Navigational instruments recovered from Blackbeard’s flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge

You cannot live in North Carolina very long without learning about the state’s place in colonial pirate lore. The most famous privateer to prowl our coasts was Edward Teach (or Thatch), more commonly called Blackbeard.

In late 1717, Blackbeard attacked and commandeered the French merchant ship La Concorde. After dumping the frigate’s crew and cargo at Bequia, he renamed her Queen Anne’s Revenge. Almost 180 years later, in November 1996, the submerged remnants of Queen Anne’s Revenge were discovered under sand and a mere 25 feet of water near Fort Macon State Park. It is now designated as NC Shipwreck site 31CR314, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Since then, salvageable items from Queen Anne’s Revenge have been recovered and preserved by the QAR Conservation Laboratory at East Carolina University. Items that have been cleaned and prepared are on display at the NC Maritime Museum in Beaufort.

Blackbeard Exhibit at the NC Maritime Museum, Beaufort, NC

Our children have been pleading for us to take them to Beaufort to see the artifacts for a while now, so we recently made the trek over to the coast. The following pictures are just a tiny sample of the items that are on display. Enjoy!

One of the two bells from Blackbeard’s flagship

Shot recovered from the wreckage

Several cannons have been recovered from the ocean floor