Researchers will resume their search for Blackbeard the Pirate's final prize ship in Ocracoke Inlet on Saturday, May 2, 1998.
Underwater archaeologists with Surface Interval Diving Company (SIDCO), a Beaufort, NC-based firm, will continue searching for the remains of a French merchant ship captured and sunk by Blackbeard and his crew in 1718.
The ship, called the "sugar ship" in reference to the cargo of sugar and cocoa it was carrying, was captured without a fight by Blackbeard, who ignored the terms of the King's pardon he had received only months before. Blackbeard brought the ship to Ocracoke Inlet where its cargo was removed. He then burned the ship to hide the evidence of his crime.
The capture of the sugar ship had far-reaching implications. North Carolina Governor Hyde and some members of his cabinet were accused of collaborating with Blackbeard after they received a share of the ship's cargo. Some contemporary historians now feel Hyde and his contemporaries were unfairly tarnished by the allegations, and were simply following the dictates of maritime salvage laws.
The event was more significant for Blackbeard. Virginia Governor Spotswood saw the brazen act of piracy as a way to finally rid the seas of the shaggy menace to his south. He dispatched Lt. Robert Maynard and a contingent of British troops to capture Blackbeard. Maynard found Blackbeard's ship lying at anchor in Teach,s Hole, one of the pirate,s favorite haunts just off the shore of Ocracoke Island. After a quick but furious battle, Maynard carried the day - and Blackbeard's head - back to Virginia where it was displayed on a spit. SIDCO divers will try to pin-point the location of the wreck through a series of dives beginning in May and continuing throughout the summer. Initial work will focus on underwater obstructions, commonly known as "snags," which have been plotted by local commercial fishermen. Researchers believe one of the snags may be the remains of the sugar ship, believed to be lying under the relatively shallow water of the historic inlet.
Research work, which has been permitted by the NC Department of Cultural Resources, is underway with additional assistance from the National park Service, the Ocracoke Preservation Society, and local merchants on Ocracoke Island.
For additional information about Ocracoke Island, Blackbeard, or the colonial history of Ocracoke and the Outer Banks, contact the Ocracoke Preservation Society.
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