The 23rd cannon recovered from the Queen Anne’s Revenge wreck site will be one of the stars of the free Open House at the Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Lab in Greenville Nov. 15, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The 4-foot cannon and other artifacts recovered during the Oct. 6-27 expedition will be displayed.
The open house will allow visitors of all ages to learn about recovery and conservation of Blackbeard’s cannons. Visitors can look through a microscope at the smallest objects recovered over the years and see mysteries revealed in x-rays.
Archaeologists with the Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB) in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources executed the fall excavation at the wreck site of Blackbeard’s flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge (QAR), near Beaufort. In addition to the cannon, nine cannonballs, bar shot halves, an iron bolt and a grenade were recovered.
Among researchers on the excavation was conservator Kimberly Kenyon, who recorded and tagged each artifact as it was reclaimed from the sea. The cannon was an expected recovery, the grenade was not.
In a recent press release, Kenyon said, “We knew cannonballs were attached to the cannon, but the grenade was something of a surprise. It’s hollow in the center and would have been filled with gunpowder. Now we have recovered seven grenades and 23 cannons. We brought them all to the conservation lab for treatment.”
Kenyon and UAB archaeologist/C\conservator Nathan Henry prepared the cannon for lifting. The initial plan had been to recover two cannons. Weather conditions and the difficulty of separating the two cannons required the team to work on one complex mass at the site composed of four cannons and an anchor held together by a coating of sand, marine life and shells called concretion.
When the recovered cannon was lifted, yet another small cannon was discovered. Historical records indicate Blackbeard equipped the QAR with 40 guns, so additional cannons not yet mapped may be discovered.
Cannons, platters, medical and scientific instruments used by 18th century pirates have rested on the floor of the Atlantic since 1718. Tens of thousands of artifacts have been recovered. Archaeologists and historians with the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources have led recovery efforts at the shipwreck site since 1997.
The Queen Anne’s Revenge ran aground in Beaufort in June 1718. Intersal, Inc., a private research firm, discovered the site believed to be Queen Anne’s Revenge Nov. 21, 1996. QAR was located near Beaufort Inlet, N.C., by Intersal’s director of operations, Mike Daniel, who used historical research provided by Intersal’s president, Phil Masters. Daniel now heads up Maritime Research Institute, the nonprofit corporation formed to work on the project in cooperation with state archaeologists and historians of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History.
The Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project is within the Office of State Archaeology in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. For additional information, please call (252) 744-6721.
