Maynard's two sloops enter the channel at…
November 1718 CE
Maynard's two sloops enter the channel at daybreak, preceded by a small boat taking soundings.
The small craft is quickly spotted by Adventure and fires at as soon as it is within range of her guns.
While the boat makes a quick retreat to the Jane, Teach cuts the Adventure's anchor cable.
His crew hoists the sails and the Adventure maneuvers to point her starboard guns toward Maynard's sloops, which are slowly closing the gap.
Hyde moves Ranger to the port side of Jane and the Union flag is unfurled on each ship.
Adventure then turns toward the beach of Ocracoke Island, heading for a narrow channel.
What happened next is uncertain.
Johnson claims that there was an exchange of small-arms fire following which Adventure ran aground on a sandbar, while Maynard anchored and then lightened his ship to pass over the obstacle.
Another version claimed that Jane and Ranger ran aground, although Maynard made no mention of this in his log. (Konstam, Angus (2007), Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate, John Wiley & Sons) What is certain though is that Adventure turned her guns on the two ships and fired.
The broadside is devastating; in an instant, Maynard has lost as much as a third of his forces.
About twenty on Jane are either wounded or killed and none on Ranger.
Hyde is dead and his second and third officers either dead or seriously injured.
His sloop is so badly damaged that it plays no further role in the attack.
Again, contemporary accounts of what happened next are confused, but small-arms fire from Jane may have cut Adventure's jib sheet, causing her to lose control and run onto the sandbar.
Jane and Ranger may also have been grounded in the aftermath of Teach's overwhelming attack; the battle thenceforth would have become a race to see who could float their ship first.
The lieutenant has kept many of his men below deck.
In anticipation of being boarded, he tells them to prepare for close fighting.
Teach watches as the gap between the vessels closes, and orders his men to be ready.
The two vessels make contact as the Adventure's grappling hooks hit their target and several grenades, made from powder and shot-filled bottles and ignited by fuses, break across the sloop's deck.
As the smoke clears, Teach leads his men aboard, buoyant at the sight of Maynard's apparently empty ship, his men firing at the small group formed by the lieutenant and his men at the stern.
The rest of Maynard's men then burst from the hold, shouting and firing.
The plan to surprise Teach and his crew works; the pirates are apparently taken aback at the assault.
Teach rallies his men and the two groups fight across the deck, which is already slick with blood from those killed or injured by Teach's broadside.
Maynard and Teach fire their flintlocks at each other, then cast them aside.
Teach draws his cutlass and manages to break Maynard's sword.
Against superior training and a slight advantage in numbers, the pirates are pushed back toward the bow, allowing the Jane's crew to surround Maynard and Teach, who is by now completely isolated.
As Maynard draws back to fire once again, Teach moves in to attack him, but is slashed across the neck by one of Maynard's men.
Badly wounded, he is then attacked and killed by several more of Maynard's crew.
The remaining pirates quickly surrender.
Those left on the Adventure are captured by the Ranger's crew, including one who has planned to set fire to the powder room and blow up the ship.
Varying accounts exist of the battle's list of casualties; Maynard reported that eight of his men and twelve pirates were killed.
Brand reported that ten pirates and eleven of Maynard's men were killed.
Spotswood claims ten pirates and ten of the King's men dead. (Lee, Robert E. (1974), Blackbeard the Pirate (2002 ed.), North Carolina: John F. Blair)
Maynard later examines Teach's body, noting that it had been shot no fewer than five times and cut about twenty.
He also finds several items of correspondence, including a letter to the pirate from Tobias Knight.
Teach's corpse is thrown into the inlet while his head is suspended from the bowsprit of Maynard's sloop (so the reward can be collected).