Ever heard of Edward Teach? Probably not. How about Blackbeard? That was his other name.
When American colonists heard that name, they shivered in fear. Blackbeard was a pirate in the early eighteenth century. He tried to look fierce, so people wouldn’t fight back when he robbed them. Before British forces killed him in 1718, Blackbeard looted 50 to 100 ships.
In 1996, off the coast of North Carolina, archaeologists found what may be Blackbeard’s ship. Think of the booty a pirate ship might hold: gold! jewels! a toothpick! To an archaeologist, any clue to the past could be a treasure, no matter how dull it seems.
