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BEAUFORT, NORTH CAROLINA—Yesterday, nautical archaeologists successfully brought up two cannons that once shot six-pound cannonballs from the wreck of Queen Anne’s Revenge, the ship helmed by Blackbeard nearly 300 years ago. That brings the tally of recovered cannons to 15 of a total of 27 known cannons that are part of the ship, which was discovered in 1996. One of the cannons that was just brought above the surface had a wooden plug known as a tampion jammed into its gun barrel, leading archaeologists to speculate it still has gunpowder in it. The team had hoped to recover three cannons on this dive, but left one behind. They hope to recover all the ship’s artifacts by the end of 2014.
