Blackbeard was the most notorious pirate in the history of seafaring. With a beard that almost covered his face, he would strike terror into the hearts of his victims, according to some early accounts, by weaving wicks laced with gunpowder into his hair, and lighting them during battle. A big man, he added to his menacing appearance by wearing a crimson coat, two swords at his waist, and bandoleers stuffed with numerous pistols and knives across his chest.

Ocracoke Legend

Like Hatteras, Ocracoke has spawned many colorful legends. One of the most intriguing is the story of the pirate Blackbeard's last battle. The bloody fight was supposedly waged in Teach's Hole channel near Ocracoke Village. Some historians have cast doubt on this traditional tale, but it certainly makes for an interesting yarn.

The story goes that Blackbeard, near the end of his infamous career, hatched the idea of fortifying Ocracoke as a pirate haven. Hearing of this devilish plan and despairing of any help from Charles Eden, the colony's do-nothing Royal governor, the responsible citizens of coastal North Carolina appealed to Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia for aid.

The call was answered with the dispatch of two small sloops under the command of Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy. The two craft sailed to Ocracoke, where they found Blackbeard's ship, the Adventure, at anchor in the channel. Maynard sent out two small boats seeking a clear passage to his quarry.

Settled in the early 18th century by families from southwest England and Ireland trickling down the barrier islands from Tidewater Virginia, Ocracoke remained virtually isolated until the mid-20th century. The first ferry, from Hatteras Island in the north, was established in 1957; the first mainland route, from Cedar Island, in 1964.

Thus O'cockers, as they call themselves, retained the speech characteristics of their ancestors. One result is a brogue resembling that found in parts of Cornwall in England. O'cockers shape the "i" sound as an "oi," saying "hoi" for "high," for instance. And there are unfamiliar words with obscure origins, too — "mommuck" (to harass or bother) and "quamished" (sick to the stomach).

The O'cocker brogue is fast disappearing, according to Walt Wolfram, a sociolinguist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh who has studied this dialect for nearly a decade. "Practically speaking, the brogue is already dead, a victim of change, of increased contact with tourists, more off- island experience, television, and a bias against it as substandard," he told me.

Ocracoke's history also is heavily inscribed with the perils of the sea, and the area off the Outer Banks came to be known as the "graveyard of the Atlantic." Not counting warfare, more than 100 people have died in shipwrecks off its shores; many of their bodies were buried in the dunes off Route 12, according to the book "Ocracokers," by Alton Ballance. For history buffs perhaps the best-known victims are four British sailors in the British Cemetery, an intimate place under wind-stunted live oaks a quarter-mile from the hubbub of Silver Lake Drive.

Early in 1942, as part of the effort to defend the eastern seaboard of the United States and associated shipping lanes from enemy submarine attack, the British Royal Navy provided a flotilla of twenty-four trawlers for coastal patrol. Built in 1935 as a commercial fishing vessel and converted for anti-submarine duty, HM Trawler Bedfordshire and San Delfino were two of these ships. The ship was 165 feet in length, a small vessel by warship standards, and displaced nine hundred gross tons. The ships complement consisted of both Royal Navy and Canadian sailors.

On May 11, 1942, while on Wartime Patrol in harm's way, Bedfordshire was torpedoed by the German submarine U-558 and sank approximately forty miles south-southeast of Cape Lookout with the loss of all hands. The bodies of Sub-Lieutenant Thomas Cunningham and Telegraphist Second Class Stanley Creig were found in the surf off Ocracoke Island on May 14. After being identified as Bedfordshire sailors, they were buried with the appropriate military honors in a plot donated by a local citizen. One week later, two more bodies were found in the ocean north of Ocracoke. These men, although never identified, were assumed to have come from the Bedfordshire, and were interred alongside their shipmates. Interred in a nearby plot located in Buxton NC, are two other British subjects who died in the war. Fourth Engineer Officer Michael Cairns of the Royal Merchant Navy served on the British Merchant vessel San Delfino, also destroyed by a torpedo from U-203. His remains were discovered along the beach a month after the attack. The other sailor at rest is an unknown of the Royal Navy, whose remains were found two weeks after Cairns.

In keeping with naval military tradition, the men and women of U. S. Coast Guard, National Park Service, Hatteras Island Historical Society and the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum maintain the cemeteries, ensuring that the plot is kept clean and a British union flag is always flying, and that the appropriate international military honors are rendered annually on the Thursday and Friday closest to May 11th. The sacrifice of these fallen sailors leaves us forever indebted with our highest gratitude for their contribution to our preservation of freedom.