I have just returned to the studio from the NC Maritime Museum where a few minutes ago another cannon from Blackbeard's flagship the "Queen Anne's Revenge" was recovered after 300 years on the ocean floor. The cannon made a brief public appearance in front of the museum before heading on to the conservation lab in Greenville, NC. It always amazes me when these artifacts are brought above surface for the first time. The archeologists handling the newly surfaced artifacts have to treat them like living organisms. After 300 years in the ocean environment they become part of it. Living sea organisms attach to the artifacts and become part of the artifact itself. This cannon even smelled like a beached sea creature, which I guess that's what it really is at this point.
Here are some pictures from the event......
Here comes the cannon fresh from the deep.
The team unwraps the baby from her wet blankets.
Thar she is!
Here's a view of the sunlit side. Check out the kid in the light blue jacket and his intense look. You can tell this experience is going deep in him...I know the feeling bud!!!
View of the barrel. All of the cannons discovered at this wreck site were loaded with their shot. There are supposedly 40 cannons with this ship so these guys meant business!
Like I said, they have to treat these things like living sea creatures so they need to remain wet. The cannon will now be transported to the conservation lab and will be placed in a desalinization tank for a few years then the concretions and marine growth will be meticulously ground off with something about the size of a dentist's drill.
This is an 8 footer and is the 13th cannon recovered thus far. They've got a long way to go.
Happy plundering guys!