Queen Anne's Revenge

Career
Name:	Queen Anne's Revenge
Launched:	1710
Renamed:	Launched as Concord La Concorde in 1711 Queen Anne's Revenge in 1717
Captured:	By France in 1711 By Benjamin Hornigold and Blackbeard in 1717
Fate:	Run aground in 1718 near Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina (34°41′44″N 76°41′20″W)
General characteristics
Tons burthen:	300 bm
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	1717
Governing body	State
NRHP Reference #	04000148[1]
Added to NRHP	March 9, 2004

Queen Anne's Revenge was the name of the flagship of the English pirate known as Blackbeard. She was used by him for less than a year,^[2] but was an effective tool in his prize-taking.

In 1718, Blackbeard ran the ship aground at Beaufort Inlet, Carteret County, North Carolina, in the present-day United States.^[2] In late 1996, Intersal, a private contractor working for the state of North Carolina in marine recovery, discovered the remains of a vessel likely to be the Queen Anne's Revenge.

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. Teach's first mate, Christopher Blackwood (known as Blackbeard's Claw), was feared as a ferocious fighter and led many of Blackbeard's boarding parties.

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.^[3] 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, the 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.

Discovery and archaeological excavation of shipwreck

Intersal Inc., a private research firm, discovered the wreck believed to be Queen Anne’s Revenge 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 archaeologist David Moore.^[4] The vessel is in the Atlantic Ocean in shallow water offshore from Fort Macon State Park (34°41′44″N 76°41′20″W), Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Several of the cannons and more than 16,000 artifacts have been recovered; however, none appear to be of French origin, as would be expected from a French slave ship. They are mostly British, as would be expected with a colonial pirate crew.

For one week in 2000 and 2001, live underwater video of the project was uploaded to the Internet as a part of the DiveLive educational program that reached thousands of children around the world.^[5] This project enabled students to talk to scientists and learn about methods and technologies utilized by the archaeology team.

Project Director Mark Wilde-Ramsing of the North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch supervised recovery of artifacts from the site through the 2007 field season. 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 have been made according to the French foot measurements.^[6]

By the end of 2007, approximately 1/3 of the wreck was fully excavated. Artifacts are undergoing conservation. The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources set up the website^[7] Queen Anne's Revenge to build on intense public interest in the finds.

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.^[8][9]

On August 29, 2011, the National Geographic Society reported that the shipwreck had been confirmed as Queen Anne's Revenge.^[10]

On June 21, 2013, the National Geographic Society reported recovery of cannons from Queen Anne's Revenge.^[11]

On October 28, 2013, archaeologists recovered five more cannons from the wreck.^[12] Three of these guns have been identified as 6-pounder iron cannons manufactured at Ehrendals works in Södermanland, Sweden, in 1713. Thomas Roth (Swedish Army Museum) has derived iron cannon to the origin by a mark on the cannon tubes.

National Register of Historic Places

Queen Anne's Revenge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The reference number is 04000148. It is listed as owned by the state of North Carolina and near Morehead City.^[13]

In popular culture

• "Queen Anne's Revenge" is a jazz song recorded by the Sean J. Kennedy Quartet featuring drummer Liberty DeVitto.^[14]
• Queen Anne's Revenge appears in the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, played by Sunset, a ship which previously portrayed Black Pearl in the film's predecessors: Dead Man's Chest and At World's End.^[15] This incarnation of the ship was shown to shoot Greek fire from its prow. Queen Anne's Revenge also appeared in the Pirates of the Caribbean Online video game.^[16]

• "Queen Anne's Revenge" is the name of a Flogging Molly song on the album Within a Mile of Home.

• Queen Anne's Revenge is the name of a punk quartet from Arkansas.^{[citation needed]}

• Queen Anne's Revenge also appears in the video game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

• Queen Anne's Revenge also appears in the video game Sid Meier's Pirates.

References

External links

• Queen Anne's Revenge: Archaeological Site, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources