The majority of the 350 items brought 

 to the surface are under conservation at the 

 underwater archeology lab in Kure Beach 

 and the new Gallants Channel lab in 

 Beaufort, which was remodeled from an 

 abandoned scallop house on property 

 acquired by the Friends of the N.C. 

 Maritime Museum in 1996. 



Bringing up the entire wreck, as 

 researchers dream of doing, will cost 

 millions and take at least five years; 

 conservation even longer. If, that is, 

 facilities and funds materialize. 



Museum supporters want to build a 

 16,000-square-foot conservation lab in 

 Beaufort, described by the Friends 

 president as a "top-grade" operation. 



"We're talking about a multimillion- 

 dollar facility," says Grayden Paul Jr. 



The 1997 and 1998 dives were paid 

 for with $450,000 in state money and 

 $50,000 in local funds. Officials say the 

 cost of in-kind contributions — state 

 facilities, expertise, vessels and equipment 

 — is impossible to calculate. 



The next dive is tentatively scheduled 

 for fall, when water conditions are optimal. 

 Even if the shipwreck turns out to be a 

 vessel less renowned than Queen Anne's 

 Revenge, historians say the find neverthe- 

 less adds new chapters to nautical 

 knowledge. 



The worldwide attention to the wreck 

 causes some consternation about the 



glorification of pirates, who were akin to 

 modem-day hijackers and terrorists. 



"They certainly weren't admirable 

 people," says Betty Ray McCain, secretary 

 of the North Carolina Department of 

 Cultural Resources. 



But, she says, elementary school 

 teachers assuage her concerns. 



"They tell me, 'We've tried every- 

 thing on the face of the Earth to get kids 

 interested in history,'" she says. "'And 

 you' ve finally done it. " ' n 



The shipwreck has a state-maintained 

 Web site: http://web.dcr.state.nc.us/ 

 blackbeardhtm. 



lackbeard: The Man and the Myth 



By Julie Ann Powers 



r espite a fierce reputa- 

 tion that has survived nearly three 

 centuries, Blackbeard wouldn't be 

 called a successful pirate. Those were 

 rich men who died a quiet death at an 

 old age. 



But Blackbeard certainly was 

 notorious. 



He was bom Edward 

 Drummond around 1680 in 



England, according to history books. 

 He assumed the surname Teach, also 

 spelled Thatch, Tache or Tatch, as a 

 pirate. His more well-known 

 nickname came from his dark, bushy 

 whiskers. 



Legend says that Blackbeard, a 

 big man with a formidable counte- 

 nance, used his beard to heighten any 

 pirate's biggest weapon — the ability 

 to engender fear. Before battle, he 

 supposedly braided his whiskers into 

 pigtails and tucked slow-burning 

 matches amongst them or behind his 

 ears, sending curls of smoke around 

 his face. 



Blackbeard was always armed 

 with an array of daggers, swords and 



loaded pistols, though some historians say 

 there's no evidence he killed anyone until 

 the day of his own death. 



His nautical bad-guy career began 

 during Queen Anne's War, as a privateer 

 sailing out of Jamaica to attack French 

 merchant ships. 



After the war ended in 1 7 1 3, 

 Blackbeard crewed for another pirate in the 

 Bahamas. He captured the French slaver, 

 Concorde, in 1717. When he was 

 rewarded with its command, he renamed it 

 Queen Anne's Revenge. 



At its largest, his force included four 

 ships and 300 or more men. The fleet 

 assaulted mariners from the Caribbean to 

 New England. North Carolina's coast 

 offered several hideouts from colonial and 

 British authorities. An anchorage at 

 Ocracoke is still called Teach' s Hole. Bath 

 was another Blackbeard haunt. 



North Carolina's Gov. Charles Eden 

 reportedly shrugged at pirate activity and 

 possibly shared in Blackbeard' s booty. 

 Eden pardoned the pirate in June 1718. 



Blackbeard supposedly was semi- 

 retired in November 1718 when he met his 

 end at Ocracoke. In fact, some historians 



theorize the losses of Queen Anne 's 

 Revenge and a smaller sloop, 

 Adventure, in June 1718, were 

 intentional. Grounding the vessels in 

 Beaufort Inlet might have been the 

 pirate's way of "downsizing" his 

 business. 



Pirate attacks off the colonial 

 coast continued, however, and 

 Virginia's Gov. Alexander 

 Spotswood blamed Blackbeard. Not 

 so forgiving as Eden, he put a price on 

 Blackbeard' s head and urged the 

 British military, the Virginia Assem- 

 bly and Eden's opponents to help 

 capture him. 



Blackbeard was tricked into 

 battle by Lt. Robert Maynard off 

 Ocracoke Nov. 22, 1718, on a British 

 sloop. According to legend, the pirate 

 fought on even after being shot, 

 stabbed and slashed across the throat, 

 until he died while cocking a pistol. 



It was the custom of the times to 

 display dead pirates as a deterrent to 

 the occupation. Blackbeard' s severed 

 head was hung from the bowsprit of 

 Maynard' s ship. □ 



JL.iiln_ ...m ll.tlj.UJ 



COASTWATCH 17 



