Benjamin Hornigold seize other vessels with impunity. Hornigold's second-in-command during this period was Edward Teach, who would later be better known as the pirate Blackbeard. When Hornigold took command of the "Ranger", he delegated the captaincy of his earlier sloop to Teach. In the spring of 1717 the two pirate captains seized three merchant ships in quick succession, one carrying 120 barrels of flour bound for Havana, another a Bermudian sloop with a cargo of spirits and the third a Portuguese ship travelling from Madeira with a cargo of white wine. In March 1717, Hornigold attacked an armed merchant vessel sent to
Lieutenant Richards (pirate) sloop "Revenge", he rescued the others and attempted to chase down Teach but settled for looting other ships instead. Lieutenant Richards’ fate is not recorded. Charles Town merchants, weary of pirate attacks by Teach, Charles Vane, and others, equipped two ships under William Rhett as pirate hunters. Rhett missed Vane but fought and captured Bonnet. Records of Stede Bonnet’s trial list all the pirates captured alive by Rhett, and Richards was not among them. Teach was caught and killed near Ocracoke by naval officer Robert Maynard, who apprehended many of his crew. Richards was not among the pirates captured by