Pirates As Men Of Measure: Examining Tools And Equipment From The QAR Shipwreck

Author(s): Linda F. Carnes-McNaughton

Year: 2018

Summary

In the biblical sense, a "man of measure" is large, even monumental; he is a walking building, or walking sanctuary or human idol.  Pirates too could fit this description as their stature is measured in lore and legend.  But this paper focuses on the assemblage of specialized tools and equipment found on the sunken ship known as Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard’s lost flagship. These artifacts, recovered during the past 20 years, reflect an active engagement with measurements of all types and all things; nautical, astronomical, medical, personal, economical, tactical and ballistical, even horological. This study presents an overview of these items recovered from the wreck in their contextual and temporal settings, and how they were used by pirates in the early 1700s. Some we assume were stolen, or selectively appropriated, while some were essential.

Cite this Record

Pirates As Men Of Measure: Examining Tools And Equipment From The QAR Shipwreck. Linda F. Carnes-McNaughton. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441231)

Keywords

Temporal Keywords
1700-1720

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 316