Queen Anne's Revenge
|
1736
|
| History |
United Kingdom |
| Name: |
HMS Concord |
| Launched: |
1710 |
| Captured: |
by France in 1711 |
| History |
France |
| Name: |
La Concorde de Nantes |
| Captured: |
By Benjamin Hornigold in 1717, placed under the command of Blackbeard |
| History |
Pirates |
| Name: |
Queen Anne's Revenge |
| Fate: |
Ran aground in 1718 near Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina |
| General characteristics |
| Class & type: |
Frigate |
| Tons burthen: |
300 bm |
| Length: |
31.4 m (103 ft) |
| Beam: |
7.1 m (24.6 ft) |
| Complement: |
125 |
| Armament: |
40 cannon |
Queen Anne's Revenge
|
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
|
| Nearest city |
Atlantic Beach, North Carolina |
| Area |
less than one acre |
| Built |
1710 |
Queen Anne's Revenge was a frigate, most famously used as a flagship by the pirate Blackbeard (Edward Teach). She had been launched by the Royal Navy in 1710, and captured by France in 1711. She was used as a slave ship by the French, and was captured by pirates in 1717. Blackbeard used the ship for less than a year,
but captured numerous prizes using her.
In 1718 Blackbeard ran the ship aground at Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina, in the present-day Carteret County.
Her crew and supplies were transferred to smaller ships. In 1996 a
private firm discovered the remains of a vessel likely to be
Queen Anne's Revenge, which has been added to the US National Register of Historic Places.
History

The 300-ton vessel, originally named
Concord, was a frigate
built in England in 1710.
She was captured by the French one year later. The ship was modified to hold more cargo, including slaves, and renamed
La Concorde de Nantes. Sailing as a slave ship, she was captured by the pirate Captain Benjamin Hornigold on November 28, 1717, near the island of Martinique. Hornigold turned her over to one of his men, Edward Teach (later known as Blackbeard), and made him her captain.
Blackbeard made
La Concorde into his flagship, adding cannon and renaming her
Queen Anne's Revenge. The name may come from the War of the Spanish Succession, known in the Americas as Queen Anne's War, in which Blackbeard had served in the Royal Navy, or possibly from sympathy for Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch.
Blackbeard sailed this ship from the west coast of Africa to the Caribbean, attacking British, Dutch, and Portuguese merchant ships along the way.
Shortly after blockading Charleston harbor in May 1718, and refusing to accept the Governor's offer of a pardon, Blackbeard ran
Queen Anne's Revenge aground while entering Beaufort Inlet. He disbanded his flotilla and escaped by transferring supplies onto a smaller ship,
Adventure. He stranded several crew members on a small island nearby, where they were later rescued by Captain Stede Bonnet. Some
suggest Blackbeard deliberately grounded the ship as an excuse to
disperse the crew. Shortly afterward, Blackbeard did surrender and
accepted a royal pardon for himself and his remaining crewmen from Governor Charles Eden at Bath, North Carolina. However, he eventually returned to piracy and was killed in combat in November 1718.
Discovery and archaeological excavation of shipwreck
Intersal Inc., a private research firm, discovered the wreck believed to be
Queen Anne’s Revenge (QAR) on November 21, 1996.
It was located by Intersal's director of operations, Mike Daniel, who
used historical research provided by Intersal's president, Phil Masters
and maritime archaeologist David Moore.
The shipwreck lies in 28 feet (8.5m) of water about one mile (1.6 km) offshore of Fort Macon State Park (34°41′44″N 76°41′20″W), Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Thirty-one cannon have been identified to date and more than 250,000 artifacts have been recovered.
The cannon are of different origins such as; Swedish, English and
possibly French, and of different sizes as would be expected with a
colonial pirate crew.
Recognizing the significance of the
Queen Anne's Revenge, the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR), Intersal, and Maritime Research Institute (“MRI”) entered into a memorandum of agreement in 1998.
Intersal agreed to forego entitlement to any coins and precious metals
recovered from QAR in order that all QAR artifacts remain as one intact
collection, and in order for NCDCR to determine the ultimate disposition
of the artifacts. In return, Intersal was granted media, replica, and
other rights related to Blackbeard’s
Queen Anne's Revenge Shipwreck Project;
MRI was granted joint QAR artifact touring rights with NCDCR. NCDCR, Intersal, and Rick Allen of Nautilus Productions signed a new collaborative agreement
on October 24, 2013 connected to QAR commercial, replica, and
promotional opportunities for the benefit of QAR. The State of North
Carolina owns QAR since the wreck lies in state waters (within the 3
mile limit).
For one week in 2000 and 2001, live underwater video of the project was webcast to the Internet as a part of the
QAR DiveLive educational program that reached thousands of children around the world.
Created and co-produced by Nautilus Productions
and Marine Grafics, this project enabled students to talk to scientists
and learn about methods and technologies utilized by the underwater archaeology team.
In November 2006 and 2007, more artifacts were discovered at the site
and brought to the surface. The additional artifacts appear to support
the claim that the wreck is that of
Queen Anne's Revenge. Among
current evidence to support this theory is that the cannon were found
loaded. In addition, there were more cannon than would be expected for a
ship of this size, and the cannon were of different makes. Depth
markings on the part of the stern that was recovered point to it having
been made according to the French foot measurements.
By the end of 2007, approximately 1/3 of the wreck was fully excavated. Artifacts are undergoing conservation. The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources set up the website
Queen Anne's Revenge to build on intense public interest in the finds. Artifacts recovered in 2008 include loose ceramic and pewter fragments, lead strainer fragments, a nesting weight, cannon apron, ballast stones, a sword guard and a coin.
Goals during the 2010 field season included; staging of one of the
ship’s largest main deck cannons from to the large artifact holding area
on site, taking corrosion readings from anchors and cannon undergoing in situ
corrosion treatment, attaching aluminum-alloy anodes to the remaining
anchors and cannon so as to begin their in situ corrosion treatment and
continuing site excavations.
In 2011, the 1.4-tonne (3,100 lb) anchor from the ship was brought to
the surface along with a range of makeshift weaponry including langrage
or canister shot.
On August 29, 2011, the National Geographic Society reported that the State of North Carolina had confirmed the shipwreck as the
Queen Anne's Revenge, reversing a conclusion previously maintained because of a lack of conclusive evidence.
On June 21, 2013, the National Geographic Society reported recovery of cannon from
Queen Anne's Revenge.
On October 28, 2013, archaeologists recovered five more cannon from the wreck.
Three of these guns have been identified as 6-pounder iron cannon manufactured at Ehrendals
works in Södermanland, Sweden, in 1713. Thomas Roth, the Head of
Sweden's Armament Museum Research Department, derived the origin of the
iron cannon by a mark on the cannon tubes.
The 23rd of 31 cannon identified on the
Queen Anne's Revenge
wreck site was recovered on Friday, October 24, 2014. The newest gun is
approximately 56" long, weighs over 300 lbs and may be a sister to a
Swedish gun that was previously recovered. Nine cannonballs, bar shot halves, an iron bolt and a grenado were also recovered during the 2014 field season.
On August 18, 2015 the State of North Carolina passed a new law
laying claim to "all photographs, video recordings, or other documentary
materials of a derelict vessel or shipwreck or its contents, relics,
artifacts, or historic materials in the custody of any agency of North
Carolina government or its subdivisions."
On October 30, 2015, after seven weeks of work, a small 50" long cannon
weighing between 150 and 200 pounds was recovered during the fall field
season.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.