A pirate attack is once again a possibility along the coast of North Carolina. But unlike the bold buccaneers of 200 years ago who plundered the busy shipping channels of the American East Coast, these raiders will not have a parrot or peg leg among them.

The new raiders are expected to be in fast moving inflatable boats rather than square rigged schooners and be equipped with scuba gear and flippers rather than knives and cutlasses. Their target is the "Queen Anne's Revenge", Blackbeard's flagship.

The announcement last week of the possible discovery of the wreck of the "Queen Anne's Revenge", lying in 6m of water, only 3km off the North Carolina coastline, has sparked international interest.

A team that took 10 years, a giant metal detector and a lot of luck to find one of the most sought after pieces of pirate history, has proudly displayed several souvenirs brought up from the ocean floor. A bronze bell dated 1709, a blunderbuss, a cannon ball and a sounding weight were recovered in March, 1997. They say there are as many as 40 cannons, several anchors and hundreds of other trinkets in various states of decomposition.

And of course, everyone wonders if there might also be treasure.

Now the race is on to secure the site to stop the looters, souvenir hunters, collectors and curious.

Only a handful of people know the location of the wreck and they are not telling. They also have no plans to return to the site for at least another couple of months. An area 300m around the site, has been declared off limits to boats and divers to protect the archeological intregity. All artifacts will be kept by the state of North Carolina and the company hopes to recoup its $300 000 investment through book and film rights.

LATEST NEWS

They have now recovered 2 cannons as well as the earlier artifacts and there are pictures of these that you may want to see at www.blackbeardthepirate.com. They will be slowly pulling things up over the next few years and it appears most of the bounty will stay in Beaufort and be lent out to other museums.