Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge Coming Back to Beaufort

BEAUFORT, NC – Blackbeard’s flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, returns to North Carolina for the first time in nearly 300 years this June through a new exhibit at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort.

In 1718, the notorious pirate ran his ship aground in Beaufort Inlet, roughly two miles from where the Museum stands today.

“We’re piecing together untold stories of Blackbeard, his crew and the ship, that we’ll be able to share with the public through the diligent work of the Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project team and the artifacts they’ve recovered and conserved,” said North Carolina Maritime Museums Director Joseph Schwarzer.

Due to shifting sands and waterways, the shipwreck’s location remained a mystery for centuries. In 1996, private company, Intersal, Inc. discovered it with information provided to Operations Director Mike Daniel by company president Phil Masters. Archaeologists with the N.C. Underwater Archaeology Branch have led research and recovery on the wreck for 13 years. As artifacts have been collected, the Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Lab in Greenville has cleaned and prepared them for exhibition.

The new exhibit, which opens on June 11, takes up approximately a third of the Museum’s exhibit space, and illuminates the life of pirates aboard the ship with artifacts, interactive features and fun facts.

Newly released, key artifacts include a whole wine bottle, glass beads, cannon tompions, cask parts and French ceramics.

The Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project and the N.C. Maritime Museums are within the Office of Archives and History in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina’s social, cultural and economic future. Information is available at www.ncculture.com.

The Museum is open Mon. through Fri., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.  Admission is free. For more information, call (252) 728-7317.

The N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort is located at 315 Front Street. The three North Carolina Maritime Museums are the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum located in Hatteras, the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort and the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport.