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March 24, 2007
Brig’s artifacts believed from War of 1812 era
Archeologists to describe ship’s excavation during museum talk
By BILL POWER Staff Reporter
Archeologists believe many dramatic tales about one of Nova Scotia’s more exciting historical periods will be extracted from some remains of a 200-year-old ship found buried in clay prior to the commencement of the Halifax Harbour cleanup.
"This is a significant find," archeologist Michael Sanders said Wednesday as artifacts from the wreck site, about 200 metres north of the Woodside ferry terminal, were prepared for a rare public viewing.
"The hull uncovered at the site is an excellent example of a brig from this era in spectacular condition," the researcher said of an ongoing assessment of data and samples collected at the site.
A musket ball, a button and a comb carved out of bone are just some the artifacts found at the site. One especially intriguing find is a piece of a pocket knife handle with the initials "E.W." emblazoned on one side.
An enormous amount of archeological data was also collected.
"We know of only three other similar vessels that have had similar archeological work undertaken and there is certainly a lot more to be learned about this particular brig."
Teams of archeologists and volunteers co-ordinated by Cultural Resource Management Group Ltd. in Halifax converged on the Woodside location and a major portion of the harbour cleanup was rescheduled after questions were raised about the potential significance of some wooden ship remnants, originally spotted buried under clay and rubble about a decade earlier.
There was some initial speculation it was an abandoned ferry that was in the path of the massive harbour cleanup project. It was not long before archeologists realized they were dealing with something more significant.
Remnants of a brig from the 1800s, a workhorse of a vessel with two masts, slightly bigger than a schooner like the Bluenose, appeared as mud was cleared away.
Mr. Sanders and colleague Darryl Kelman will cover details of the excavation of the shipwreck and their analysis of the site during a March 27 presentation, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History on Summer Street in Halifax.
The general public is invited, but seating is limited.
The archeologists determined by examining construction techniques and components the vessel is from the War of 1812 era and could very well have been destroyed during a powerful hurricane that hit the bustling wartime Port of Halifax in 1813, killing 14 people.
An examination of newspaper reports of the time indicate as many as 116 ships were severely damaged and about 40 were beached on the Dartmouth side of the harbour in the huge windstorm.
Among the big man-of-war battleships and commercial schooners destroyed was a mysterious two-masted, square-rigged brig, and this is where the story becomes more complex and interesting.
Halifax was a very busy Royal Navy base supporting a blockade against U.S. and French shipping in the big war, often described as America’s second battle for independence.
Pirates and privateers loved the quick-turning brigs and so did the fledging U.S. Navy. Who owned this ship? Had it been captured? Many questions remain to be answered about this ship’s history and its possible involvement in the war.
There is also a possibility the vessel was constructed in Nova Scotia, which could add a new level of significance to ongoing and future archeological research.
"It is a time when you could have seen sailing ships passing offshore from just about anywhere in Nova Scotia," said Mr. Sanders. "Halifax was booming because of the war and the harbour was chock full of vessels. . . . It’s a fascinating period."
Posted by victoria at 01:54 PM
March 20, 2007
Trailer: 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End'
Posted by victoria at 04:36 PM
March 16, 2007
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Posted by victoria at 11:50 AM
March 12, 2007
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Posted by victoria at 12:51 PM
March 05, 2007
Queen Anne's Revenge
The Queen Anne's Revenge was the name of the pirate Blackbeard's infamous flagship.
Originally named Concord, the vessel was built by Britain in 1710, but captured by the French a year later. The ship was modified to hold more cargo and renamed La Concorde. The slave-ship was captured again by the pirate Captain Benjamin Hornigold on November 28, 1717 near the island of Martinique. Hornigold turned the ship over to one of his pirates - Edward Teach, who was later known as Blackbeard, and made him captain. Blackbeard converted La Concorde into his flagship, adding 20 more cannon and renaming it the Queen Anne's Revenge. With it he ranged the west coast of Africa and the Caribbean, attacking British, Dutch and Portuguese ships.
Queen Anne's Revenge was described as a 300-ton frigate armed with 40 cannons. Her name may have come from the War of the Spanish Succession, which was known in the Americas as Queen Anne's War, and in which Blackbeard was known to have fought.
Shortly after ransoming Charleston harbour and refusing to accept the Governor's pardon, Blackbeard ran Queen Anne's Revenge aground while attempting to enter Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. Blackbeard disbanded the flotilla, and escaped by transferring supplies onto a smaller ship, Adventure. The pirate captain abandoned several crew members on a small island nearby, who were later rescued by Captain Stede Bonnet. Some sources suggest that Blackbeard purposefully grounded the ships as an excuse to disperse the crew. Shortly afterward he accepted a royal pardon for himself and his remaining crew from governor Charles Eden at Bath, NC.
In 1996, Intersall, Inc, a private research and recovery company, discovered the remains of a vessel which they believe to be the Queen Anne's Revenge. Many cannon and more than 16,000 artifacts have been recovered from the wreckage, however none of them appear to be of French origin (as would be expected from a French slave ship), but are mainly British. This therefore raises doubts about the identification of the vessel as the Queen Anne's Revenge. Recovery of artifacts from the site continues in the current 2006 field season, under the supervision of Project Director Mark Wilde-Ramsing of the North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch.
Both the identity of the vessel and the ethics of the state of North Carolina's collaboration with Intersall, Inc, have been questioned by members of the professional archaeological community in a 2005 article in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.
