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Scraps of paper found on Queen Anne's Revenge
Salisbury Post ^ | Thursday, January 4, 2018 | Staff Report

Posted on 01/30/2018 10:49:31 AM PST by SunkenCiv

Were 18th-century pirates literate? What sort of books did they keep on board ship? ...

During conservation work on artifacts recovered from the wreckage of Queen Anne's Revenge -- the flagship of the pirate Blackbeard -- 16 tiny fragments of paper were discovered in a mass of wet sludge removed from the chamber for a breech-loading cannon.

The largest fragment was only about the size of a quarter. Paper is an extremely rare material to find on shipwrecks, especially one 300 years old, because it usually disintegrates quickly under water... As the work progressed another discovery was made -- that there was still legible printed text on some of the fragments, although only a few words were visible. The challenge then became not just to conserve the paper fragments but also to identify where they were from.

After months of research, the fragments were determined to be from a 1712 first edition of a book by Capt. Edward Cooke, "A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World, Perform'd in the Years 1708, 1709, 1710 and 1711."

Cooke's book was a "voyage narrative" describing his adventures on an expedition made by two ships, Duke and Dutchess, which sailed from Bristol, England, in 1708. The expedition leader was Capt. Woodes Rogers, who also published an account of the expedition and who was sent in 1718 as royal governor to rid the Bahamas of pirates.

(Excerpt) Read more at salisburypost.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: blackbeard; edwardteach; ggglist; godsgravesglyphs; history; literature; queenannesrevenge; sailing
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A fragment of paper discovered on Queen Anne's Revenge, compared with the book it was determined to be from. [N.C. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources]

N.C. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources

1 posted on 01/30/2018 10:49:32 AM PST by SunkenCiv
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The past few months' worth of GGG topics, sorted alpha I think:
2 posted on 01/30/2018 10:51:16 AM PST by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

3 posted on 01/30/2018 10:51:32 AM PST by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: SunkenCiv

So, it really was a Cook-Book?......................


4 posted on 01/30/2018 10:52:18 AM PST by Red Badger (Wanna surprise? Google your own name. Wanna have fun? Google your friends names......)
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To: SunkenCiv

A further scientific evaluation says the previously unidentified words remaining are: Eat more Cheerios


5 posted on 01/30/2018 10:55:01 AM PST by wildbill (Quis Custodiet ipsos custodes? Who watches the watchmen?)
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To: SunkenCiv

Cool!


6 posted on 01/30/2018 10:55:53 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: SunkenCiv

I liked Blackbeard. To think the Englishman died a few miles off North Carolina..


7 posted on 01/30/2018 10:57:21 AM PST by beergarden
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To: SunkenCiv

Ultimately, it announces the first Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrrrrggggghhhh!


8 posted on 01/30/2018 11:02:21 AM PST by colorado tanker
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To: SunkenCiv
Since it was removed from the breech of a cannon..., was it merely crumpled up pages from the book used for wadding of a powder charge? Seems likely to me...
9 posted on 01/30/2018 11:03:42 AM PST by ExSES (the "bottom-line")
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To: beergarden

I don’t know how I remember this, but on an episode of “Bewitched” that I saw on TV many years ago, Darrin was having an argument with Samantha and yelled at her, “I bet you knew Blackbeard!”

She probably did, because on the series it was mentioned more than once that Samantha was around for many centuries.


10 posted on 01/30/2018 11:08:59 AM PST by july4thfreedomfoundation (SCHLONGED: How Donald Trump Beat My Lying, Marxist Ass and Went On to Win the November Election. HRC)
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To: Red Badger

That Twilightzone episode was on last night.


11 posted on 01/30/2018 11:13:58 AM PST by LukeL
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To: LukeL

One of my favs!..........................


12 posted on 01/30/2018 11:15:11 AM PST by Red Badger (Wanna surprise? Google your own name. Wanna have fun? Google your friends names......)
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To: SunkenCiv

What a treasure trove!


13 posted on 01/30/2018 11:18:51 AM PST by Chainmail (A simple rule of life: if you can be blamed, you're responsible.)
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To: Red Badger

To serve man!


14 posted on 01/30/2018 11:22:03 AM PST by DrDude
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To: SunkenCiv
Were 18th-century pirates literate?

I suspect some of them were. A lot of them probably were not. Sort of like society in general.

15 posted on 01/30/2018 11:22:08 AM PST by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill)
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To: SunkenCiv
After months of research, the fragments were determined to be from a 1712 first edition of a book by Capt. Edward Cooke...

They may have been literate, but they certainly didn't know anything about proper storage of valuable first editions. Rule One is and always has been, "never cram your valuable first edition down the barrel of a cannon"...

16 posted on 01/30/2018 11:24:29 AM PST by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill)
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To: SunkenCiv

The Queen Anne’s Revenge. The Golden Hind. Bonhomme Richard. Those guys had a flair for boat-naming.

Nowadays they’re named after fags (Harvey Milk).


17 posted on 01/30/2018 11:24:55 AM PST by IronJack (A)
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To: beergarden
He didn't die a few miles off of North Carolina, he died in Teach's Hole which is a channel in the Pamlico Sound at Springer's Point in Ocracoke Village, NC.

Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood had sent Lt. Maynard and the HMS Pearl to capture and kill him. They finally managed to do so via a ruse. After a firefight at Blackbeard’s favored haunt and hideout, Teach's Hole, Maynard feinted by allowing the HMS Pearl to be boarded. When Blackbeard came aboard, they sprang from the ship's hold swinging swords and firing pistols.

Teach managed to break Maynard’s sword with his cutlass before a navy seaman slit his throat from behind. He was then decapitated with his severed head being hung from the bow of the HMS Pearl, then placed on a pike at the mouth of the Hampton River in Virginia, as a warning to pirates.

Teaches' Hole, Ocracoke Village, NC:

Commercial Photography

The wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge was found buried in sand and silt in surprisingly shallow water south of there a number of years ago in Beaufort Inlet at Beaufort, NC.

18 posted on 01/30/2018 11:26:12 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry

Man, that’s a beaut of a picture. If you’re gonna go, might as well have a nice scenery.


19 posted on 01/30/2018 11:31:19 AM PST by beergarden
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To: beergarden

Ocracoke is a beautiful but odd little place, like many island towns. I love it. Must be what Key West was like before the tourists and gays took over. Coming into the inland side of town from the Hatteras ferry somehow reminds me a lot of how some California beach towns used to look.


20 posted on 01/30/2018 11:35:45 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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