Blackbeard ship update

Ten years and $2 million have yet to result in a "smoking blunderbuss" that proves a shipwreck off the coast of Beaufort belonged to the notorious pirate Blackbeard.

But researchers say they haven't found anything among the cannons, coins, anchors, and other artifacts to rule it out, either.

"Ten years of archaeological and historical research all say it's the Queen Anne's Revenge," said Lindley Butler of Wentworth, the historian on the shipwreck project. . .

But even if it turns out not to be the French slave ship many believe Blackbeard captured in 1717 and renamed Queen Anne's Revenge before it ran aground off Atlantic Beach a year later, the decade of research has been worth the effort, said Jerry Cashion, chairman of the N.C. Historical Commission.

"This is the most important maritime wreck in North Carolina regardless of what it is," Cashion said. "... It's a treasure trove."

Posted by David on June 5, 2007 10:41 AM