6 Chapter 5 The Blockade of Charleston

Chapter 5 The Blockade of Charleston Blackbeard now controlled one of the largest pirate ships afloat. He gave himself a new title, commodore, because he felt he now deserved a rank above a captain. In the navy, a commodore is a person in command of an entire fleet. With his new ships, Blackbeard sailed west to Central America. Off the coast of what is now Belize, he captured the small British ship

黑胡子现在控制了海上最大的海盗船之一。 他给了自己一个新的头衔，准将，因为他觉得自己现在应该得到一个高于上尉的军衔。 在海军中，海军准将是指挥整个舰队的人。 黑胡子带着他的新船向西航行到中美洲。 在现在的伯利兹海岸外，他俘获了这艘英国小船

Adventure, and added its twelve guns to his total. Blackbeard sailed along the Central American coast, finding and capturing several other small vessels. At one point, a large British ship called the Protestant Caesar tried to outsail the Queen Anne's Revenge. Blackbeard did not want to give up even one opportunity to seize supplies and treasure, so he chased down the ship. When the frightened crew saw Blackbeard's flag flying above the ship bearing down on them, they abandoned their ship and quickly rowed ashore. Blackbeard's men emptied the Protestant Caesar and then set fire to it. Safely on shore, the ship's crew joined the growing list of witnesses to Blackbeard's crimes.

他把他的十二支枪也加了进去。 黑胡子沿着中美洲海岸航行，发现并捕获了其他几艘小船。 有一次，一艘名为新教凯撒号的英国大船试图超越安妮女王复仇号。 黑胡子不想放弃任何一个夺取补给和宝藏的机会，所以他追上了那艘船。 惊恐的船员们看到黑胡子的旗帜在船的上方飘扬，向他们逼近，他们弃船而去，迅速划向岸边。 黑胡子的人洗劫了新教凯撒城堡，然后放火烧了它。 安全上岸后，船上的船员加入了越来越多的黑胡子罪行的证人名单。

PIRATE FLAGS AT SEA, FLAGS WERE THE BEST WAY TO IDENTIFY A SHIP. NAVY SHIPS FLEW THEIR COUNTRY'S FLAG. PIRATE SHIPS WAITED UNTIL THEY NEARED THEIR PREY AND THEN RAISED A BLACK FLAG—THE EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN SIGN FOR PIRATES. PIRATES DECORATED THEIR BLACK FLAGS IN DIFFERENT WAYS. THE MOST POPULAR SYMBOL WAS A SKULL AND CROSSBONES, KNOWN AS THE JOLLY ROGER. BLACKBEARD'S OWN BLACK FLAG FEATURED A SMILING SKELETON HOLDING A SPEAR THAT POINTED AT A BLOODRED HEART.

海上的海盗旗，旗帜是识别船只的最好方法。 海军舰艇上悬挂着他们国家的国旗。 海盗船等到他们接近猎物时，才升起一面黑旗——这是欧洲和美洲海盗的标志。 海盗们用不同的方式装饰他们的黑旗。 最流行的标志是骷髅和交叉的骨头，被称为jolly roger。 黑胡子自己的黑旗上有一具微笑的骷髅，手里拿着长矛，直指一颗血淋淋的心脏。

Creating a fierce reputation had been a big part of Blackbeard's plan. By this time, he rarely engaged in battles at sea. Once sailors realized it was Blackbeard who was attacking, they almost always surrendered in fear. Blackbeard himself was growing as bold as his reputation. With each conquest, he seemed to take bigger and bigger risks.

黑胡子的计划中有很大一部分是建立一个强大的名声。 此时，他已经很少参加海上战斗了。 一旦水手们意识到是黑胡子在攻击，他们几乎总是在恐惧中投降。 黑胡子自己也变得和他的名声一样大胆。 每一次征服，他似乎都冒着越来越大的风险。

In May 1718, Blackbeard did something no pirate had tried before: He blockaded an entire port. He sailed his ships into the harbor entrance of Charleston (then called Charles Town), South Carolina. Charles Town was a large and busy port. The colony of South Carolina shipped rice, indigo (a plant used to make blue dye), tobacco, and other crops to England. In just a few days, Blackbeard captured as many as ten ships trying to enter or

1718年5月，黑胡子做了一件海盗从未尝试过的事:他封锁了整个港口。 他驾驶他的船只进入南卡罗来纳州查尔斯顿(当时被称为查尔斯镇)的港口入口。 查尔斯镇是一个繁忙的大港口。 南卡罗来纳殖民地将大米、靛蓝(一种用于制造蓝色染料的植物)、烟草和其他作物运往英国。 在短短几天内，黑胡子就捕获了十艘试图进入英国的船只