That’s the mandate from the State, to save Blackbeard’s ship the Queen Anne’s Revenge.  And UNCW and CFCC are taking up the challenge.

It’s been almost 300 years since the Queen sank or was sunk and action is needed to keep the sea from completely reclaiming it.  On March 10, 1718 Blackbeard’s ship sank in the waters off of Beaufort.  Whether it was an accident or an intentional grounding is a matter of debate to this day.  Some argue that Blackbeard intentionally ran his vessel boat aground in order to escape.  Others believe the grounding was an accident and that he was trying to free the ship.  But what isn’t a matter of debate is that Blackbeard, the first terrorist, has captured our imagination and the wreck is valuable to archeologists and others interested in how our ancestors lived.

Finds to date including guns, knives, roach wings, seed, and African trade items give clues to where the ship went, who it ‘met’ (if y0u can call plundering a ‘met’), and what kind of life our ancestors enjoyed.  And if they keep exploring the wreck there is hope that the researchers will find more.  Ultimately, they’d like to bring up more of the remains for display so that we can all see the remains of the QAR (QAR is Queen Anne’s Revenge to afficianados).

But the sea is competing with researchers.  It’s trying to take over!  Imagine that.  Hence the call for help.  The project has two objectives.  First, they will try to raise the anchor.  Second, they will attempt to slow down the corrosion of other important pieces.

Later this week a crew from UNCW (University of North Carolina at Wilmington) aboard the Research Vehicle Cape Fear will head to the shipwreck site.  They will establish moorings and clear sediment from the anchor.  Next week they will be joined by the CFCC team and their Research Vehicle Dan K. Moore.  It will be positioned over the anchor and its lift used to pull the 3,000 pound artifact to the surface.  Crews will follow up by attaching anodes (zincs) to cannon and other anchors.  These should slow corrosion and possibly reverse it.  As Eric McKeithan observed, it would be nice if we could do that for ourselves and reverse our corrosion!

This struck me as a pretty cool undertaking.  Certain Johnny Depp movies and an ongoing show at the Cape Fear Museum suggest we are all still fascinated by pirates.  But it also highlights some skills here in Wilmington.  The two schools, in Wilmington, have unique advanced skills allowing them to answer this call to save the remains of the QAR.  Earlier this year the Battleship North Carolina management announced that the ship would be able to remain in port and undergo some major work rather than sending her elsewhere.  Nice to see what the community can do.

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