Where there was trade, there was piracy and smuggling, and to this day we continue to be enthralled by tales of battles on the high seas.
Did you know that plundering pirates were engaged by the crown to attack enemy ships for silver, gold, tobacco and rum? Challenge your romantic image of swashbuckling buccaneers like Captain Henry Morgan and Blackbeard with cold, hard facts.
Who was Blackbeard?
Born Edward Teach in 1680’s Bristol, Blackbeard initially served as a privateer. His graduation to piracy started after he cut off the finger of a captive who refused to surrender his ring.
Teach went on to hijack a French 40-gun ship and pursued a life on the ocean waves as Blackbeard, the pirate captain. Blackbeard’s fierceness was legendary; he famously tucked slow fuses under his hat which he would light in battle, causing black smoke to billow about his head.
Smuggling and rum butter
18th century smugglers were just as ruthless as pirates, buccaneers and privateers, making the most of the sparsely populated Cumbrian coast to smuggle their ill-gotten gains.
Smugglers on the run from customs officers often resorted to spending the night in a cave to evade capture. To get through the cold wet night they’d mix rum and sugar with butter to make the delicious rum butter we love today.
