A 3,000-lb. anchor believed to belong to the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the infamous pirate Blackbeard, has been recovered from the waters off the North Carolina coast. Members of the Queen Anne's Revenge Shipwreck Project utilized a crane and lift bags to raise the anchor from 20 feet of water.

The anchor is believed to have rested on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean since June 1718, when the vessel grounded while entering an inlet. Blackbeard, whose real name was Edward Teach, escaped his ship, but died six months later in a battle with the Royal Navy in North Carolina.

The event was tweeted as it happened by the North Carolina department of cultural resources."The anchor has just broken the surface. You can feel the boat slightly leaning towards its 3,000-lb. mass," the tweets said. "After nearly 300 years, Blackbeard's anchor is now aboard the Dan Moore. Horns blare and onlookers cheer. A little crusty, but there is no doubt about it being an anchor."

The department of cultural resources stated the anchor will be taken to a conservation lab at East Carolina University. Eventually, the Friends of the Queen Anne's Revenge want to put it on public display. The ship was discovered in Nov. 1996 by private divers.

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