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300 Years Later, Blackbeard’s NC Shipwreck Continues To Turn Up Archaeological Treasures

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'Capture of the Pirate, Blackbeard,' 1718 depicting the battle between Blackbeard the Pirate and Lieutenant Maynard in Ocracoke Bay.
Jean Leon Gerome

Blackbeard’s stolen vessel, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, ran aground off the North Carolina coastline three hundred years ago this summer.

It's a lot like a detective entering a crime scene.<br>-Wilde-Ramsing

To mark the anniversary, a pair of archaeologists whoworked on the wreckage together for years have written a comprehensive look at the many artifacts they recovered from the ocean floor and the stories those artifacts reveal about the infamous pirate and life aboard the ship.

He understood mathematics, he was educated, he was a strategist and he was a business man.<br>-Carnes-McNaughton on Blackbeard

Guest host Anita Rao speaks with Linda Carnes-McNaughton, program archaeologist and curator at Fort Bragg's Cultural Resources Management Program and longtime volunteer on the excavation project. Mark Wilde-Ramsing also joins the conversation. He is a former deputy state underwater archaeologist of North Carolina and former director Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project.

Wilde-Ramsing and Carnes-McNaughton will speak about their book "Blackbeard's Sunken Prize: The 300-Year Voyage of Queen Anne's Revenge" (UNC Press/2018) at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh on Sunday, July 8 at 2 p.m. 
 

Anita Rao is an award-winning journalist, host, creator, and executive editor of "Embodied," a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships &amp; health.
Laura Pellicer is a digital reporter with WUNC’s small but intrepid digital news team.