Three hundred years ago, a small coasting sloop hoisted anchor in Bath Creek and sailed down the Pamlico. The two-dozen or so men aboard were likely young, mostly sons of local plantation owners, accompanied by a few slaves. Every man aboard peered over the distant horizon with hope and excitement for what the future might provide them and their families back home. For their course was set for the central coast of Florida where, the summer before, a vast fortune of silver and gold was strewn onto the beaches and shallow waters when 11 Spanish treasure ships were destroyed in a hurricane. Already salvaging those wrecks were young adventurers from South Carolina, Rhode Island, Jamaica and Bermuda.

The departure of those Bath men in 1716, while unremarkable at the time, is today historically significant because it was likely the genesis of one of the world’s most renowned pirate legends, and also one of the most embellished and misrepresented chapters of American history.

Two years later, on or about the first of July 1718, those men returned to Bath after an eventful two-year odyssey, led by the tall, slender, bearded mariner named Edward Thatch, who, just nine months earlier, began to be known by the nom de guerre that would make him infamous — Blackbeard the pirate.

This historical interpretation is controversial. Many people emotionally or professionally invested in the popular Blackbeard story are unwilling to even consider the possibility that it might be true. But I am confident that this is what happened. It is impossible to discount the findings of the late John Oden, the Beaufort County genealogist, who, with colleagues Jane Bailey and Allen Norris, were the first to discover that many of the suspected pirates killed with Blackbeard at Ocracoke or arrested at Bath were local residents. In fact, in 1718, former governor Thomas Pollock referred to Blackbeard’s shipmates as “inhabitants” of North Carolina.

My research into the origins of the notorious pirate-slave Caesar (he was formerly owned by Col. Robert Daniel of Charleston who lived for a few years at Archbell Point) has now added significant support to Oden’s conclusions. Tobias Knight acquired Caesar in 1716, when the Port of Bath’s collector of customs purchased the Daniel plantation. Caesar was present in Bath in 1716, but the slave somehow returned two years later as a pirate aboard the “Queen Anne’s Revenge.” How could Caesar have accomplished such a transition had he not accompanied the Bath salvagers in the first place?

After 300 years of folklore and fantastic embellishments to the Blackbeard fable, we are the first generation who can finally tell the truth about this fascinating period in American history, to accurately describe who those men really were, what they really did and why they did it. Blackbeard’s history is a valuable economic resource for Beaufort County, which has been unfairly co-opted by Bristol, England, Jamaica and elsewhere. On May 28, at 2 p.m. near Bonner Point in Bath, we will commemorate “The Launching of an American Legend” and reclaim Beaufort County’s heritage by conducting a historical reenactment of that significant moment 300 years ago. I hope you’ll join us.