventure 

SCENE 2. EARTHQUAKE JAMAICA - Present Day - An earthquake hits Port Royal, disturbing the sunken city & Palisadoes cemetery.

SCENE 3. BLUE SHIELD ENGLAND - Blue Shield, Newcastle UK, UNESCO requests Storm catalogue underwater city UNEP World Heritage Site.

SCENE 4. HENRY MORGAN'S DEATH - Henry Morgan has a heart attack; funeral ceremony at Palisadoes cemetery, old Port Royal.

SCENE 5. SUNKEN CITY SURVEY - Present Day, Swann's sensors scan the ocean bed, revealing mausoleum former Governor of Jamaica.

SCENE 6. JUNE 1692 TSUNAMI - Jamaica, June 7th, an earthquake hits Port Royal, then a tsunami washes the pirate haven under the sea.

SCENE 7. HENRY MORGAN'S COFFIN - John Storm & ROV, comes face to face with Henry's skeletal remains. Finds interesting wooden engraving.

SCENE 8. BBC JILL BIRD - London. John Storm's finds lost Henry Morgan's pirate remains. "And for those of you wondering, there was no treasure."
SCENE 9. OPERATION HISPANIOLA - British Geographical Society, & Royal Navy fund Lord Huntington's expedition to recover relics in the Caribbean.

SCENE 10. SHIP'S COOK - William Gray helps John Long's cut-throats to crew for Huntington's Hispaniola, Long a dab hand on the galley.

SCENE 11. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOS - Huntington (BGS bigwig) asks John Storm for help with shipwreck survey - meet in the Caribbean, Haiti.

SCENE 12. SKELETON ISLAND - Intrigued by map proffered by Lord Huntington, John agrees to switch attention to location, to coast of Panama. .

SCENE 13. SANTA CATALINA - Colombian, Mexican, Panamanian, Nicaraguan patrols re: 'Satisfaction' & hunt for Aztec gold, Spanish Conquistadors.

SCENE 14. TREASURE ISLAND - Hurricane Iota erased map clues, Isla Providencia. Longstride believes location of Blackbeard's/Morgan's treasure.

SCENE 15. KIDNAP - Black Jack & Billy Bones kidnap Dan, Cleopatra - lock in Hispaniola with Tremaine. Hal alerts John to events via BioCore.

SCENE 16. DOUBLE CROSS - Maynard pact with Spanish Navy to blockade Caribbean to capture John & Swann. Longstride deal Aztec Golden Skull.

SCENE 17. BLACKBEARD'S CURSE - John retakes Swann, Hal immobilizes Black Jack and Billy Bones and rescues prisoners on Hispaniola.

SCENE 18. MORGAN'S TREASURE SHIP - John deciphers carving code helped Dan and Cybercore Genetica. Dives to find privateer's shipwreck.

SCENE 19. BILLION DOLLAR DEAL - John negotiates with Panama, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador & Blue Shield for % salvage based on wreck video.

SCENE 20. BLOCKADE RUNNER - Swann navigates through Spanish Armada & Royal Navy blockade in stealth mode, invisible to radar.

SCENE 21. BERMUDA TRIANGLE - Pirates head into Bermuda Triangle, Colombian Navy in pursuit: BBC Sky News. Never to be seen again.

  THE BATTLE OF OCRACOKE 1718, LIEUTENANT ROBERT MAYNARD CAPTURES, TORTURES, AND BEHEADS BLACKBEARD, BUT FIND ONLY A PARCHMENT MAP - TREASURE ISLAND - BLACKBEARD'S CURSE & PIRATES GOLD

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