Buccaneers aboard the flagship of notorious 18th-century pirate Blackbeard apparently enjoyed a rollicking read, according to an unlikely discovery in a cannon chamber. 
 
 A handful of paper scraps recovered from the wreck of Queen Anne's Revenge have been identified as fragments of the 1712 book A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World, Perform’d in the Years 1708, 1709, 1710 and 1711, by Captain Edward Cooke. 
 
 The discovery was announced Thursday during a presentation by conservators from the Queen Anne’s Revenge (QAR) Conservation Lab at the annual meeting of the Society of Historical Archaeology held in New Orleans. 
 
 Queen Anne's Revenge went aground outside of what is now Beaufort, North Carolina, in 1718, and Blackbeard was killed while battling British naval forces in the Pamlico Sound a few months later. The wreck of the pirate's flagship was found by private salvagers in 1996 and excavation by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources began a year later. 
 
 The fragments were embedded in a wet mass of textile scraps removed from a breech-loading cannon chamber during its cleaning and conservation in 2016, according to QAR Lab conservator Erik Farrell. The wad, blackened with gunpowder residue, may have served as a gasket for the wooden tampion, a plug that protected the cannon muzzle from the elements. 
 
 Sixteen paper fragments, none larger than a U.S. quarter, were eventually identified, and seven of the fragments had legible text. As conservators gently pried the fragments of paper apart, they noticed that the text on successive layers was running in the same direction, leading them to suspect that they had the remains of several pages from the same book. 
 
 Eventually, they could make out words including "south" and fathom," which suggested the fragments may have come from some sort of maritime or navigational text. But there was a particular word that led to the book's ultimate identification, says QAR Lab conservator Kimberly Kenyon. 
 
 View Images A paper fragment, cleaned and dried after removal from the cannon chamber, reveals text. Photograph courtesy N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources 
 
 "There was one really key word that stood out: 'Hilo.' It was very distinctive and italicized, which might indicate a place name," Kenyon tells National Geographic. 
 
 "It really was luck." 
 
 Armed with the distinctive clue, QAR Lab conservators reached out to Johanna Green, a specialist in the history of printed text at the University of Glasgow. While the researchers ruled out accounts of Hilo, Hawaii, which didn't appear in European literature until after James Cook's expedition of 1778, Green pointed out earlier English-language mentions of the Spanish settlement of Ilo on the Peruvian coast. 
 
 The earliest accounts came from English sailors involved in attacking Ilo during Pacific voyages. Stories about the plunder of Spanish holdings were popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, says Kenyon. "The English audiences were eating this up." 
 
 When these printed accounts didn't match with the book fragments from Queen Anne's Revenge, the researchers looked to other stories of Pacific voyages that referenced the plunder of Ilo and eventually determined that their bits of paper came from pages 177, 178, and 183-188 of the 1712 first edition of Captain Edward Cooke's A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World, Perform’d in the Years 1708, 1709, 1710 and 1711. 
 
 Cooke's book describes his experiences on an expedition made by two ships, Duke and Dutchess, led by Captain Woodes Rogers. Rogers also published an account of the voyage, and both books describe the rescue of Alexander Selkirk from an island on which he had been marooned for four years. That rescue became the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe. 
 
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 Historical accounts show that at least some members of a pirate crew were often literate. Officers would have needed to read navigational charts, Kenyon observes. She also points to accounts of buccaneers pilfering books from seized ships, and even a mention of Blackbeard's diary, which was stolen after his death. 
 
 The team of QAR Lab conservators is working with specialist paper conservators and scientists from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Division of Archives and Records, along with the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, to conserve the very fragile paper fragments, and a display about the find is being planned as part of the department’s Blackbeard 300th anniversary events during 2018. 
 
 The remains of A Voyage to the South Sea take their place among other notable artifacts from the wreck of Queen Anne's Revenge, including the ship's bell, an ornamental sword, and even the remains of a delicate pocket watch. With some 100,000 of the 400,000 artifacts raised from the wreck so far still awaiting conservation, Kenyon is confident that more remarkable discoveries from Blackbeard's ship are yet to come from the QAR Lab. ||||| Old-timey pirates are typically portrayed as stupid, unrefined thugs whose only interests involved plundering captured ships and forcing enemies to walk the plank. The recent discovery of legible text on paper pulled from the cannon of Blackbeard’s flagship paints a strikingly different picture of these misunderstood sailors. 
 
 Work by conservationists from North Carolina’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources shows that Blackbeard and his crew got a kick out of reading “voyage narratives”—a popular form of literature in the late 17th and early 18th century that chronicled the true accounts of maritime expeditions. Specifically, Blackbeard kept a copy of Edward Cooke’s A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World, Perform’d in the Years 1708, 1709, 1710 and 1711, detailing the British naval officer’s participation in a global expedition aboard the ships Duke and Dutchess. 
 
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 The conservators made the discovery while working on artifacts pulled from the wreckage of Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, which ran aground near Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina in 1718. Blackbeard stole the ship from the French in 1717, when it was being used as a slave ship (the French had stolen the merchant ship from its original British owners in 1711, when it was called the Concord). The dreaded pirate gave the vessel a new name, added 40 guns, and made it his flagship. The wreck was re-discovered in 1996, and most of the ship’s 27 known cannons have been raised. 
 
