Blackbeard's Ship the Queen Anne's Revenge Discovered According to Historian

A Historian claims shipwreck near Beaufort, North Carolina is Blackbeard's flagship.

In 1718 the flagship of the feared pirate Blackbeard (aka known as Edward Teach) was finally sunk off the North Carolina coast.

In an article by Raleigh News and Observer staff writer Jerry Allegood, we are brought up to date on the latest findings.

The actual wreck was discovered nearly a decade ago. At that time it was unclear just what ship had been discovered.

Now that a large quantity of artifacts Lindley Butler, historian for the Queen Anne's Revenge project, says the size of the ship, the number of cannon it carried and additional artifacts strengthen the connection to the pirate.

Captain Teach captured the French slave ship, 'La Concorde' and renamed it the Queen Anne's Revenge after Queen Anne who reigned in Britain from 1702 to 1714.

Lindley Butler is very confident that they have found everything except the painted name to prove that this is the one and only Queen Anne's Revenge.

Because the ship was under sand since its sinking, it was preserved in fairly good condition. Tidal conditions have changed off the coast of North Carolina and the wreck is currently in some danger. Richard Lawrence of the North Carolina underwater archaeology office said the state is planning several additional excavations at the site to recover material threatened by wave action and natural erosion.

The current estimate is that fifteen percent of the ship has been recovered.

Since the recovery project began in 1996 over 2000 individual artifacts have been recovered and preserved. Thousands of additional objects have been recovered but have not yet gone through the process of being preserved and identified.

To date the items that have been preserved include cannon, food preparation items, food storage items, medical equipment, ships equipment, scientific equipment and navigational aids.

The find presents some special opportunities in that the ship prior to being used as a pirate ship was first used by the French as a slave ship. Equipment from both uses has been found from the sight.