File:Coast watch (1979) (20473172859).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_12 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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The rocks are a volcanic variety found in the Caribbean and in France. A Caribbean identity wouldn't add anything conclusive to the story. But if analysis shows minerals unique to Nantes, France, where the Concorde first floated, the ballast could point to Blackbeard. "If we do identify them as being French in origin, that would be an important clue as well," says Crow. While awaiting results of such studies and combing archives for more overlooked we'd expect to find Queen Anne's Re- venge" Crow says. A pewter syringe brought up last fall could be the renowned pirate's mark. Blackbeard had blockaded Charleston's port for a week before heading up the coast toward Beaufort. "One of the things he was trying to secure was medical supplies for his crew," Crow says. Some accounts say syphilis was widespread among the men. A pair of chart dividers, also brought
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Transfer of the cannon requires patience and precision. uriesy of The News & Observer records, experts contend everything they know so far supports the theory the wreck is what's left of Queen Anne's Revenge. And nothing contradicts it. All items identified so far predate the 1718 sinking. The bronze bell, one of the first items brought to the surface, is inscribed with the date 1709, and the name IHS Maria. Historians theorize the foot-tall bell was taken from a captured vessel or a plundered port town. Pewter dishes made by London pewterer George Hammond date to the early 1700s. Two onion-shaped English wine bottles are circa 1714. "That puts us precisely in the period up in 1998, is identical to the navigational tool in use today. Others instruments recovered are not so recognizable. "We aren't altogether sure what they are," Crow says. "Some probably have to do with navigation." Many items might have been common aboard any ship of the times, Crow cautions. "We can't say that these were Blackbeard's," Crow says. "But they give us important evidence we hope to develop further." Historians also are studying what is left underwater and its positioning. The compact debris field indicates the ship sank steadily, as one aground would do, rather than tearing apart in a storm. The smallest of three anchors, set 400 feet south of the site, suggests the long-ago sailors tried to kedge off the sandbar. The anchors are large enough to eliminate the possibility that the wreck is Adventure, Blackbeard's smaller sloop that sank at the same time, possibly while assisting Queen Anne's Re\>enge. Adven- ture has not been found. Hurricane Bonnie in August 1998 reburied some of the wreck, but it also exposed a 27-by-8-foot section of hull. The timber is perfectly preserved by decades in the sand. "You can see the grain work. You can see the little wooden pegs," says Mark Wilde-Ramsey of the N.C. Underwater Archeology Unit, who led the 1998 dive project. The wood could fill in several blanks in the shipwreck's story. It will be analyzed and carbon-dated, and the hull shape will be studied for signs the holds were designed for human cargo. The 90-foot Concorde was built of white oak in about 1713 as a slave ship, records say. The three-masted ship had a carrying capacity of 200 tons, a 25-foot beam and a draft of 121/2 feet. As Queen Anne's Revenge, it accommodated 125 to 150 pirates. Divers have counted 18 cannons so far in the jumbled mass. Their number and varying size are strong testimony the wreck was Blackbeard's flagship. Queen Anne's Revenge was armed with 40 of the big cast-iron guns. Three have been brought up for conservation. 'It almost seems like anywhere you go out there and dig, you find cannons," says Richard Lawrence, head of the underwater archeology unit. Merchant ships of the period probably carried fewer, smaller cannons, experts say, and a naval vessel's firepower would have been more uniform in size. Smaller armament also points to pirates. Lead shot, found in large quanti- ties, ranges in caliber from the size of a BB to the diameter of a dime. "These could be used in pistols, Continued COASTWATCH 15

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