Contract battle brewing over $14M Blackbeard 'treasure'

[Omaha Steve]

FILE- In this May 27, 2011 file photo, a 3,000 pound anchor from what is believed to be the wreck of the pirate Blackbeard's flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, is recovered from the ocean in Beaufort Inlet, in Carteret County, N.C. Nearly 300 years after the pirate flagship sank off the North Carolina coast, a shipwreck-hunting company and the state are battling over treasure linked to the vessel, but they're fighting with legal filings, not cutlasses, and the treasure is $14 million in disputed revenue and contract violations. (Robert Willett/The News & Observer via AP)


http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e6c85e8aed5341b3828f80b6b2d40a07/contract-battle-brewing-over-14m-blackbeard-treasure

By MARTHA WAGGONER May. 5, 2015 5:44 PM EDT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Nearly 300 years after the pirate Blackbeard's flagship sank off the North Carolina coast, a shipwreck-hunting company and the state are battling over treasure linked to the vessel — but they're fighting with legal filings, not cutlasses, and the treasure is $14 million in disputed revenue and contract violations.

The Florida-based company, Intersal Inc., found little loot when it discovered the Queen Anne's Revenge almost 20 years ago, but it eventually gained a contract for rights to photos and videos of the wreck and of the recovery, study and preservation of its historic artifacts.

The state, meanwhile, has created a tourist industry around Blackbeard and his ship since the vessel's discovery in 1996. That includes exhibits at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort, which attracts about 300,000 visitors a year, according to the Queen Anne's Revenge website. The artifacts, such as a 2,000-pound cannon, also go on tour to other state museums. The state also posts photos and videos on websites and social media sites.

Intersal says the state is violating the contract by displaying media of artifacts from the ship on websites other than its own without a time code stamp or watermark. In its petition in the state Office of Administrative Hearings, the company seeks $7 million for the alleged misuse and $7 million in lost revenue from the state Department of Cultural Resources.

FULL story at link.