Queen Anne’s Revenge, believed to be the flagship of the romanticized pirate “Blackbeard” allegedly ran aground on the North Carolina Coast in 1718.
Archeologists began a project to pull artifacts from the water and examine them in 1996 when the ship was finally discovered.
The vessel’s third largest artifact was pulled from the ocean floor on Friday— a nearly 3,000 lb anchor, reports CNN.
“Researchers retrieved the anchor from the shipwreck about 20 feet (6.1 meters) under water and were bringing it to shore,” says CNN.
“The work to retrieve it began last week. The anchor is about 11 feet (3.3 meters) long.”
Conservation of the anchor could take up to four years, reports say.
What can we hope to learn from the new artifact?
“The expedition is trying to score a trove of 18th-century goods,” says CNN, “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.”
Also— “By studying the artifacts, archaeologists are beginning to gain valuable insight into the period’s naval technology, colonial provisioning, the slave trade, shipboard life, and the material culture of piracy,” says the project’s website.
“The recovery coincides with the release this month of “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.” says AP. “The movie features both Blackbeard and the Queen Anne’s Revenge.”
About Queen Anne’s Revenge:
“In November 1717, English pirates captured the French slave-ship La Concorde near the island of Martinique. Led by the notorious Blackbeard, the pirates converted La Concorde into their flagship and renamed the vessel Queen Anne’s Revenge,” says a website dedicated to the ship.
“After spending the winter searching for prizes in the Caribbean the pirate fleet consisting of Queen Anne’s Revenge and three smaller sloops, blockaded the port of Charleston in May 1718.”
“Continuing up the coast, Blackbeard lost his flagship while attempting to enter Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina and five months later he was killed in a bloody battle at Ocracoke.”
