Outer Banks to represent clear water and a ship ahead; the unsuspecting captain would then drive his ship ashore following this false light. The islands are home to herds of feral horses, sometimes called "banker ponies," which according to local legend are descended from Spanish Mustangs washed ashore centuries ago in shipwrecks. Populations are found on Ocracoke Island, Shackleford Banks, Currituck Banks, and in the Rachel Carson Estuarine Sanctuary. Ocracoke was the last refuge of pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. It is also where the infamous pirate was killed November 22, 1718 in a fierce battle with troops from Virginia.
Edward Neville (pirate) Edward Neville (pirate) Edward Neville (fl 1675-1678) was an English buccaneer and pirate. He is best known for joining George Spurre to raid Spanish Campeche. After England withdrew from the Franco-Dutch War in 1674, Neville accepted a French privateering commission to sail against Spain. Jamaican Governor John Vaughan tried to recall English privateers to maintain England’s neutrality in the continuing war but had little success. In 1675 he accused legendary buccaneer Henry Morgan – now pardoned, and promoted to become Vaughan’s own Deputy Governor – of writing to Neville and other privateers, promising them pardons and freedom. Morgan wrote, “and