A cannon in crust

Weapon recovered at shipwreck site

BEAUFORT -- The newest addition to the state's collection of pirate paraphernalia looks more like a concrete ditch pipe than a cannon once commanded by Blackbeard the pirate.

But archaeologists who raised the 2,500-pound relic from a shipwreck site near Beaufort Inlet assured onlookers Wednesday that the chunk of corrosion, sand and seashells hides a once-fearsome weapon. It's the 11th cannon retrieved from what they say is the wreckage of Blackbeard's flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge.

"This is really special to us because it has a lot of things attached to it," said Mark Wilde-Ramsing, director of the state's Queen Anne's Revenge project.

He said researchers will carefully remove a pewter plate, wood and other items for further study. The cast-iron cannon, which was retrieved from the water Monday, will soon go into treatment process to halt corrosion. After three to five years, the cannon will be black and shiny and ready for display.

Researchers put the encrusted cannon on display Wednesday at the N.C. Maritime Museum expansion site on Gallants Channel.

"I expected to see sand and barnacles," Paige Shumate, 12, of Galax, Va., said after inspecting the relic on a trailer.

Still, she and her mother Mindy were pleased to see a sample of history up close. "It's awesome," Mindy Shumate said while snapping photos.

John Sledge drove down from Kitty Hawk for a look. He said he had been to the state's conservation facility at East Carolina University in Greenville where cannons are held in tanks while undergoing treatment.

Queen Anne's Revenge

The shipwreck site was located in November 1996 by Intersal, Inc., a private company. State archaeologists say research over 11 years supports the wreck's identity as the Queen Anne's Revenge. The ship ran aground in June 1718. About 2,000 relics have been recovered from the site just off Atlantic Beach.

Wilde-Ramsing said plans call for the remaining material, including at least 24 more cannons, to be recovered in the next three years.

Researchers have known about the cannon recovered Monday since 1998. Recovery had been planned for last fall, but a vessel capable of lifting the large artifact wasn't available. Bad weather thwarted a planned spring recovery dive. But Monday a vessel operated by the Cape Fear Community College completed the task during a training exercise for its Maritime Technology Program.

Wilde-Ramsing said the 8-foot long cannon fired a 6-pound shot. Like other cannons recovered from the site, it was probably loaded when it went to the bottom.

"What's in here we don't know," he said, referring to the crusty block. "That's what makes it exciting."