New Orleans

Conscientious objector found guilty for absence

A Marine reservist who said he failed to report for duty because he is a conscientious objector was found guilty of unauthorized absence but not guilty of desertion Saturday.

Lance Cpl. Stephen Funk was sentenced to six months in prison and will receive a bad-conduct discharge, which results in his losing all military benefits after he gets out of prison.

While in military custody, Funk’s rank will be dropped from lance corporal to private, the lowest rank in the Marines, and two-thirds of his pay will be docked for six months.

The desertion charge accused Funk, 21, of “shirking important duty” for missing 47 days of service. His San Jose, Calif.-based unit was mobilized Feb. 13 to load ships and cargo planes in San Diego bound for the Middle East.

North Carolina

Shipwreck investigated as Blackbeard booty

Archaeologists are investigating whether a burned shipwreck off the North Carolina coast is the remains of the last ship captured by the pirate Blackbeard.

A nonprofit marine archaeology and exploration team announced in July that it had found the shipwreck in Ocracoke Inlet, along the state’s barrier islands.

Officials with Surface Interval Diving Company have said the wreckage also could be that of a Civil War-era vessel burned by retreating Confederate officers in 1861.

The wreck is about 40 feet longer than those Blackbeard commandeered in the early 1700s, which were 80 to 90 feet long, said the company’s vice president, David Pope.