Pirate Treasure
A guide to the pirates of North Carolina
It’s been a good week for pirates here at the Treasure Report. Lots of pirates in the news these days it seems.
The islands and coastline of North Carolina was home to many a pirate it seems, including of course the famous Blackbeard. The North Carolinians are proud of their pirate heritage, so much so that they’ve put together a “guide book”:http://www.newsobserver.com/535/index.html for you.
It’s a free download, about 16 pages long. You’ll need Adobe Acrobat to read it. Check it out.
Thanks “Dock”:http://jdmyrick.livejournal.com/
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Florida bed & breakfast hosts a tale of pirate treasure
According to local legend, this 5,400 square foot mansion in Gainseville, Florida was originally financed with pirate gold. Now the swanky Magnolia Plantation bed and breakfast, the history of the property is quite interesting — and well known apparently. The current owners are occasionally contacted by treasure hunters wishing to search for more riches they believe to be buried on the property. Even a previous owner fell under the treasure spell, destroying a fireplace in the process.
As the legend goes, the original owner Emmett Baird discovered the pirate treasure buried along the banks of the Suwannee river in 1897. Baird was led to the spot by a treasure mapped purchased from a suspicious old man with a Scandanavian accent. Descendants of Baird are split as to the authenticity of the story.
If you are ever down in Gainseville, consider a stay at the historic Magnolia Plantation — and bring a crowbar. Who knows, maybe you’ll discover something interesting under the floor boards.
Via The Gainesville Sun
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In search of Blackbeard’s flagship
This month’s issue of “National Geographic”:http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0607/feature6/ magazine has a great story about the excavation of a shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina that researches believe to be _The Queen Anne’s Revenge_, the flagship of the notorious Blackbeard the pirate.
The 300 ton merchantman, if indeed this is the right wreck, carried upwards of 40 guns, and was probably the most heavily armed pirate ship of its day. Ran aground in 1718, the wreck was discovered in 20 foot of water in 1996.
The “North Carolina Maritime Museum”:http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/maritime/Blackbeard/wreck.htm has a lot of detail about the wreck, as well as Blackbeard himself. Furthermore, check out the official “project website”:http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/qar/default.htm.
No substantial treasure, apart from the canon and other archaeological relics, has yet been found on the wreck.
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