The notorious pirate Blackbeard and his crew are sailing again in history, artifacts, interactive features and legend in the traveling exhibit Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge 1718, which is currently on display through August 31 at the N.C. Transportation Museum in Spencer.
In 1718, Blackbeard lost his flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, when it ran aground at North Carolina’s Beaufort Inlet. For more than 270 years, it was hidden by water and sand – a mystery to archeologists around the world.
In 1996 a private company discovered the shipwreck and the N.C. Maritime Museum became the official repository for all Queen Anne’s Revenge artifacts, offering an interactive and permanent exhibit which opened in 2011.
Now real items from the shipwreck can be seen at additional sites as the exhibit travels through the Tarheel State.
Items range from what one would expect on a pirate ship, such as cannonballs, lead shot, gun flint, spikes and grinding stones; while other items retrieved from the shipwreck represent normal life in the 19th century, such as dinner plates, a pipe stem and bowl, thumb screws and cask hoops.
The N.C. Transportation Museum is a family-friendly attraction filled with interesting exhibits and special events. For more information on the museum or Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge 1718, visit nctrans.org.