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Shipwreck clues could clear Blackbeard of sinking his ship to swindle his crew

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Mishe Vanatta
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« on: December 07, 2008, 05:29:29 am »

Shipwreck clues could clear Blackbeard of sinking his ship to swindle his crew
He was history's most feared pirate, striking terror into seafarers as he cut a bloodthirsty swathe through the Caribbean and North Atlantic.
 
By Jasper Copping
Last Updated: 3:16PM GMT 06 Dec 2008


Blackbear may be innocent of some of the charges against him Photo: HULTON ARCHIVE
But new research has found that Blackbeard may be innocent of one of the most notorious charges against him.

For almost 300 years, the British pirate captain has stood accused of deliberately sinking his flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, so he could swindle his crew out of their share of loot they had plundered.

But marine archaeologists, who are conducting a diving expedition on the vessel's presumed wreck, now believe it may have run aground by accident. They have even found evidence suggesting that Blackbeard made repeated attempts to rescue the stricken craft.

They have discovered a large pile of ballast, including anchors and several cannon, in the middle section of the ship. They believe Blackbeard ordered the crew to move the heavy items from their original positions, near the bow of the vessel, back towards the stern in an effort to lift the vessel's bows from the submerged sandbank onto which it had run.

It follows the discovery of an anchor on the sea bed, 450ft (137m) away from the ship, which experts believe would have been used to try to winch the boat free.

Chris Southerly, chief archaeologist for the project, said: "If Blackbeard had intended to sink the ship on purpose, this seems an awful lot of labour and effort to make it look good to the crew, to allay their fears that he was abandoning them.

"The main ballast pile, which has two large anchors and at least six cannon and a huge pile of ballast stones, is just about amidships, roughly where the upper aft deck would have started.

"It would have been very hard to move things further aft than that, because the deck is on a different level and there is a wall in the way. They may have moved things as far aft as could easily be done, to try to save the ship and then abandoned the effort, realising it still wouldn't save the ship. The impression, from what I have seen, is that it was an accident."

The ship ran aground on a sandbank about a mile from shore on June 10 1718, as Blackbeard's flotilla of four vessels was heading for Beaufort Inlet, in the British colony of North Carolina.

Days earlier, Blackbeard had blockaded the major port of Charleston, South Carolina, and knew that the Royal Navy would be closing the net around him. Historians have long believed that he deliberately grounded his largest vessel so that he could split up his followers in the ensuing chaos, thus "downsizing" his crew and ensuring the loot was transferred to another vessel.

In the event, that is precisely what he did, escaping with the treasure and stranding 30 men on a nearby island.

But Mr Southerly added: "I think he probably just made the most of a bad situation."

Blackbeard is believed to have been born Edward Teach, or Edward Thatch, in Bristol, in 1680. He fought as a privateer for the British, attacking Spanish and French ships in the War of the Spanish Succession before turning to piracy. His troop captured a French slave ship called La Concorde near the Caribbean island of St Vincent in November 1717 and renamed it Queen Anne's Revenge.

It became his flagship, sailing alongside three smaller sloops. His flotilla is said to have taken 45 ships.

Blackbeard's striking appearance and character has inspired many subsequent depictions of pirates, most recently in Pirates of the Caribbean, the Hollywood trilogy starring Johnny Depp. He is said to have had 14 wives and would tie burning fuses into his long beard during battle, to give himself a demonic appearance.

On one occasion, while playing cards with a member of his crew, he is said to have shot him in the kneecaps under the table.

After the loss of the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard sought and was granted a pardon. But he continued to seize ships, and the Royal Navy were sent to track him down. He was killed in a battle with the Royal Navy in November 1718.

Blackbeard's head was cut off and his body tossed overboard. According to legend, his headless body swam around his ship five times before he finally died. His head was attached to the bowsprit of a Navy ship and his skull was later used as a punch bowl.

The wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge lies in about 23 feet (seven metres) of water. It was first discovered in 1996 but the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources is now funding a project to excavate and recover items from the ship, as it is feared they could be lost as sand around the wreck is eroded away.

Previous expeditions have recovered items from the stern section and the current project, which started last month and is expected to continue until November, is examining the mid section, where the ballast pile is located.

The team have so far recovered 9,000 flecks of gold, which add up to just a quarter of an ounce (seven grams), suggesting that Blackbeard was able to get the treasure off the ship.

Mark Wilde-Ramsing, project leader, added: "The crew don't seem to have been in survival mode. They were able to get most things they wanted off."

Items recovered so far include navigational instruments, carpentry tools and bells.

The new findings have provoked controversy among experts. Angus Konstam, author of Piracy: The Complete History, welcomed the research but said the discoveries could still be consistent with Blackbeard having deliberately run the ship aground.

"Blackbeard would have had to try to dupe his crew," he said. "When the ship went aground, it was in his interest to make it look as if it was an accident, to avoid getting lynched by his own crew. But the great thing about archaeology is that it can come up with new ways to stand theories on their head."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3628233/Shipwreck-clues-could-clear--Blackbeard-of-sinking-his-ship-to-swindle-his-crew.html
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