Main Anchor from Blackbeard’s Ship Recovered from Shipwreck off N.C. Coast

Main Anchor from Blackbeard’s Ship Recovered from Shipwreck off N.C. Coast
By Nick Vega

This is in no way a publicity stunt or marketing strategy for the new “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie that was just released. Archaeologists recovered the main anchor from what is widely believed to be the wreck of “Queen Anne’s Revenge”—the famed flagship of notorious pirate Blackbeard—off the coast of North Carolina on Friday.

Covered in a mixture of sea shells, sand and other debris, the anchor is 11 feet, 4 inches long with arms spanning 7 feet, 7 inches.  It weighs an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 pounds, making it the third largest artifact to be removed from the wreck that was found in 1996.  All of the nearly 300-year-old artifacts thus far recovered—including the anchor—will be on display at the N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort beginning on June 11.

Officials from the state are very excited for the addition to their exhibit, as they are hoping renewed interest in the shipwreck, thanks in large part to the very popular Disney films starring Johnny Depp, will help drive tourism to the state.  Both Blackbeard and the “Queen Anne’s Revenge” appear in the franchise’s latest installment, “On Stranger Tides,” which was released last week and quickly jumped to the top of the box office.

The anchor is likely the main one used by the ship, as the other two on board were most likely used in case of emergencies such as storms.

The “Queen Anne’s Revenge” was originally a French slave ship of a different name before it was captured and renamed by Blackbeard in 1717.  It became his primary ship used until it ran aground and ultimately sank around May or June 1718.  Its shipwreck site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The scavenging team hopes to have all of the pieces of the ship recovered from the ocean floor by the end of 2013.