Did Archaeologists Uncover Blackbeard's Treasure?

After nearly 300 years in the North Carolina shallows, the remains of what may be the Queen Anne’s Revenge are surfacing, plank by worm-eaten plank. The site, discovered in 1996, is 25 feet underwater, less than a mile and a half from shore. But long weather delays during diving seasons and uncertain funding have slowed the excavation—this past fall’s expedition was the first since 2008—and it can take years to clean and analyze artifacts corroded beyond recognition. Still, with objects recovered from 50 percent of the site, archaeologists are increasingly confident that the wreck is the infamous frigate that terrorized the Caribbean and once blockaded Charleston, South Carolina, for a week before running aground in June 1718.

In May 1718, the Queen Anne’s Revenge blockaded the port of Charleston, holding prominent citizens hostage in return for a chest of medicine. After collecting the ransom, Blackbeard retreated to North Carolina, which had plenty of hiding spots in obscure coves and inlets behind the Outer Banks. Alas, in early June, as Blackbeard and his fleet advanced on the sleepy fishing village of Beaufort, North Carolina, the Queen Anne’s Revenge foundered on a sandbar.

The details of how the ship ran aground remain a matter of dispute. Some experts believe Blackbeard was just another victim of the treacherous sandbanks at the mouth of Beaufort inlet, which tend to shift during storms, confounding even modern captains. Others, however, think Blackbeard deliberately abandoned the ship, which was far too large to navigate North Carolina’s shallow sounds, in an effort to downsize his crew (some of whom later testified as much) and travel light, transferring his treasure to the smaller ships in his fleet. Whatever the scenario, the demise of the Queen Anne’s Revenge was what archaeologists call a “nonviolent wreck event,” meaning that the pirates had ample time to offload plunder.

Luckily, the archaeologists have a different notion of treasure. They’ve found hundreds of historical objects including a diminutive signal gun, turtle bones (possible remnants of a favorite pirate food), a pewter syringe, a funnel-shaped spout that served as a urinal and an intact piece of window glass, blue-green and rippling like a sculpture of the sea. The 2010 dive yielded an ornate sword hilt made of iron, copper and an animal horn or antler.The trouble is, none of these proves the ship’s identity. Though the datable artifacts can be traced to the decades before the vessel’s sinking (any dates after June 1718 would be powerful evidence against the ship’s claim to fame), so far there is nothing conclusive.

Meanwhile, archaeologists are itching to start work on the largest concretion of all: a huge pile of cannons and anchors still on the seafloor. They hope the mound is big enough to contain preserved material for micro-organic analysis. Bits of food, sediment or insect parts could tie the ship to the Caribbean or Africa. Or perhaps they’ll just discover “some hooks and wooden legs,” jokes Mark Wilde-Ramsing, a state archaeologist working on the project. “Parrot bones, maybe

www.smithsonianmag.com...

Gold found in shipwreck


Coin found in shipwreck


Hand Grenade


Cannon




Sword Hilt


Bottom




I found this article while I was doing research for a different thread I am trying to put together. The article is from March but I did a search and nothing came up. It is a 3 page article but worth the read if you are intrested in things like this.

I'm very curious to see what comes of these latest discoveries. Is this shipwreck indeed the Queen Anne's Revenge? What are the chances that they will find something with a name after all this time in the ocean? I went and saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean and I was wondering if this ship would ever be found and what it would be like to make such a discovery. I hope they can prove if it is or not sooner rather than later. I hate waiting for these things! Anyways I hope that whoever reads this enjoys it. I know I sure did!


Oops I put this in the wrong forum! I didn't realize I was in current events!! Sorry!!

reply to post by ucantcme

Oops I put this in the wrong forum! I didn't realize I was in current events!! Sorry!!

I think Pirates of the Caribbean 4 just came out, so technically.....

Originally posted by Lighterside
reply to post by ucantcme

Oops I put this in the wrong forum! I didn't realize I was in current events!! Sorry!!

