Raiders and Rebels, The Golden Age of Piracy, Frank Sherry, page 241, paragraph 4

Along with the demand for medicine, Blackbeard's emissaries delivered a gruesome threat: If the governor did not pay the ransom within two days, Blackbeard would murder his captives, including the four-year-old boy, and deliver their heads to the town. He and his men would also destroy the port and burn the ships that lay in the harbor.


Quill, 1986, New York, 0-688-07515-0