Recovered Cannons May Be Pirate’s

Two cannon barrels believed to have come from the flagship of the English pirate Blackbeard were carried to the surface from the sea floor by divers Wednesday.

Archeologists used air bags to lift one of the 8-foot-long barrels from the shipwreck believed to be the Queen Anne’s Revenge, which went down at Beaufort Inlet in 1718. Complications forced the eight-member dive team to forgo the use of the air bags with the other 3,500-pound barrel. Instead, they brought it up with a winch and crane.

The barrels are encrusted with coral, sand and broken shells. North Carolina State Archeologist Steve Claggett said, “It sort of looks like they’ve been dipped in concrete.”

The team of marine archeologists and divers used an array of high-tech gear to map the wreck site last week, then began pulling artifacts from the sea floor about two miles off North Carolina.

On Tuesday, divers recovered a plate, a platter and pieces of storage jars. Scientists were particularly intrigued by the well-preserved 18-inch platter, which they said could bear a maker’s mark or even the initials of its owner.

The loss of the ship had signaled the beginning of the end for the notorious pirate, who was killed in a battle with the British navy near Ocracoke Island a few months later.