 The researchers found 16 tiny fragments of paper in a mass of wet sludge crammed inside the chamber of a breech-loading cannon (how it got there is anyone’s guess). The largest piece was only the size of a quarter, but it’s exceptionally rare to find paper in a submerged wreck—particularly one that’s 300 years old. Paper tends to deteriorate rapidly under water. 
 
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 Working with specialist paper conservators and scientists from the department’s Division of Archives and Records, along with the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, the Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Lab researchers worked to preserve and study the fragments. As work progressed, it became clear that some of the fragments still contained traces of legible printed text. After months of research, the bits of paper were sourced back to the first edition of Cooke’s book, published in 1712. 
 
 As noted, voyage narratives were a popular genre at the time, often inspiring both real and fictional voyages. Cooke’s book describes the rescue of Alexander Selkirk, who had been marooned on an island for four years—an account that inspired Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe. 
 
 The discovery provides evidence of the kinds of books carried on ships in the early 18th century—pirate ships included. It also tells us a bit more about Blackbeard and his crew; it’s considered the first archaeological evidence of the presence of a specific book aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Of course, we don’t know if Blackbeard, whose real name was Edward Teach, actually read the book. 
 
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 That Blackbeard had books like this on his ship shouldn’t come as a surprise. He may have read the book as entertainment, helping to pass away the long hours at sea. But he may have also read Cooke’s accounts to get fresh ideas about new places to plunder. 
 
 Blackbeard had a fearsome reputation, no doubt, but there was another side to him as well. Historian David M. Ullian of Amherst College explains: 
 
 Blackbeard often fought, or simply showed himself, wearing a big feathered tricorn, and having multiple swords, knives, and pistols at his disposal. It was reported in the General History of the Pirates that he had hemp and lighted matches woven into his enormous black beard during battle. Accounts of people who saw him fighting say that they thought he ‘looked like the devil’ with his fearsome face and the smoke cloud around his head. This image, which he cultivated, has made him the premier image of the seafaring pirate. 
 
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 But the image Blackbeard portrayed to his victims was in defiance of the man himself, who was described as shrewd, calculating, and surprisingly merciful. As Ullian writes, “Ironically, despite his ferocious reputation, there are no verified accounts of him actually killing anyone. He generally prevailed by fear alone.” 
 
 [NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources] ||||| Were 18th-century pirates literate? What sort of books did they keep on board ship? A fascinating new discovery at the Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Lab in Greenville helps answer those questions. 
 
 Archaeological conservators with the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ QAR Lab have discovered and conserved a type of artifact that very rarely survives on shipwreck sites – paper. 
 
 During conservation work on artifacts recovered from the wreckage of Queen Anne’s Revenge, 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 very quickly under water. 
 
 QAR Lab conservators are working with specialist paper conservators and scientists from the department’s Division of Archives and Records, along with the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, to conserve the very fragile paper fragments. 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 many months of research, the fragments were determined to be from a 1712 first edition of a book by Captain 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 andDutchess, which sailed from Bristol, England in 1708. The expedition leader was Captain Woodes Rogers, who also published an account of the expedition, and who was later sent in 1718 as Royal Governor to rid the Bahamas of pirates. 
 
 Voyage narratives were popular literature in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, inspiring new voyages both real and fictional. Both Cooke’s and Rogers’ works describe the rescue of Alexander Selkirk from an island on which he had been marooned for four years. Selkirk’s story became the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel, “Robinson Crusoe.” Although books like these voyage narratives would have been relatively common on ships of the early 18th century, archaeological evidence for them is exceedingly rare, and this find represents a glimpse into the reading habits of a pirate crew. 
 
 This unique find from the wreckage of Queen Anne’s Revenge provides archaeological evidence for books carried on ships in the early 18th century, and adds to our knowledge of the history of Blackbeard’s flagship and those who sailed her. The historical record has several references to books aboard vessels in Blackbeard’s fleet, but provides no specific titles; this find is the first archaeological evidence for their presence on QAR. 
 
 The task of conserving, recording and documenting the fragments is continuing, and a display about the find is being planned as part of the department’s Blackbeard 300th anniversary events during 2018.
– Pirates of yore plundered, but they also read books, apparently. While cleaning sludge out of a cannon recovered from Blackbeard's flagship, scientists discovered bits of paper and were able to figure out the name of a book kept on board. The 16 fragments, each no bigger than a quarter, were lumped together inside the chamber of one of 27 known cannons aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, which ran aground off North Carolina in 1718 and was discovered by divers in 1996, per a release. A few printed words on seven of the fragments helped with the sleuthing, reports National Geographic. After months studying the pieces—one of which reads "three or" and "Hilo, to"—researchers at North Carolina's Queen Anne's Revenge Conservation Lab identified the book from which the paper came. Deciding Hilo likely referred to the Spanish settlement of Ilo in Peru, researchers scoured early accounts of voyages mentioning the place until they came across the right one. It was a first edition of Edward Cooke's A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World, which describes a British naval officer's seafaring adventures from 1708 to 1711. Published in 1712, the book would act as inspiration for Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe. According to Gizmodo, such "voyage narratives" also inspired real-life expeditions and might've given Blackbeard "fresh ideas about new places to plunder." Whatever its purpose, the book was apparently considered dispensable when pages 177, 178, and 183-188 were applied to the cannon, possibly as a seal for its wooden plug. (Blackbeard's flagship also carried some unusual medical artifacts.)