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Blackbeard's Shipwreck

Blackbeard's legacy lives on in North Carolina, where archaeologists uncovered artifacts from merchant vessels.

/2006/07/blackbeard-shipwreck/img/pirate-magnify-714.jpg /2006/07/blackbeard-shipwreck/img/pirate-magnify-60.jpg Photograph by Robert Clark /2006/07/blackbeard-shipwreck/img/1-schooner-ocracoke-inlet-714.jpg /2006/07/blackbeard-shipwreck/img/1-schooner-ocracoke-inlet-60.jpg Photograph by Robert Clark Windfall, guided by owner Rob Temple, floats past Ocracoke Inlet on the North Carolina coast. It was here that Blackbeard, one of history's most infamous pirates, was ambushed and, after a shipboard battle, beheaded on November 22, 1718. A wreck found in 1996 farther south at Beaufort Inlet is thought to be his pirate ship, Queen Anne's Revenge. His spirit lives on in mariners like Temple. "If you sail through Blackbeard's old stomping ground long enough," he says, "you not only become a pirate enthusiast, but also a Blackbeard expert by default."]]> /2006/07/blackbeard-shipwreck/img/2-cast-iron-cannon-714.jpg /2006/07/blackbeard-shipwreck/img/2-cast-iron-cannon-60.jpg Photograph by Robert Clark Queen Anne's Revenge resides at East Carolina University's Archaeological Conservation Lab. It was found along with 23 other cannon, an arsenal supporting the theory that the ship belonged to a pirate, since typical merchant and military vessels known to travel these waters did not carry so many guns. Three centuries of concretions (partially removed) that cling to the barrel doubled the gun's weight, estimated at 320 pounds (145 kilograms) when raised from the ocean bottom.]]> /2006/07/blackbeard-shipwreck/img/3-wine-bottle-shipwreck-714.jpg /2006/07/blackbeard-shipwreck/img/3-wine-bottle-shipwreck-60.jpg Photograph by Robert Clark /2006/07/blackbeard-shipwreck/img/4-x-rays-cannonballs-schackle-475h.jpg /2006/07/blackbeard-shipwreck/img/4-x-rays-cannonballs-schackle-60.jpg Photograph by Robert Clark La Concorde, which Blackbeard captured a year before his death and renamed Queen Anne's Revenge. However, scientists like Sarah Watkins-Kenney, the project's chief conservator, withhold judgment until the concretions are removed. "One shackle," she says, "does not a slave ship make."]]> /2006/07/blackbeard-shipwreck/img/5-marching-pirates-band-714.jpg /2006/07/blackbeard-shipwreck/img/5-marching-pirates-band-60.jpg Photograph by Robert Clark