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 Collier (pirate) Edward Collier (pirate) Edward Collier was an English buccaneer who served as Sir Henry Morgan's second-in-command throughout much of his expeditions against Spain during the mid-17th century. In command of one of the ships which took part in Sir Henry Morgan's raid on Portobello in 1668, he was given command of the 34-gun "Oxford" with a commission as a pirate hunter before the end of the year and eventually captured Captain la Veven and his ship, the "Satisfaction." Rejoining Morgan in his later raids on Maracaibo and Gibraltar, Venezuela, an explosion aboard his ship would kill many of the officers