Monday, October 30, 2006

 

Retrieval of heavy cannons from Blackbeard ship likely delayed

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International Herald Times
October 30, 2006

ATLANTIC BEACH, North Carolina Excavators of the sunken ship of the notorious pirate Blackbeard will have to wait to get the ship's cannons because of a lack of equipment.

Divers with the Queen Anne's Revenge Project say they may have to wait until spring because they do not have the right vessel to lift the cannon.

They have also determined that the 2,600-pound (1,170-kilogram) sternpost needs to come up at the same time as the cannons, and that the archaeology lab set to receive it is not yet ready, said Chris Southerly, project archaeologist.

The cannons weighs up to 2,500 pounds (1,125 kilograms), he said. Smaller cannons pulled from the shipwreck have weighed up to 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms).

Project officials said at the beginning of the six-week dive on Oct. 2 that they planned to recover up to four cannons this fall.

Blackbeard, whose real name was widely believed to be Edward Teach or Thatch, was tracked down at Ocracoke Inlet by volunteers from the Royal Navy and killed in a battle on Nov. 22, 1718. The Queen Anne's Revenge is believed to have sunk the same year.

The ship, discovered in November 1996, is the oldest shipwreck found off the North Carolina coast.

ATLANTIC BEACH, North Carolina Excavators of the sunken ship of the notorious pirate Blackbeard will have to wait to get the ship's cannons because of a lack of equipment.

Divers with the Queen Anne's Revenge Project say they may have to wait until spring because they do not have the right vessel to lift the cannon.

They have also determined that the 2,600-pound (1,170-kilogram) sternpost needs to come up at the same time as the cannons, and that the archaeology lab set to receive it is not yet ready, said Chris Southerly, project archaeologist.

The cannons weighs up to 2,500 pounds (1,125 kilograms), he said. Smaller cannons pulled from the shipwreck have weighed up to 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms).

Project officials said at the beginning of the six-week dive on Oct. 2 that they planned to recover up to four cannons this fall.

Blackbeard, whose real name was widely believed to be Edward Teach or Thatch, was tracked down at Ocracoke Inlet by volunteers from the Royal Navy and killed in a battle on Nov. 22, 1718. The Queen Anne's Revenge is believed to have sunk the same year.

The ship, discovered in November 1996, is the oldest shipwreck found off the North Carolina coast.


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