Editor’s note: Stories on Blackbeard’s November ties are welcome now. This event is for the media only. It will review work on artifact investigation from the presumed Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck, Blackbeard’s flagship.
GREENVILLE – November was a big month for the pirate Blackbeard. He captured the vessel La Concorde in November 1717, and renamed her Queen Anne’s Revenge. He died in a battle against Lt. Robert Maynard with the British Royal Navy in November 1718. The wreck of the purported Queen Anne’s Revenge was found near Beaufort in November 1996. On Nov. 20, 2009, researchers will show how they are bringing Blackbeard back to life at the QAR Conservation Lab in Greenville.
The 11 a.m. media presentation will include remarks on the progress of the QAR project, and discussion of the essential role of conservation to recover, study and exhibit the wreck’s rich archaeological remains. Conservators will outline work on cannons in various stages of conservation, showcase mystery items revealed through x-ray, such as two mug-like objects possibly used to test black powder, copper cuff links, and other artifacts to be exhibited at the N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort. The exceptional artifact recovered this fall, a grapnel anchor, and other objects also will be shown.
Recovering concretion covered cannons and grenades, flecks of gold, or pig bones from a dinner long ago, is just the beginning of the investigation into pirate life and proving the wreck is Blackbeard’s vessel. More than a quarter million artifacts have been recovered by this project. Until January 2010, many of the conserved artifacts will be exhibited in the Knights of the Black Flag exhibit at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh.
QAR Project Director Mark Wilde-Ramsing will give a status update and preview 2010 activity. Chief Conservator Sarah Watkins-Kenney will review the types of artifacts and 12-step conservation process. Nautical Archaeologist and Blackbeard expert David Moore will explain how all the evidence marks this shipwreck as the Queen Anne’s Revenge.
This wreck was located in November 1996 by Intersal, Inc., with information provided to Operations Director Mike Daniel by company president Phil Masters. Archaeologists with the Underwater Archaeology Branch and N.C. Maritime Museum in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources have led research on the wreck for more than 12 years.
For information call Mark Wilde-Ramsing at (910) 458-9042 or Fay Mitchell at (919) 807-7389. The Department of Cultural Resources is the state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture, and podcasting 24/7 with information about the Department of Cultural Resources at www.ncculture.com.