Rare piece of history displayed

On 23/10/2009
In Expeditions
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By Josh Humphries - The Daily Reflector

An anchor believed to be from Blackbeard's flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, was taken from the water by researchers with the QAR Project, a state-funded research expedition that will eventually bring up 700,000 individual artifacts.

The anchor was displayed at the QAR Conservation Lab on the East Carolina University West Research Campus on Thursday afternoon.

Historians say that the infamous pirate and his ship ran aground in 1718 in Beaufort Inlet. The wreckage, which was first found in 1996, is located about a mile from Fort Macon in 25 feet of water.

As more artifacts are recovered researchers are more and more confident that the wreckage is what remains of Blackbeard's ship.

“This is the oldest shipwreck we have worked on in North Carolina,” Mark Wilde-Ramsing, QAR project manager, said. “It is associated with Blackbeard and every artifact is important for understanding what was going on at the time.”