Blackbeard's booty
- On 23/10/2011
- In Underwater Archeology
- 0 comments
From The Times News
Hurricane Irene left a trail of damage along the North Carolina coast but there was some bit of good news after all the post-storm inspections:The wreck of Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, remained intact and without significant disruption as a result of the swirling waters and heavy winds.
That had to please the marine archaeologists, lab personnel, divers and other team members involved in excavating the ship’s ruins, which were discovered on the ocean floor off Carteret County about 15 years ago.
Because the pirate’s ship has remained in its home on the bottom of the ocean for nearly 300 years, the site is both unprotected from the whims of nature and delicate by virtue of its antiquity.
Since discovery of the vessel, archaeologists attached to the project have worked feverishly to prevent additional damage to the artifacts associated with the ship.
A hurricane coming ashore so close to the wreck was not fortuitous. Preliminary examinations of the site left the excavation team feeling optimistic about the project’s future and that’s a good thing, both from historical and economic perspectives.
Blackbeard, or Edward Teach, was an English-born pirate who worked the East Coast of the U.S., as well as nearby islands.
He’s perhaps the most famous pirate of that era, marked by his long hair and black beard, braided and adorned with black ribbons, were often cloudy with smoke from burning rope — or lit fuses, depending on the source — under his hat to give him an otherworldly and fearsome appearance.
Queen Anne's Revenge treasure pirate Blackbeard
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