But with "Blackbeard'' it is different, for in him we have a real, ranting, raging, roaring pirate per se -- one who really did bury treasure, who made more than one captain walk the plank, and who committed more private murders than he could number on the fingers of both hands; one who fills, and will continue to fill, the place to which he has been assigned for generations, and who may be depended upon to hold his place in the confidence of others for generations to come.

Howard Pyle