Reading Explorer 1, Unit 11: Blackbeard’s Cannons

Narrator:
At sunrise, off the Carolina coast . . . the waters are blood red . . . like pirate’s blood.

In 1717, Blackbeard the pirate captured a French slave ship. He renamed it the Queen Anne’s
Revenge. For a year, Blackbeard’s terrifying group of pirates sailed in this ship. But in 1718, the
ship disappeared. What happened? Did the terrible and fearless Blackbeard sink it himself?
Nobody is sure, but archeologists are finding clues to the mystery.

Archeologist Kim Eslinger looks at a map where they think the ship is. For five years,
archeologists have been studying the remains of a shipwreck found about a kilometer from the
coast. They know that most of the ship’s wooden body is gone. But its large guns—its cannons—
are still there.

It’s difficult for the archeologists to see far in the dark water. They put ropes around one of the
cannons, so they can pull it up to the surface. Their hope is that on the cannon they will find a
name— Concorde—the original name of the French ship that Blackbeard stole.

Mike Daniel is the maritime historian who discovered the remains. He’s sure they have identified
Blackbeard’s ship.

Mike Daniel:
“Most of the evidence on the site points to the fact that it is the Queen Anne’s Revenge. I’m a
hundred percent sure, due to the fact that it is where it was supposed to be.”

Narrator:
Everything that archeologists have found is dated before 1718—the year that Blackbeard’s ship
disappeared.

When the cannon is eventually pulled out of the water, it doesn’t look much like a cannon at all.
It looks dirty and strange after almost 300 years under water. To project boss Mike Ramsing, the
cannon is ugly, but also beautiful.

Mike Ramsing:
“Well it doesn’t look like much but I’m pretty certain it’s at least one cannon . . .”

Narrator:
For him, it’s the most important find in years.

Mike Ramsing:
“This is the highlight of my career here.”
Narrator:
When the archeologists eventually clean it up, they’ll be able to get a closer look at the find.
Until then, they use special X-ray technology originally developed for the Army to look at the
cannon inside. Archeologist Kim Eslinger explains why it’s important to X-ray first:

Kim Eslinger:
“It helps us with our research, helps us as we start to break into things, you never just want to
sort of break into it and not know what you’re going to expect.”

Narrator:
Another project archeologist, Wayne Lusardi, says that it may take two months to get all the
rocks off of the cannon and to carefully study and record each layer of information. Lusardi says
that the cannon will be transferred to a special bath. This will take off the salt and make sure that
the metal will survive in the air. That may take two or three years. It’s a long wait to see if the
cannon has the name that the team has been searching for.

The team would like to finish the project by the year 2018, 300 years after the Queen Anne’s
Revenge disappeared.

Kim Eslinger:
“To open one of these up and find the definitive proof that it is definitely Blackbeard’s ship
would be probably pretty overwhelming,”

Narrator:
The archeologists hope that one day they will confirm this really is the Queen Anne’s Revenge—
the ship that was sailed 300 years ago by the terrifying pirate known as Blackbeard . . .