Quick hits: It really was Blackbeard's boat, and Uwharrie going natural

They're sure now ... it's the Queen Anne's Revenge
"The Raleigh News and Observer is reporting that the State has decided that the remains of a shipwreck off Beaufort, N. C. are in fact those of Blackbeard's flagship the Queen Anne's Revenge a.k.a QAE," writes the Beaufort Observer.

"Now we should say up front that we have no clue whether or not they are correct that this wreck is indeed Blackbeard's ship. What we do have a clue to is why they have declared it to be what they have thought all along it was. Money. ..."



Forest Service wants to return Uwharrie back to native condition

"The U.S. Forest Service wants to restore Uwharrie National Forest to its more natural condition by planting different trees and carrying out selective burning to encourage the growth of rare sun-loving plants," says the Winston-Salem Journal.

"The Forest Service last week released the draft management plan and environmental impact statement for the forest, which covers 51,000 acres in Davidson, Montgomery and Randolph counties. ...

"Plan highlights include reducing the number of loblolly pine plantations in favor of longleaf pine and oak-hickory forests.

"Currently, about 20,000 acres in the national forest are occupied by loblolly and shortleaf pines, mostly the result of past plantings for timber harvesting. ..."

More Carolina spookiness

Saw this in the Washington (N.C.) Daily News this morning ...

"Imagine a fierce storm blowing in off the Pamlico River, bringing with it wind, rain, thunder and lightening.

"Youngsters huddle on the porch of their family’s home, watching in awe as a mysterious ball of light bounces in the distant.

"Sound far-fetched? Maybe not.

"Just such a phenomenon has been reported for generations in the Beaufort County town of Bath, a place rich in history and in lore and legends.

"The so-called 'Blackbeard’s Lights' reportedly make their appearance during such storms, dancing between Plum Point, where the legendary pirate Blackbeard is said to have lived, and Archbell Point.

" 'Over time, people have said they’ve seen them, but I haven’t ever seen them,' said Bea Latham, interpreter and assistant site manager at Historic Bath. 'It’s interesting that the lights have been described as bouncing from one side to the other.' ..."

Click here for the rest of the story.

Mr. Teach's cannon?

Admittedly, it looks "more like a concrete ditch pipe than a cannon," but the 2,500-pound relic of the sea near Beaufort Inlet may be a cannon from Blackbeard's flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge.

"This is really special to us because it has a lot of things attached to it," Mark Wilde-Ramsing, director of the state's Queen Anne's Revenge project, told the News & Observer.

He said researchers will carefully remove a pewter plate, wood and other items for further study. The cast-iron cannon, which was retrieved from the water Monday, will soon go into treatment process to halt corrosion. After three to five years, the cannon will be black and shiny and ready for display.

Researchers put the encrusted cannon on display Wednesday at the N.C. Maritime Museum expansion site on Gallants Channel. ...

The shipwreck site was located in November 1996 by Intersal, Inc., a private company. State archaeologists say research over 11 years supports the wreck's identity as the Queen Anne's Revenge. The ship ran aground in June 1718. About 2,000 relics have been recovered from the site just off Atlantic Beach.

N.C. symbol update: 'Here be suggestions'

We got some great responses in our quest to find a viable symbol for North Carolina. Among the suggestions:

-The shape of the state

-A cardinal

-A dogwood

-A Long Leaf Pine

-And, of course, a pig (you know, for barbecue).

But the one that is perhaps most intriguing was offered by David: Edward Teach's flag (above)

Teach, as most people know, was Blackbeard the Pirate, who ruled the waters of the Eastern coastline in the early 1700s. (Read more about Blackbeard here.)

An interesting symbol for the entire state, perhaps. But there is plenty of N.C.-related aspects to Teach:

-He lived in Bath, the state's oldest town.

-He hid out along the coves of the Carolina coast.

-He was given free reign by then-Governor Charles Eden.

-He was finally killed near Ocracoke.

One interesting aspect of Teach that I had never known until researching him: it's never been proven that he actually killed anyone. In fact, he "got by" with fear alone. A big part of that fear could've been his flag, which was, according to this site, "one of the more unusual flags flown by the pirates. His flag had a skeleton holding an hour glass in one hand to signify that your time was running out. A dagger in the other hand and the heart with three drops of blood signified that blood would be drawn if you did not surrender. Horns and cloven feet on the skeleton signified that he was in league with the devil."

Some other "neat" things about our good friend Mr. Teach: He thwarted the blockade of Charleston and was hunted by the Governor of Virginia. He may have been born in England, but he sounds like a rapscallion North Carolinian to me.

Plus, that flag would no doubt look cool on shirts, hats and belt buckles.

Ed Teach and the slave trade

An article in the Jacksonville Daily News mentions that the Queen Anne's Revenge, the boat of Edward Teach (North Carolina's most famous pirate "Blackbeard"), was formerly used in the colonial slave trade to the New World from Africa.

"In a display case at the N.C. Maritime Museum," the article says, "beside a model of the Queen Anne's Revenge, sits a detached cross section of the replica representing the half deck. ...

"It is not the most notorious part of the ship's history - most people associate the QAR with the infamous pirate Blackbeard and his blockade on Charleston Harbor.

"Yet the QAR holds just as many links to African-American history as it does to pre-revolutionary piracy.

"For some years prior to its capture by pirates in November 1717, the QAR was the Concorde, a French slave ship that traveled the seas back-and-forth from Europe to Africa to the Caribbean."

What is intriguing is that history tells us that five of the QAR's nine crew members who survived at Ocracoke were black. (Blackbeard didn't make it out of the battle alive.)

"Researchers do not know if Blackbeard kept these five aboard from the Concorde or if they came from another slave ship captured by the pirates just prior to the battle, Moore said.

"What researchers do know is that the QAR is not the only pirate ship with ties to the colonial slave trade."