Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge sailing back to Beaufort

On 31/03/2011
In Museum News
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The North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort

By George Crocker - WNCT

For the first time in nearly 300 years, Blackbeard’s flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, returns to North Carolina.

It's happening this June in a new exhibit at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort.

It was 1718 when the notorious pirate ran his ship aground in Beaufort Inlet. That's roughly two miles from where the Museum stands today.

“We’re piecing together untold stories of Blackbeard, his crew and the ship, that we’ll be able to share with the public through the diligent work of the Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project team and the artifacts they’ve recovered and conserved,” said North Carolina Maritime Museums Director Joseph Schwarzer.

Shifting sands and waterways kept the shipwreck's location a mystery until 1996. That's when the private company, Intersal, Inc. discovered it. For 13 years, archaeologists with the N.C. Underwater Archaeology Branch have led research and recovery on the wreck.

The Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Lab in Greenville has cleaned artifacts and prepared them for exhibition as they have been collected.

The new exhibit opens on June 11th. It takes up about a third of the Museum's exhibit space, illuminating the life of pirates aboard the ship with artifacts, interactive features and fun facts.