THE SHIP . . .

Queen Anne's Revenge was one of the largest pirate ships to ever sail the Spanish Main. No ship played a more dramatic role in the history of piracy in the Americas. Shipwreck 31 CR 314 the presumed remains of Queen Anne's Revenge?is the earliest yet found in the North Carolina, and an important site in the history of the state.

Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge may have looked similar to this model.

Queen Anne's Revenge (QAR) was Blackbeard's flagship from her capture in November 1717 in the eastern Caribbean until she wrecked in June 1718 at Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. Blackbeard used the QAR as his prime weapon during the height of his reign of terror, culminating in his audacious blockade of the port of Charleston (then Charles Town), S.C. in May 1718. During the seven months that Blackbeard commanded her, QAR is known to have participated in the "taking" of at least 18 ships as "prizes." Archival records indicate that Blackbeard and his cohorts probably removed most (if not all) of their plunder of gold and silver when she was stranded and abandoned at Beaufort Inlet.

QAR's brief but active tenure as Blackbeard's flagship makes her of considerable historical importance, but the record of her apparently colorful background prior to November 1717 makes for exciting reading itself. While there is still a considerable amount of research to be conducted on the subject, it is possible that QAR was both a privateer and a slave ship prior to becoming the heavily armed flagship of Edward Thatch.

The Search for Queen Anne's Revenge: Ship Exhibit. North Carolina Maritime Museum

FACT SHEET
Queen Anne's Revenge

Documents indicate that a vessel called the Concorde was captured by the French from the English during Queen Anne's War in 1711. Following some modifications, she was utilized as a merchantman and eventually sold to Spain. A few years later she was returned to France and again underwent a transformation. She was refitted as a slave ship and it was during her initial voyage from the west African coast in 1717 that she was captured off the island of St. Vincent by Blackbeard. The ship's armament reportedly strengthened to as many as 40 guns and carried as many as 150 pirates. According to French sources the ship was about 104 feet long and had a tonnage or carrying capacity of over 300 tons.

Queen Anne's Revenge sailed in consort with a number of smaller vessels at any one time. However, from April 1718 until she was run aground a couple of months later off North Carolina, she sailed with Stede Bonnet's Revenge, David Harriot's Adventure, and a small unidentified Spanish sloop captured off Cuba.

Queen Anne's Revenge was involved with the blockade of Charleston in May 1718, arguably Blackbeard's most notorious achievement as a pirate. The flotilla of four vessels and as many as 400 pirates captured "8 or 9 sail" coming into and out of Charleston over the period of about a week and ransomed these prizes for a chest of medicine (not to mention the valuables taken from the prizes).

A few days following the Charleston blockade, both Queen Anne's Revenge and Adventure were run aground off Beaufort Inlet in order to break up the pirate company and enable Blackbeard to escape with a small group of hand-picked men and the recently taken valuables.

The archaeological excavation, which began in the fall of 1997, will undoubtedly answer many of the questions generated about the pirate and his ships over three centuries. This project will also offer a rare glimpse into the cultural vestiges of a society which remains little understood by today's historians and archaeologists.

In addition to the obvious significance of the site, because of its association with Blackbeard, the physical remains of the ship itself should provide fascinating clues into ship construction practices and naval architecture during a period and for a class of ship where limited information survives today.

One added significance which cannot be overlooked is the potential of the site to provide insight into the African slave trade, as the ship was formerly associated with this practice.