In late 1717, a French frigate named La Concorde sailed near Martinique carrying hundreds of enslaved Africans. Edward Thatch, the pirate we know as Blackbeard, intercepted her. He liked the ship. So, he took it, crammed it with forty cannons, and renamed it Queen Anne's Revenge. It became a floating fortress. This massive, three-masted beast dominated the Caribbean and the American coast for less than a year, but it cemented Blackbeard's reign of terror. He blockaded Charleston with it. He held the city hostage for medical supplies. Then, in June 1718, he ran the ship aground at Beaufort Inlet. Was it an accident Probably not. He likely wanted to downsize his crew and escape with the best loot.
For nearly three centuries, the Atlantic swallowed the ship's remains. In 1996, private divers located the wreck site just off Fort Macon. The state stepped in. Archaeologists began dredging the murky, high-energy waters of the inlet. They found cannons. Huge, iron ones, still stuffed with spikes and bar shot. They pulled up a urethral syringe containing traces of mercury, a nasty treatment for syphilis. They found gold dust. Also, thousands of lead bullets. Listing 04000148 on the National Register of Historic Places protects this underwater graveyard. It anchors the physical reality of the Golden Age of Piracy. No myths. Just raw history.
