快猫短视频

Queen Anne鈥檚 Revenge, the ship that helped the gain fame and fortune, was in poor shape and prone to leaking, a new analysis has revealed. The discovery could explain the vessel鈥檚 fate, as Blackbeard may have deliberately run it aground to avoid the headache of keeping it afloat.

We know little about the early life of Blackbeard, whose real name was Edward Teach. One of his most successful acts of piracy came in May 1718 when he used his pirate flotilla to blockade the entrance to the port of Charles Town (now Charleston) in South Carolina and ransomed the locals for their gold, silver and other supplies.

At the head of Blackbeard鈥檚 small fleet was Queen Anne鈥檚 Revenge, formerly a French slave ship that the pirates captured in the Caribbean in November 1717. But the flagship vessel may have been difficult to maintain.

Jeremy Borrelli at East Carolina University in Greenville has analysed lead sheets and strips from the ship, which was rediscovered on the seabed off the coast of North Carolina in 1996. The lead artefacts appear to be patches used to help seal holes in the ship鈥檚 wooden hull. Given there are 86 of them 鈥� the largest almost 1 metre long and 23 centimetres wide 鈥� it seems that the hull must have been patched extensively, even though the ship was only about 8 years old when Blackbeard captured it.

鈥淥nly 60 per cent of the site has been excavated to date, so if more lead material is found in the forward portion of the wreck, then it would be clearer that the entire ship had issues with hull integrity,鈥� says Borrelli.

Delving into the written records, Borrelli found that Queen Anne鈥檚 Revenge was attacked and damaged by hostile ships twice 鈥� first by a Portuguese vessel in 1711 and then by an English warship in 1712. The ship was further damaged during a heavy storm in 1717 shortly before it fell into Blackbeard鈥檚 hands. Wear and tear from marine creatures like shipworms would have further reduced its seaworthiness.

Borrelli suggests Blackbeard may have come to realise that Queen Anne鈥檚 Revenge required a lot of maintenance. In 1718, the ship ran aground and the pirates abandoned it. Borrelli speculates that Blackbeard may have crashed the ship deliberately as it was no longer serviceable.

It is an intriguing idea, says Charles Ewen, who is also at East Carolina University but wasn鈥檛 involved in the analysis. 鈥淢aybe [Blackbeard] thinks: this boat is a leaky tub anyway, so I鈥檓 not going to be out of pocket that much if I run it aground,鈥� he says, though he stresses that we will probably never know for sure.