Blackbeard's cannon brings crowds to Beaufort

BEAUFORT, N.C. (WNCT)- Underwater archaeologists brought a nearly three hundred foot cannon from Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge to surface.  It took a heavy duty crane and a truck to move the artifact to Beaufort where crowds of people gathered to get a look. 

"It's exciting, it's fascinating, and I'm proud to be a part of it," said Jennifer Tripp who works for ECU.

So far they've recovered nearly 300,000 artifacts and the goal is to complete excavating by 2013. 

And while pirates are fascinating, people we spoke with say the museum is also bringing much needed revenue, in the form of tourism dollars to the town.

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RALEIGH, N.C. - A piece of pirate history that's been resting on the ocean floor for nearly than 300 years was brought to the surface Wednesday morning and is on its way to the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort.

Underwater archaeologists brought the eight-foot cannon from the wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge  around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning.

The cannon will be on display at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort Wednesday afternoon. 

The cannon has been resting at the bottom of the Beaufort Inlet since Blackbeard's flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge. The ship wrecked off North Carolina's coast in 1718.

To date, 12 other cannons have been recovered from the site.

Three of them are on exhibit. The others are being conserved at the Queen Anne's Revenge lab.

And you may recall, a dive team recovered the ship's anchor back in May.

The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources’ Underwater Archaeology Branch has led the research at the wreck site since 1997.  So far, 12 other cannons have been recovered.

“It’s like Christmas,” explains QAR Project Director Mark Wilde-Ramsing. “During an earlier expedition, one of the concretions actually held two cannons and lots of attachments that resembled nuts.  We called that one Baby Ruth!”

It may take years to discover the secrets of the cannon.  A research vessel from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will join the expedition on Wednesday.

There will be a public showing at the N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort at 12:30 the same afternoon. Archaeologists will discuss the cannon and other Fall Expedition 2011 finds including iron shackles, cannonballs, crystal wine glass stem, and the lid of a nesting cup.