When Joseph Schwarzer was named director of the state's three maritime museums, he said he was as surprised as anyone.
Schwarzer, executive director of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum for 12 years, said Thursday he still is familiarizing himself with the two other museums he now is charged with overseeing since he was notified July 11.
Schwarzer already was adjusting to the state Department of Cultural Resources gaining oversight of the unfinished Hatteras museum in June 2007.
"First of all, I thought to myself, 'Oh, my God!' " he said. "Then I thought, 'OK. This is something we'd hoped that would eventually evolve for the North Carolina Maritime Museums.' The fact of the matter is, North Carolina has got truly remarkable maritime resources, and here's an opportunity to consolidate, focus and move forward."
Ken Howard, director of the Division of State History Museums, said Thursday the decision to make Schwarzer director of the maritime museums, and to move David Nateman, the former director in Beaufort, into a role to develop educational and long-range exhibits has solved dual management challenges.
Howard said Nateman has the expertise to build a comprehensive exhibit for the hundreds of artifacts recovered from the Queen Anne's Revenge, the shipwreck found off Beaufort that is believed to have been the pirate Blackbeard's ship. In his new role as museum curator for special projects, Nateman also will help Schwarzer create exhibits for the 19,000-square-foot Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum.
And Schwarzer, with 30 years of experience in maritime history and nautical archaeology, Howard said, has the qualifications to be in charge of the three maritime facilities.
"We've got three different museums - we don't want to tell the same story at all three," Howard said.
Opened in 1985, the 18,000-square-foot maritime museum in Beaufort is built to resemble a life-saving station. The possibility of building a bigger facility, Howard said, is being considered on land North Carolina has acquired.
The state is working on funding to complete the gallery at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum so that exhibits can be displayed there, Howard said. The goal is to have that space completed by year's end.
Danny Couch, chairman of the Graveyard's board, said that pending approval from the IRS will turn the board into a friend's group. Despite the prolonged time it has taken to get the museum finished, Couch, a 16-year veteran on the board, said he is not concerned about Schwarzer's additional duties slowing down progress. He said he believes Schwarzer is in a better position to move things forward.
With about 2,000 shipwrecks sunk off North Carolina, the Hatteras museum is focused on interpreting the 400 years of piracy, war, storms, maritime commerce and life saving off the Outer Banks.
The third facility, a 5,000-square-foot maritime museum on the lower Cape Fear River in Southport, which became part of the state in 2000, is focused on the area's colonial and Civil War history as well as pirates and World War II, said Mary Strickland, the museum's curator-manager.
Strickland said Schwarzer is planning to visit for the first time on Saturday.
"They're looking forward to his fresh ideas," she said. "We are very much shipwreck people here. Mr. Schwarzer's interests are obviously what our interests are."
Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com