After the coalition between Teach and fellow notorious pirate, Stede Bonnet, Teach felt it necessary to inprison his fellow commander within his own ship due to Bonnet's lack of experience (Adolf 2). Undoubtly the most intimidating pirate, Blackbeard used his strengths as a feared pirate to gather his riches and slay his enemies.
Aside from his frightening appearance, Blackbeard's reputation stemmed from his accomplishments as a great pirate. He began his pirating in 1714 as a crewman aboard a Jamaican sloop commanded by the pirate Benjamin Hornigold. In 1717, Hornigold appointed Teach to command his own captured vessel (Konstam, Pirates 102). Together, the two pirates captured numerous vessels including "the 20-ton Concorde, a French vessel. Blackbeard assumed command of the vessel and renamed it Queen Anne's Revenge, probably as an insult to King George I" (Butler 20). He then rearmed the ship, converting it into a 40-gun warship. Queen Anne's Revenge was one of the largest pirate ships to ever sail the Spanish Main. The following year "he established his base in a North Carlonia inlet, forcibly collected tolls from shipping in Pamlico Sound, and made a prize-sharing agreement with Charles Eden, governor of the North Carolina colony" ("Teach" 855). No doubt Blackbeard had established a niche in North Carolina, and was developing his reputation with every month of piracy. Then in May of 1718, Teach set up a weeklong blockade in the port of Charleston, capturing eight vessels and inprisoning many important citizens (Konstam, Pirates 102). After the blockade, "merchant ships in the harbor were so scared of the nortoious Blackbeard that they refused to leave anchorage, and all commerce was suspended" (Meltzer 24). During the winter of 1717-1718, Teach cruised the Caribbean, taking prizes. Along the way, he decided to keep two smaller captured vessels. When he sailed northward up the American coast in the spring of 1718, he was in command of four vessels and over three hundred pirates (Butler 20).