 

I think Pirates of the Caribbean 4 just came out, so technically.....

edit on 25-5-2011 by Lighterside because: formatting correction

Hahaha! I suppose you could look at it that way!

Sunken treasure is like the coolest thing ever! The story that surrounds them, the mystery. The fact that these items lay at the bottom of the ocean, untouched by man, undiscovered for so many years and then brought to the surface must be a rewarding feeling.

Originally posted by highfreq
Sunken treasure is like the coolest thing ever! The story that surrounds them, the mystery. The fact that these items lay at the bottom of the ocean, untouched by man, undiscovered for so many years and then brought to the surface must be a rewarding feeling.

Oh I agree!! I would love to be involved with the crew working on this! To find anything of this sort on land or in the ocean would be an amazing experience to be a part of!

Really like these sort of stories. You never know what surprises are going to be recovered after being under the sea so long. I think myself, that the little personal pieces that are recovered from these wrecks are the most interesting.
It always makes me wonder about the people that sailed on those ships, knowing that at one time a person used or owned the very item that we now see.

i think they had more balls then the peoples of today do to be on a ship like that no computers liek today looking for large sharks that can flip the boat or a automated rope pully all by hand could you imagine then theres the guy who finds it 100 years later and makes more money then the guys who owned the boat did thats got to be kool

Originally posted by cahlmac
Really like these sort of stories. You never know what surprises are going to be recovered after being under the sea so long. I think myself, that the little personal pieces that are recovered from these wrecks are the most interesting.
It always makes me wonder about the people that sailed on those ships, knowing that at one time a person used or owned the very item that we now see.

Indeed! Thats one of my favorite things about Archeology! When ever I go to the science museum when they have special exhibits like Pompeii, The dead sea scrolls, right now they have King Tut. I'm always thinking about the people that owned these things that I am looking at right now. Often I envision facless people living their daily lives with these artifacts.

I have a very overactive imagination lol!! But it is fasinating to me! These people lived and should be remembered not just the royals or famous people though out history but the everday average person as well! They may not have done anything fasinating with thier lives but the point is that they were once living on this planet, and very differently than we are living today.

I was just on the phone with my boyfriend and I was telling him about this article and he claims that he is related to Blackbeard. Now I remember him telling me that years ago when we first started dating but I wasn't sure if he was just like sowing off or something so I didn't include it in the op.

So I told him I am going to trace his geneology back and he said I don't need to pay for it because his Aunt has all the documents! So I am going to try and get copies when we go down south this weekend so I can post them here. I know how important proof is here on ats! I hope they let me make the copies but if not I will go to a geneology site and pay to trace it back that way!

If anybody even cares to see proof lol! But I find this very exciting!

ooooh I love stories like this, but I get so jelous. Why couldn't it have be me to find it? Why not me?
Imagine how exciting it must be to find such treasures from times past?

Here’s the ongoing project at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort with artifacts from the ship
www.qaronline.org...

Great timing--in the local news today

Anchor retrieval delayed for shipwreck
Comments 1
May 25, 2011 4:17 PM
JANNETTE PIPPIN

The retrieval of a 3,000-pound anchor from the shipwreck site believed to be the flagship of the infamous pirate Blackbeard has been delayed at least a day due to unfavorable weather conditions, state officials said.

A two-week dive expedition is now underway at the wreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge off the Carteret County coast, and state underwater archaeologists and partners had initially planned to raise the anchor, the largest artifact to date to be recovered from the site, Thursday. However, due to wind and sea conditions, the recovery has been delayed until possibly Friday or sometime next week, the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources announced.

more
www.jdnews.com...

reply to post by ucantcme


Apparently they got the anchor Video here on CNN

reply to post by AdamAnt


Adam Ant; you look so much different from your MTV videos! thanks for the CNN link.

Originally posted by SANman
reply to post by AdamAnt

 

Adam Ant; you look so much different from your MTV videos! thanks for the CNN link.

No problem.....
I got a slight tan, and some testostrone injections....