Queen Anne's Revenge

Hello friends, today I want to talk about the discovery of the wreck of one of the most legendary pirate ships in history.

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"Queen Anne's Revenge" was the emblematic ship of the pirate Blackbeard. In it, Blackbeard sailed the western coast of Africa and the Caribbean, and attacked ships of various nationalities, especially English, Dutch and Portuguese ships.

The ship was a frigate that originally had the name "Concord" and is believed was built in Bristol, Great Britain in 1.710 but was stolen by the French two years later, being renamed "La Concorde" and used for the slave trade.

In 1.717 the ship was taken in the Caribbean Sea, near the island of Martinique by Captain Benjamin Hornigold, who equipped it with 20 cannons and transformed it into a pirate ship. Hornigold is dismissed as Captain and Edward Teach (Blackbeard) takes over, equips him with 20 more cannons and changes the name to "Queen Anne's Revenge". It is believed that this name comes from the War of the Spanish Succession, which was known in America as the Queen Anne's War, in which Edward Teach would have served in the Royal Navy or possibly because he sympathized with Queen Anne.

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Little is known about the life of Edward Teach, it is thought that he was a sailor of the Royal Navy and that after the War of the Spanish Succession he began his criminal activities at the command of Captain Benjamin Hornigold. Blackbeard was terrifying, with fierce eyes, tangled black hair and beard, framed in smoke (it is said that he lit special matches with slow burning under his hat), he looked like a demon out of hell . He carried three pistols, daggers and cutlasses around his waist. Nevertheless there are versions that say that this aspect was only to impress, because in general, it did not execute someone unless he himself was in danger.

Blackbeard caused havoc with his ship, assaulting the British sea lanes of various supplies going to and from the American colonies.

Shortly after blocking the port of Charleston in May of 1.718, and refusing to accept the governor's offer of a pardon, Blackbeard sails "The Revenge of Queen Anne" in June to at the entrance of Beaufort and it runs aground. Some say that the sinking of the ship was planned by Teach, who moved to another smaller ship of his fleet, the sloop "Adventure" along with his belongings and his men of trust, dividing his crew of about 300 to 400 men, retaining the most select booty for him. The rest of his crew was roaming on a small nearby island and were later rescued by Captain Stede Bonnet.

Shortly after this incident Blackbeard accepts the pardon of hands of the Governor of North Carolina , Charle Eden, nevertheless returns to the piracy and dies in November of 1.718 in combat with the Lieutenant Robert Maynard and its troops, who make run aground the "Adventure ", boarding the ship. In combat Blackbeard suffers 25 wounds, five of them by bullets. After bleeding, Maynard cut off his head.

The ship "Queen Anne's Revenge" spends almost 300 years at the bottom of the ocean, being discovered in November 1996 in Beaufort Inlet, off the coast of North Carolina, when divers of a private company (Intersal, Inc) reported a mound of artifacts. The archaeological excavations began in 1.997. Part of the ship's hull was recovered, 13 cannons, about 3,000 concretions and ballast stones, 2 anchors, the stern post, part of the hull decking and a total count of objects of approximately 280,000 pieces (of which 250,000 are from lead). The artifacts of the shipwreck have been excavated and taken to the conservation laboratory at the University of East Carolina.

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Everyone wondered at first if it could really be "Queen Anne's Revenge", since it could have been the "Adventure" sloop lost at the same time or another of the similar ships of Blackbeard's fleet: the sloop "Revenge" " Other ships also lost in the same area are the Spanish "El Salvador" (1750), the "Susannah" schooner (1753), the "Betsy" sloop (1771) and the "Polly" sloop (1793). The archaeological investigations confirmed that it was "The Revenge of Queen Anne."

The collection of artifacts collected reflects many aspects of the maritime culture of the early eighteenth century. Parts of the ship and equipment, weapons, scientific instruments, navigation and medical, personal effects and articles of preparation and storage of food have already been recovered from the wreck. By studying the artifacts, archaeologists can obtain valuable information about the naval technology of the period, the colonial supply, the slave trade, life on board and the culture of piracy.

Below I present a selection of photos of some of the artifacts found.

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The image on the left represents one of the ship's anchors and the one on the right one of the cannons.

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The image on the left corresponds to a bronze bell and the one on the right to a divider (navigation tool)

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The image on the left corresponds to two "onion-type" bottles, which most likely contained liquor and the one on the right to the hilt of a sword.

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The image on the left corresponds to an iron hook used in the rigging of the ship and the one on the right to lead shots.

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The image on the left corresponds to a filter that prevented the entrance of debris to the pump that remove water from the bilge and the one on the left to a grenade

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The image on the right corresponds to a few apothecary weights to use in scales and the one on the right to a mortar and pestle.

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The image on the right corresponds to a pewter plate and the one on the right to a spoon.

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The image on the right corresponds to a button and the one on the right to a lead tacks.

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The image on the right corresponds to a brass side-plate of a gun and the one on the right to a urethral syringe to treat venereal diseases (administered mercury).

It can take many years for some artifacts to complete the necessary conservation steps before being displayed (especially the separation of concrete blocks), but the idea is that they will be exhibited in the future as a complete collection in a museum that helps the general public to learn more about the maritime culture and the world of shipwrecks.

I hope you liked it, see you in the next post.

Data of the review taken from:

1. https://www.archaeological.org/news/currentprojects/11938
2. https://www.archaeological.org/news/currentprojects/9596
3. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venganza_de_la_Reina_Ana
4. https://web.archive.org/web/20060528191250/http://www.qaronline.org/archaeology/arcintro.htm
5. https://web.archive.org/web/20060528192830/http://www.qaronline.org/archaeology/archReports.html
6. https://web.archive.org/web/20081201103604/http://www.cdnn.info/news/industry/i050715.html
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Anne%27s_Revenge
8. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbanegra