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An expedition off the North Carolina coast recovered the anchor from the wreckage of pirate Blackbeard’s ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge:
The Queen Anne’s Revenge is believed to have run aground in the shallow waters off Beaufort in 1718. The ship was discovered in 1996, with piecemeal recovery of artifacts intensifying only a few years ago. [...]
The expedition is trying to score a trove of 18th-century goods, which will be used to educate the public and raise awareness of underwater preservation efforts. The site has already yielded more than 250,000 artifacts, including cannons, gold, platters, glass, beads, shackles and rope, according to the state.
Why, just in time to mark the opening of the summer blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. How do they time this stuff? Link
See also: NeatoShop’s Pirate Store
The Queen Anne’s Revenge was the flagship of Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard. The ship was abandoned in 1718 when it wrecked on a sandbar off the coast of North Carolina. Archaeologists have been carefully studying the wreckage for a decade now, and have slowly released photographs of their finds. Recently they reconstructed a sword hilt from found fragments that may have belonged to Blackbeard or one of his companions.
Recovered from the Queen Anne’s Revenge wreck site in 2008, the quillon could have been made in England or France, according to Wendy Welsh, conservator of the Queen Anne’s Revenge artifacts for the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.
Beyond the hilt, only a stump of the blade remains, but Welsh said Jan Piet Puype, a Dutch arms historian, thinks the weapon was probably relatively short and was carried by a gentleman with some status—at least before a pirate got hold of it.
Although it could have been used for self-defense, the sword was mainly a decorative accessory and was manufactured sometime between the mid-17th century and the early 18th century, according to Puype.
See more pictures and information at National Geographic News. Link
(Image credit: Wendy M. Welsh, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources)
A ship discovered off the coast of North Carolina in 1997 has been identified by experts as the Queen Anne’s Revenge, a ship used by the pirate Blackbeard. The ship was originally named Le Concorde before the pirate seized it from its French crew in 1717. Artifacts, such as this apothecary weight featuring two fleurs-de-lis, helped to identify the ship as Blackbeard’s.
Le Concorde’s surgeon, who was forced to serve briefly in Blackbeard’s crew, may have owned the weights, designed for pharmaceuticals. Pirates could have also used the weights to measure gold dust, experts say.
See more pictures at National Geographic. Link
(image credit: Wendy M. Welsh, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources)
