England, La Buze, and others slipped away and made for Madagascar.

A council was then formed, consisting of six of the adventurers and six of the inhabitants who had never been pirates themselves.

This was followed by the submission of others; some were hung, and order of a sort was re-established in the Bahamas.
The coasts of Virginia and North Carolina were at this time beset by a number of pirates, the most notorious of whom was Edward Teach, _alias_ Blackbeard, a Bristol man, who had begun his piratical career in the spring of 1717; the most sinister figure in the annals of piracy.

Pirate captains were, as a rule, chosen by their crews, and if their conduct was unsatisfactory to the rovers, they were deposed and sometimes put to death or marooned; but Teach, as fearless as he was merciless, ruled his crew by terror.

As an instance of his savage humour, it is related that on one occasion, in a drinking bout, he blew out the light and fired two pistols among his companions, wounding Israel Hands, his sailing master, severely.
On being asked why he did it, he damned them, and said if he did not kill one of them now and then, they would forget who he was.