Arrrrr Matey
An interesting find off the coast of North Carolina.
From
CNN/AP:
Is it Blackbeard's ship? Archaeological booty says aye
A shipwreck off the North Carolina coast believed to be that of notorious pirate Blackbeard could be fully excavated in three years, officials working on the project said.
"That's really our target," Steve Claggett, the state archaeologist, said Friday while discussing 10 years of research that has been conducted since the shipwreck was found just off Atlantic Beach.
Archaeologists and historians planned Friday to review 10 years of research on the shipwreck. It is the oldest shipwreck discovered off the North Carolina coast.
The ship ran aground in 1718, and some researchers believe it was a French slave ship Blackbeard captured in 1717 and renamed Queen Anne's Revenge.
Several officials said historical data and coral-covered artifacts recovered from the site -- including 25 cannons, which experts said was an uncommonly large number to find on a ship in the region in the early 18th century -- remove any doubt the wreckage belonged to Blackbeard.
Three university professors, including two from East Carolina University, have challenged the findings. But officials working on the excavation said Friday that the more they find, the stronger their case becomes.
"Historians have really looked at it thoroughly and don't feel that there's any possibility anything else is in there that was not recorded," said Mark Wilde-Ramsing, director of the Queen Anne's Revenge Project. "And the artifacts continue to support it."
Must be a fun thing to be working on. The history from that era is fascinating with the expansion of trade and the growth of the pirates to harvest the ships coming back to Europe. The growth of the Privateers to deal with this as well as to wage war between nations...
Posted by DaveH at March 4, 2007 5:41 PM