CG SMILAX

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Tender assisted in salvage of cannons from Blackbeard's wreck

The crew of the "Smilax" worked with personnel from the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources to recover five cannons and multiple barrel hoops from the "Queen Anne's Revenge" in Beaufort Inlet on Oct 28, 2013. The "Queen Anne's Revenge" was the ship of the pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, for more than a year before the ship ran aground on the shoals in the inlet. The crew of the inland construction tender, worked with NCDCR divers to lift the approximately one-ton cannons aboard the "Smilax" using a combination of flotation bags and the ship's crane. The cannons, one weighing 3,000lb, were the latest artifacts divers have salvaged from the wreck of the "Queen Anne's Revenge" which ran aground off North Carolina in 1718. After running aground off North Carolina in 1718, the pirate escaped to another ship in his flotilla and continued his life of piracy for another six months until forces hired by Virginia's governor killed him. To prove the pirate was dead Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard, who led the fatal attack, returned to Virginia with Blackbeard's severed head hanging from his ship's bow. Since the wreck was found on a sandbar in Beaufort Inlet in 1996, a team of archeologists have scavenged the ship for treasures including gold dust, coins, glass beads and a pewter syringe. The weapons would have fired 6lb cannon balls at ships. They also raised two concretions which were barrel hoops they used to store food provisions and other things. Historians believe the largest cannon found was made in Sweden, meaning Blackbeard who was also known as Edward Teach or Thatch, had guns from different countries on board. On the whole, 22 of the ship's guns and about 280,000 artifacts have been recovered. Once the cannons and other artifacts have been recovered, they are sent to a laboratory in Greenville to be cleaned and analyzed. The five cannon will be the last of the treasure to surface in 2013, as the dive ended for the year. The excavation of the site is to be completed by 2014. An exhibition of the finds, including an 11ft anchor weighing nearly 3,000lb that was found in 2011, is on display at Beaufort's North Carolina Maritime Museum. Other finds have included onion bottles, bells, buckles and a partly gilded hilt thought to have held Blackbeard's sword. Reorts with photos and Video: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2479204/More-treasure-Blackbeards-ship-divers-salvage-cannon-wreck-captained-notorious-pirate.html#ixzz2jF4lC9mI http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/1945458/MULTIMEDIA-RELEASE-Cannons-from-pirate-ship-recovered-in-Beaufort-Inlet-NC#sthash.R1YqElnl.dpuf