In November 2006, more artifacts were discovered at the site and brought to the surface. The additional artifacts appear to support the claim that the wreck is that of the Queen Anne's Revenge. But criticism over recovery efforts and the apparent lack of progress was lodged by the discoverer of the wreck against the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources and the project director in the Carteret County News-Times, a newspaper in Morehead City, North Carolina.
* North Carolina Office of Archives and History: Special Section on BlackBeard
* Queen Anne's Revenge Archaeological Site
Posted by victoria at 10:30 AM
March 04, 2007
Shipwreck off North Carolina Coast could be Blackbeard's
Story Highlights
• 1718 shipwreck off N.C. coast could be fully excavated in three years
• Archaeologists, historians to review 10 years of research on the shipwreck
• Many researchers say it's Blackbeard's plundered ship, Queen Anne's Revenge
• Treasures from deep are clues to era's naval technology, slave trade, pirate life
RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- A shipwreck off the North Carolina coast believed to be that of notorious pirate Blackbeard could be fully excavated in three years, officials working on the project said.
"That's really our target," Steve Claggett, the state archaeologist, said Friday while discussing 10 years of research that has been conducted since the shipwreck was found just off Atlantic Beach.
Archaeologists and historians planned Friday to review 10 years of research on the shipwreck. It is the oldest shipwreck discovered off the North Carolina coast
The ship ran aground in 1718, and some researchers believe it was a French slave ship Blackbeard captured in 1717 and renamed Queen Anne's Revenge.
Several officials said historical data and coral-covered artifacts recovered from the site -- including 25 cannons, which experts said was an uncommonly large number to find on a ship in the region in the early 18th century -- remove any doubt the wreckage belonged to Blackbeard.
Three university professors, including two from East Carolina University, have challenged the findings. But officials working on the excavation said Friday that the more they find, the stronger their case becomes.
"Historians have really looked at it thoroughly and don't feel that there's any possibility anything else is in there that was not recorded," said Mark Wilde-Ramsing, director of the Queen Anne's Revenge Project. "And the artifacts continue to support it."
Wilde-Ramsing said a coin weight recovered last fall bearing a likeness of Britain's Queen Anne and a King George cup, both dated before the shipwreck, further bolster their position.
So far, only 15 percent of shipwreck recovered
So far, about 15 percent of the shipwreck has been recovered including jewelry, dishes and thousands of other artifacts. The items are being preserved and studied at a lab at East Carolina University, and eventually more will become available for the public to view, Claggett said.
Nearly 2 million people have viewed shipwreck artifacts since 1998, including at a permanent exhibit at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort and at a maritime museum in Paris, project officials said.
Researchers shared some of their findings Friday at the North Carolina Museum of History. They said studying the artifacts will provide insight into the era's naval technology, slave trade and pirate life.
Blackbeard, whose real name was widely believed to be Edward Teach or Edward Thatch, settled in Bath and received a governor's pardon. Some experts believe he grew bored with land life and returned to piracy.
He was killed by volunteers from the Royal Navy in November 1718 -- five months after the ship thought to be Queen Anne's Revenge sank.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted by victoria at 09:07 AM
March 01, 2007
Mystery shipwreck could be city's namesake
By CHRIS KITCHING, SUN MEDIA
An uncharted shipwreck discovered at the bottom of ice-covered Lake Superior recently may solve a century-old mystery with loose ties to Winnipeg.
No one is certain what ship an angler spotted through the ice a week ago, but some people in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin are wondering if it is the remains of a missing vessel named City of Winnipeg.
"It's starting to look like that unidentified wreck could be a part of the City of Winnipeg," Laura Jacobs, an archivist with the University of Wisconsin-Superior, wrote in an e-mail to the Winnipeg Sun.
The wooden ship caught fire and sank July 19, 1881, while passengers slept and a crew unloaded its cargo -- whiskey and horses destined for Manitoba -- at Northern Pacific Railway's dock in the harbour at Duluth, Minn., records state.
Four people -- a firefighter and three crew members -- died, along with most of the horses, a newspaper report stated following the fire.
OUTSIDE HARBOUR
Lake Superior Transit Company operated the vessel, described as a "first-class boat" in reports.
The discovered wreck is outside the harbour, submerged in about three metres of water and about 45 metres from Duluth's shore.
What makes people suspect it could be City of Winnipeg are historical records that indicate its remains were raised in the harbour, towed to a different spot on Lake Superior, and re-sunk.
The location of the burial ground has been a mystery for decades, however.
The puzzle took a new twist Friday when a diver found evidence that supports the theory, Jacobs stated.
"He found an obscure note that indicated that after a number of years, and many salvagers going out after that whiskey, somebody finally pulled up the wreck and hauled it into the lake so ships in the harbour would stop getting fouled up on it," Jacobs wrote.
What the historians or divers haven't stumbled upon is concrete proof. Work continues to positively identify the ship.
Based on pictures of the wreck on the lake's floor, the vessel appears to be shorter than the City of Winnipeg, said Thom Holden, director of the Lake Superior Maritime Visitors Centre.
It's unclear how City of Winnipeg, built in 1870 in Michigan, got its name. Holden thinks it may be because it transported people and supplies to the West from eastern Ontario at a time before Canada had a coast-to-coast railway.
Posted by victoria at 10:21 AM
