News From the Department
Buckles, Bell And Golden Weight: Queen Anne’s Revenge Treasures
Contact:
For more information
contact Mark Wilde-Ramsing at (252) 726-6841, ext. 169 or
Fay Mitchell Henderson at (919) 807-7389.
(BEAUFORT—Nov. 17) – Buckles from shoes and possibly a bandolier (belt worn across the shoulder with weapons), a brass coin weight to measure gold coins true, and a bell to toll of impending doom. These are a few of the tiny treasures recovered from the fall dive at the presumed Queen Anne’s Revenge(QAR) shipwreck site near Beaufort. The QAR, the pirate Blackbeard’s flagship, was lost in Beaufort Inlet in June 1718.
A petite cannon, silver spoon, and little flakes of gold also were among the artifacts raised from about 20-feet of water. Researchers with the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources conducted a dive expedition from Oct. 2-Nov. 3 to rescue fragile artifacts and continue examination of the shipwreck that was located by Intersal, Inc. in November 1996.
The artifacts were displayed at a news conference at the N.C. Maritime Museum, repository for QAR artifacts, on Friday, Nov. 17. After 10 years, the site has yielded tens of thousands of artifacts, including cannons, pewter platters, wine bottles, lead shot and other period appropriate artifacts.
“We are really excited to recover another bell, even though we don’t know if it was the ship’s bell,” said Mark Wilde-Ramsing, QAR project director. “It is smaller than the bell recovered with the 1705 date, and we hope to learn more when the concretions are removed.”
Concretions create a cement-like coating of sand, shells, and sediment around metal objects that have been in the ocean for extended periods. It can take five years in conservation for objects such as large cannons to be restored. The small rail cannon of about 15 inches recovered this fall should take less time to conserve. It would be one of 40 weapons carried on the well-armed QAR.
A panel reviewed this fall’s dive and the progress of the research at the wreck site. Participants included Wilde-Ramsing, State Archaeologist Steve Claggett, Conservators Sarah Watkins-Kenney and Wendy Walsh, Nautical Archaeologist David Moore, Field Director Chris Southerly, and John Masters with Intersal, Inc,
For additional information about the project, visit www.qaronline.org, or contact Mark Wilde-Ramsing at (252) 726-6841, ext. 169. The QAR Shipwreck Project and the N.C. Maritime Museum are part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Now podcasting 24/7 with information about the Department of Cultural Resources, all available at www.ncculture.com.
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