ARCHAEOLOGISTS
TAP BLACKBEARD'S SHIP
Copyright 2005 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ May 25th 2005 ]
Marine
archaeologists have salvaged another cannon from
an underwater debris field thought to belong to
the sunken wreck of notorious pirate Blackbeard.
The site, two miles off the coast of Atlantic
Beach, NC, has so far surrendered more than 20
cannons and over 16,000 artifacts, according to
Associated
Press.
"We knew
it the first day and we still have absolutely
no doubt that she's the Queen Anne's Revenge,"
said Phil Masters, whose Florida-based research
firm located the wreckage in 1996. "There is no
other ship lost at Beaufort Inlet with anything
more than 10 cannon, nor more than 110 tons that
we know of."
According
to AP, the expedition is the first for the researchers
since a pair of professors published an article
in a scholarly journal last month casting doubt
about the find, saying it looks more like a mid-18th
century merchant ship. "Until such time as we
find that absolute one artifact that has initials
in it, we'll continue to keep the door open, but
I can tell you that door's just about closed,"
Project Directed Wilde-Ramsing told Associated
Press.
Blackbeard,
whose real name was believed to be Edward Teach
or Thatch, led a band of sea robbers who plagued
the shipping lanes off North America and the Caribbean
in the early 18th century.
|