Highlander and the pirate

Arrrrrrr. There can be only one. Ouch my head.

I originally thought this wasn't well known, but a quick google search proved me wrong. Anyway, for people with a casual interest in Highlander, this caught my attention. The inspiration behind “Highlander” came from a historical event with a pirate dude I thought might have just been part of a lame Disney film.

I was reading David Cordingly’s “Under the Black Flag”, a history on pirates, and noticed the story on the death of Blackbeard had familiar details.

According to the documents, in 1718, British naval officer Robert Maynard cornered Blackbeard off the coast of North Carolina and boarded his ship.

Then:

"… One of Maynard’s men, being a Highlander, engaged Teach [Blackbeard] with his broad sword, who gave Teach a cut in the neck, Teach saying well done lad; the Highlander replied, If it be not well done, I’ll do it better. With that he gave him a second stroke, which cut off his head, laying it flat on his shoulder."

Local legend says the body of Blackbeard was then thrown overboard, where “the headless corpse swam around the sloop several times.”

I imagine he was celebrating the fact that he’d never have to sit through “Highlander Two: The Quickening.”

Also of note is that I found out, after I started reading the book, that “Under the Black Flag” is the same history that Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach read before coming up with the idea of a pirate theme for his team. I have nothing else to add here other than I think that’s cool.