Ship’s history continues to surface

The people of North Carolina are getting a different kind of gift this holiday season.
Instead of precious metals wrapped in pretty paper, archeologists are offering fragments of history enveloped in silt and brine.
The latest artifacts from the presumed Queen Anne's Revenge, flagship of the notorious pirate Blackbeard, were previewed Tuesday at the state project's official conservation lab at the West Research Campus of East Carolina University.
Expeditions at the shipwreck take place near Beaufort each fall, depending on funding, for ideal water temperatures and prevailing winds.
About half of the site's estimated 700,000 artifacts have been brought up from the water since the wreck was found in 1996 and recovery began in 2006.
Most of the artifacts go to the N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort, the official repository for shipwreck items. A new exhibit opens at the museum next year with full recovery, including the ship's hull, expected to be complete in 2013.
A complete exhibit, including an expansion of the museum, is planned for 2018, the 300th anniversary of the ship's sinking.
“We're excited about looking ahead and moving forward,” Linda Carlisle, secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, said in Greenville on Tuesday.
“Today we wanted to show the whole cycle,” project director Mark Wilde-Ramsing said. “There's a lot of excitement when everything is brought up, but there is a lot of detailed work that goes into conservation. It's a debris field out there, we're really like CSI.”
Among the 122 artifacts recovered this fall were a sword hilt that may have been used to carry out Blackbeard's bidding, and panes of glass believed to be from the captain's quarters through which Blackbeard himself may have gazed out to sea.
Other items ranged from small buckles, buttons and pewter plates to a large cannon from a previous expedition being readied for its move to the museum.
While the recovery is an initiative of the Underwater Archeology branch of Cultural Resources with funding from the N.C. General Assembly, it is carried out with help from the N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources, East Carolina University, the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences at Morehead City, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Maritime Research Institute and other partners.
Intersal, a private search and salvage company that located the wreck under a state permit, continues to be involved with the project.
“It's gratifying to see the push to get this up and out of the water,” John Masters, director of operations at Intersal, said.
All of the artifact conservation has taken place at the lab at ECU, run since 2003 by three full-time staff members and two to five graduate students.
“It is very appropriate that Blackbeard's recovery is part of pirate nation,” Deirdre Mageean, vice chancellor for graduate studies, said. “ECU takes seriously its mission of service, education and outreach, and this partnership exemplifies that mission. We bring the resources of a research university and a great experience is afforded our graduate students.”
The shipwreck has garnered national attention as one of the oldest discovered in waters off North Carolina. Officials say the ongoing excavation has increased tourism and they expect that to continue.
The 2009 “Knights of the Black Flag” exhibit at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh, which featured the largest collection of artifacts from the ship to date, drew record attendance of more than 135,000 visitors from 72 countries and all 50 states.

Contact Jackie Drake at jdrake@reflector.com

Fuente: http://www.reflector.com/news/shiprsquos-history-continues-surface-215548