Edward Teach, alias Blackbeard, "more than any other, can be called North Carolina's own pirate, although he was not a native of the colony... As is the case with all pirates, his origin is obscure. His name originally, it seems was Edward Drummond, and he began his career as an honest seaman, sailing out of his home port of Bristol, England. He is seldom known by that name, for after he became a pirate he began calling himself Edward Teach, sometimes spelled in the records as Thatch, Tache, or even Tatch. Yet it was as Blackbeard that he was, and still is, known, and it was under this name that the people of his generation knew him, 'a swaggering, merciless brute.'" -- Hugh F. Rankin.