Avast Ye Scurvy Dawgs!

No, it is not National Talk Like A Pirate Day. It is a good day for historians though. Archeologists off the coast of North Carolina have been excavating a ship wreck for the past few weeks. The sight is believed to be the wreck of QUEEN ANNE’S REVENGE. For the uninformed, that is the flagship of the pirate Blackbeard.

Blackbeard for all his notoriety only sailed under the fabled skull and cross bones for about a year. He was quite successful though. He audaciously sailed Queen Anne’s Revenge into Charleston Harbor with just four sloops to accompany him. He proceeded to block the harbor and demanded a ransom before he left. Captain Blackbeard got his chest full of treasure and set to the sea, leaving without firing a shot or harming anyone.

Blackbeard and his fleet also had captured some forty ships before he lost his flag ship to an unintentional grounding off the coast of North Carolina. It is believed that this dig site (more of a sift site in the tide) is the famous Queen Anne’s Revenge. The Historical implications are that nautical historians will be able to look at a real pirate ship. This will enable us to learn more about the age of sail and the true nature of pirates.

It will also give us a peek at how his ship was modified from being a slaver to a man-o-war.

Undoubtedly it will also add to the mystique of a man that tied lit slow burning cannon fuses into his beard to intimidate his prey rather than fire the lead at them, after all, unlike today, you couldn’t plunder what you sank.