Blackbeard's Treasure Read online

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  Blackbeard’s Treasure

  Roger Hurn

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  Clare Lawrence

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  Danny Pearson

  Badger Publishing Limited

  Oldmedow Road,

  Hardwick Industrial Estate,

  King’s Lynn PE30 4JJ

  Telephone: 01438 791037

  www.badgerlearning.co.uk

  2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

  Blackbeard’s Treasure ISBN 978-1-78147-450-1

  ISBN: 9781781476987 (Epub)

  ISBN: 9781781477779 (Mobi)

  Text © Roger Hurn 2013

  Complete work © Badger Publishing Limited 2013

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

  The right of Roger Hurn to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  Publisher: Susan Ross

  Senior Editor: Danny Pearson

  Publishing Assistant: Jennifer Brough

  Design: Fiona Grant

  Illustration: Anthony Williams

  Copyeditor: Ursula Faulkner

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 A treasure map

  Chapter 2 Where in the world?

  Chapter 3 Sailing to Skull Island

  Chapter 4 A treasure hunt

  Chapter 5 It’s a knockout

  Blackbeard

  Questions

  Vocabulary:

  AKA

  avalanche

  Caribbean Sea

  maroon

  pirate

  prologue

  skeleton

  treasure

  Main characters:

  PROLOGUE

  It’s the year 1718.

  A ship flying the pirate flag is being chased by other ships.

  A tall man with a big, black bushy beard comes to the side of the ship and throws a bottle overboard.

  It splashes into the sea, bobs up and down on the waves and then drifts away on the tide. Cannons boom.

  The other ships pull alongside the pirate vessel and armed men scramble aboard.

  The big pirate pulls out his cutlass and turns to fight. “Come on you scurvy dogs,” he yells. “You’ve finally caught up with me, Blackbeard, the fiercest pirate captain in the Caribbean, but I’ll die before I tell you where I’ve hidden my treasure.”

  CHAPTER 1

  A treasure map

  Josh was taking his dog, Max, for a walk. He threw a ball for Max to fetch.

  The ball bounced over a wall and down onto the muddy stretch of beach by the River Thames. Max went bounding after it.

  “Oh no,” thought Josh. “Max will be covered in mud and Mum will go mad!”

  Josh yelled at Max to come back, but Max took no notice.

  Josh sighed. “I guess I’ll have to go and get him so that’ll make two of us who’ll be covered in mud!”

  Josh climbed over the wall and scrambled down to the beach.

  He saw that Max was busy digging something up with his paws. Mud splattered everywhere.

  “What’s got you so excited, boy?” said Josh as he knelt down to take a closer look. It was a large green glass bottle with something inside it.

  Josh pulled out the cork and gave the bottle a shake.

  An old piece of paper fell out. He couldn’t believe his eyes!

  It was a treasure map signed by Edward Teach, AKA Blackbeard the pirate!

  Blackbeard had marked the map with a large cross. It was the spot where he’d hidden his treasure.

  Josh was shaking with excitement.

  Now he had to find out where in the world the island was. He studied the map searching for clues.

  CHAPTER 2

  Where in the world?

  The island was called Skull Island because it was shaped like a human skull. This was the clue Josh needed.

  He raced home and logged onto his computer and looked up Skull Island.

  He discovered that Skull Island was in the Caribbean Sea near St Lucia. Josh could hardly believe his luck! Josh’s dad was born in St Lucia and the family were going back there in a few weeks to stay with Josh’s gran.

  Josh punched the air. “Yes!” he said excitedly. “Maybe Mum and Dad will let me go hunting for Blackbeard’s treasure on Skull Island.”

  Josh showed the old map to his mum and dad. They laughed.

  “That’s a clever joke, Josh,” said his dad. “You did some research on where we’re going and decided to have a bit of fun.”

  “Yes,” said his mum. “You’ve made that map look really old. But you haven’t fooled us.”

  “No, but it was a good try,” said his dad.

  Josh shook his head. “I’m not playing a joke on you. I really did find this map in a bottle.”

  Josh’s dad nodded. “Oh, of course you did. Ha, ha. Mum and I weren’t born yesterday you know, Josh.”

  Then his dad looked thoughtful. “Actually, my pals and I used to play at being pirates on Skull Island when we were boys – but we never found any buried treasure.”

  “Yes, but you didn’t have this map,” said Josh.

  “No, we didn’t,” agreed his dad. “But that’s because you’ve only just made it!” Then he roared with laughter.

  And, no matter how hard he tried, Josh couldn’t make his mum and dad believe that the map was real!

  CHAPTER 3

  Sailing to Skull Island

  Josh’s gran’s house was right by the sea. Josh asked his mum if he could go and explore Skull Island.

  She smiled. “Yes, you can, but you won’t find any treasure there.”

  Josh’s dad took him to meet two local fishermen.

  He asked them if they would take Josh to Skull Island. The two men nodded.

  “But why do you want to go to that island?” they asked Josh. “Don’t you know it’s haunted by the ghosts of pirates that Blackbeard marooned there!”

  “That’s OK,” said Josh. “I don’t believe in ghosts and I’ve got Blackbeard’s real treasure map.”

  The two fishermen winked at Josh’s dad. He winked back at them. None of them believed Josh.

  Josh didn’t care. He knew he was telling the truth.

  He climbed aboard the boat with the two men and they sailed out to Skull Island.

  When they were close to the island, Josh jumped down into the shallow water and waded onto the white sandy beach.

  He waved goodbye to the fishermen.

  “We’ll come back for you later,” they shouted. “If the ghosts haven’t got you by then!”

  CHAPTER 4

  A treasure hunt

  Josh took out his compass and followed the directions on the map.

  First, he had to struggle through a thick forest.

  The creepers touched his face like ghostly fingers.

  Then, he waded across a swamp.

  The mud clutched at his legs like the hands of long dead pirates.

  Finally, he scrambled up a rocky hill until he found a cave hidden behind some large bushes.

  By now, Josh was hot, sweaty and tired.

>   He sat down and ate his packed lunch and drank from his water bottle.

  Then he plucked up his courage, pulled out his torch and crept nervously into the cave.

  It was dark and very spooky inside the cave.

  Josh shone his torch and shadows danced on the walls. They seemed to be the shadows of dead men!

  Then, suddenly, something white glinted in the torch beam. It was the skeleton of a pirate!

  Josh was jumping up and down with excitement. The skeleton marked the spot where the treasure was buried!

  Josh carefully moved the bones and began to dig.

  Soon his spade hit something.

  Quickly, he cleared the earth away from it and pulled it up from the hole.

  It was a wooden box. Josh broke the rusty padlock with his spade and threw back the lid.

  He gasped. The box was full of gold coins! He had found Blackbeard’s treasure.

  Josh dropped the map on the ground and dragged the treasure chest to the mouth of the cave.

  But then he stumbled over a trip wire. It was a booby trap left by Blackbeard!

  Josh shook his head and groaned. “I should have known Blackbeard wouldn’t give up his treasure without a fight.”

  Then, Josh heard a terrifying rumbling sound and an avalanche of rocks came hurtling towards him.

  He jumped away from the treasure chest and tried to outrun the avalanche.

  He made it to the mouth of the cave, but then a rock hit him on the head knocking him out cold!

  CHAPTER 5

  It’s a knockout

  Josh woke up on the sofa in his gran’s house.

  He had a large bandage on his head. His head ached and he couldn’t remember a thing.

  His mum and dad were standing over him. They both looked really worried.

  “Oh, thank goodness you’re back with us,” said his mum. “I should never have let you go off on that silly treasure hunt.”

  “That’s right,” said Josh’s dad. “The fishermen searched everywhere for you. They were just about to give up when they found you on a hillside and brought you home.”

  “They said you were really lucky that the rock slide didn’t kill you,” added mum.

  Suddenly, Josh remembered everything.

  He sat up excitedly. “But mum I found the cave where Blackbeard hid his treasure. I dug up a wooden box and it was jam-packed full of gold coins! I was dragging it out when the avalanche hit!”

  Josh’s mum and dad shook their heads.

  “No, you didn’t, Josh,” said his dad. “You must have dreamed the whole thing while you were knocked out.”

  “That’s right,” said his mum. “The fishermen didn’t see any cave – just a huge pile of rocks. Now you must go to bed and rest. You’ve done enough treasure hunting for one day.”

  Josh was too tired to argue so he went off to his room.

  “Maybe Mum and Dad are right,” he said to himself. “Maybe I did imagine it.”

  He sighed, then started to undress and get ready for bed.

  He took off his jeans and something fell out of his pocket and rolled under the bed.

  Josh knelt down and picked it up. It was a gold coin!

  Josh burst out laughing. “Hey, Mum and Dad, come and look at this,” he yelled. “Now you’ll just have to believe me. I didn’t imagine finding the treasure after all!”

  Blackbeard

  Blackbeard was born in Bristol in 1690. His real name was Edward Teach.

  Blackbeard and his crew of pirates terrorised sailors on the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea from 1716 to 1718.

  Ships usually surrendered without a fight the moment they saw Blackbeard’s flag.

  If the ship didn’t surrender Blackbeard’s pirates would shoot the sailor at the ship’s wheel. Then, the pirates snared the ship with grappling hooks, pulled it closer, and leaped aboard.

  When he captured the ship, Blackbeard took the passengers and crew hostage and stole all their coins, gold, silver, and jewellery.

  Blackbeard’s ship was fast and had lots of cannons and a crew of 250 pirates.

  Blackbeard braided his beard and tied the braids with black ribbons. He stuffed burning rope under his hat to make himself look more ferocious and menacing. He scared everyone.

  Blackbeard once cut off a man’s finger just so he could have the diamond ring on it.

  Blackbeard died fighting with his cutlass in his hand.

  Blackbeard’s head was cut off and suspended from the bow of a Royal Navy ship as a warning to other pirates.

  The Royal Navy searched for Blackbeard’s treasure but never found it. Blackbeard said only he and the devil knew where it was.

  Questions

  In what did Blackbeard hide his treasure map?

  Where is Skull Island?

  Where was Josh’s dad born?

  Who took Josh to Skull Island?

  Where exactly was the treasure buried?

  What caused the avalanche?

  Why did Josh lose his memory?

  How did Josh know he hadn’t imagined finding Blackbeard’s treasure?

 

 

  Roger Hurn, Blackbeard's Treasure

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