Ask anyone who's lived in North Carolina who the most famous pirate is and you'll probably hear the name Blackbeard. The man is a legend across the state's coastline. But did you know that the coast of Beaufort is home to the resting place of one of the pirate's famous ships? We take you inside the history of the swashbuckler and the fight to save Queen Anne’s Revenge.
He put fear into the hearts of those at home and on the waters but Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, left this town one of his most prized possessions, his flagship. Before Beaufort was even on the map, Blackbeard made the area his stomping grounds. He's believed to have hung out at what's known as The Hammock House.
"There’s a house that's show as the white house on the old charts that marks Beaufort Inlet and he is supposed to have spent nights there, eat, and drank grog and so forth," Beaufort Mayor Richard Stanley said.
After years of terror on the high seas, Blackbeard’s luck soon ran out, by running the Queen Anne’s Revenge aground in June 1718. Six months later, the pillaging pirate was killed in a battle at Ocracoke Inlet. But, it's his beloved ship that keeps his legacy alive today.
In 1996, a group discovered the presumed shipwreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge and ever since then, archaeologists have been working to restore the pieces linked to the pirate.
"We’ve recovered a little bit of everything...the cannons have been removed from the site. We have at least 24 large cannon that have been recorded on the site," David Moore, Curator of Nautical Archaeology, NC Maritime Museum said.
Those and other pieces like cannon balls, lead shots, ceramics, glass bottles and bells are on display at the maritime museum in Beaufort, artifacts recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic.
"It pretty much adds a lot to its significance and to the excitement of a lot of people here in NC that we have such a notorious historical figure associated with our state," Moore said.
The shipwreck and the pirate are special pieces of history for folks in this town to call their own.
"Basically grab hold of him and say 'welcome back, welcome home' and hopefully we can continue to work on this shipwreck and continue to keep that in the forefront of people's minds," Moore said.
You can learn more about Blackbeard and the recovery efforts for the Queen Anne’s Revenge by typing in the keyword: Blackbeard.
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