After examining thousands of artifacts and digging through historical data, maritime archaeologists have a verdict: A ship off North Carolina is all but certainly the Queen Anne's Revenge. ]

North Carolina's top marine archaeologists were pretty sure the wreck was the Queen Anne's Revenge, the cannon-heavy flagship of the notorious pirate Blackbeard that ran aground here in 1718. But being scientists, they used buzzkill qualifiers such as "believed to be" and "consistent with" to describe the wreck. 

Now, after examining thousands of artifacts and digging through historical records, those same archaeologists have finally delivered a verdict:

The ship is very likely, just about dead sure, all but certain, no doubt the Queen Anne's Revenge. Pretty much. 

No one has found "the smoking blunderbuss," said Jeffrey Crow, a historian with North Carolina's Office of Archives and History. But archaeological detective work has proved that every significant artifact — from swords to gold pieces to silver boot buckles to a diamond-encrusted wine glass — is dated before the 1718 wreck. That and other compelling evidence confirm that the ship can be none other than the Queen Anne's Revenge.

The two marine archaeologists who wrote the scholarly paper that has prompted the state to seal the deal on Blackbeard's 90-foot ship said, "It was the right-sized vessel, in the right place, at the right time, and with artifacts of the right period." ..........