The first Piece of Service this kind Governor did to _Black-Beard_, was, to give him a Right to the Vessel which he had taken, when he was a pyrating in the great Ship called the _Queen Ann's Revenge_; for which purpose, a Court of Vice-Admiralty was held at _Bath-Town_; and, tho' _Teach_ had never any Commission in his Life, and the Sloop belonging to the _English_ Merchants, and taken in Time of Peace; yet was she condemned as a Prize taken from the _Spaniards_, by the said _Teach_. These Proceedings shew that Governors are but Men. Before he sailed upon his Adventures, he marry'd a young Creature of about sixteen Years of Age, the Governor performing the Ceremony. As it is a Custom to marry here by a Priest, so it is there by a Magistrate; and this, I have been informed, made _Teach_'s fourteenth Wife, whereof, about a dozen might be still living. His Behaviour in this State, was something extraordinary; for, while his Sloop lay in _Okerecock_ Inlet, and he ashore at a Plantation, where his Wife lived, with whom after he had lain all Night, it was his Custom to invite five or six of his brutal Companions to come ashore, and he would force her to prostitute her self to them all, one after another, before his Face. In _June_ 1718, he went to Sea, upon another Expedition, and steered his Course towards _Bermudas_; he met with two or three _English_ Vessels in his Way, but robbed them only of Provisions, Stores and other Necessaries, for his present Expence; but near the Island aforementioned, he fell in with two _French_ Ships, one of them was loaden with Sugar and Cocoa, and the other light, both bound to _Martinico_; the Ship that had no Lading he let go, and putting all the Men of the loaded Ship aboard her, he brought home the other with her Cargo to _North-Carolina_, where the Governor and the Pyrates shared the Plunder. When _Teach_ and his Prize arrived, he and four of his Crew went to his Excellency, and made Affidavit, that they found the _French_ Ship at Sea, without a Soul on Board her; and then a Court was called, and the Ship condemned: The Governor had sixty Hogsheads of Sugar for his Dividend, and one Mr. _Knight_, who was his Secretary, and Collector for the Province, twenty, and the rest was shared among the other Pyrates. The Business was not yet done, the Ship remained, and it was possible one or other might come into the River, that might be acquainted with her, and so discover the Roguery; but _Teach_ thought of a Contrivance to prevent this, for, upon a Pretence that she was leaky, and that she might sink, and so stop up the Mouth of the Inlet or Cove where she lay, he obtained an Order from the Governor, to bring her out into the River, and set her on Fire, which was accordingly executed, and she was burnt down to the Water's Edge, her Bottom sunk, and with it, their Fears of her ever rising in Judgment against them.