RALEIGH, N.C. – 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.
However, they're fighting with legal filings, not cutlasses, and the treasure is $14 million in disputed lost revenue and contract violations.
Intersal Inc. of Florida filed a petition in April against the state Department of Cultural Resources. It claims the state is violating the contract by displaying images of artifacts from the Queen Anne's Revenge on websites without a time code stamp or watermark.
North Carolina has created a tourist industry based on Blackbeard and the ship since its discovery in 1996.
The state has filed a response denying Intersal's allegations.
Mediation is scheduled to occur before June 29.
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