Blackbeard's secret American identity revealed!

International maritime experts, security officials, and diplomats are preparing for Monday's anti-piracy conference in Kuala Lumpur, where they will weigh in on the now-familiar debates over arming crews vs. hiring private guards; short-term security vs. long-term development solutions; and what to do with captured pirates. But while they are debating pirate policy, there's another, historical pirate debate brewing -- that of Blackbeard's nationality.

Kevin P. Duffus claims that Blackbeard and his crew were not rogue Englishmen, but rather the sons of landowners in Beaufort County, North Carolina (which is, incidentally, one of our planned research destinations this summer. More on that as the time approaches.).

Duffus' theory is that Blackbeard was the son of Capt. James Beard of the Goose Creek area near Charleston, S.C., who owned about 400 acres on the west bank of Bath Creek as early as 1707.

He says Beard's son Edward, born in South Carolina in 1690, came to Eastern North Carolina with his father but was also taken to Philadelphia, where he learned his sailing skills.

Duffus suggests that Edward Beard sported a black beard and used "Black" as a nickname, much like fellow pirate Black Sam Bellamy.

By his account, Thatch or Teach was an alias, and the pirate's moniker was actually Black Beard, later condensed to Blackbeard.

Duffus admittedly does not have a lot of evidence for his theory, but he points out that there is not much solid evidence for the version "that has been foisted upon us for nearly three centuries." The theory that Blackbeard came from Bristol, England is based upon Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates which may or may not have been written by Daniel Defoe (another hotly contested piratical debate that we will stay out of for now given its irrelevance to the project at hand). Duffus thus notes that "They [skeptics] can accept seven words written by an author whose true identity remains a mystery," he said - "or a preponderance of circumstantial evidence." Ultimately, the resolution of this debate -- and Blackbeard's "true identity" -- are of little importance to our pirate project. In fact, most of what we're concerned with is the mythicization of Blackbeard as an archetypical pirate. From this standpoint, what is most interesting is the continued interest in and fascination with the idea of Blackbeard. As David Moore, a nautical archaeologist at the North Carolina Martime Museum (and one of our most helpful expert contacts) notes, Duffus' claims, however tenuous, are like to create a resurgence in interest in historical piracy. "Pirates and piracy have held a fascination with the general public since piracy began," he says.