Kind of funny, I’ve been reading of shipwrecks here in NC as well, headed for the OBX in August, the rates are down and so are the crowds, but still warm both water and air, the swell picks up along about then. Impressive surf, those shore break barrels. Love to watch the pros and up-and-comers surf at the Old Lighthouse jetties.
I’m a native Tarheel and have always known about the shipwrecks, even climbed around on a few as a child before the museums claimed them and took them away. But, I never paid attention to the specific histories of any of them.
Some are flat out weird, for instance the Carroll A. Deering or the Nazi U-Boats. Some are just so sad and pathetic... the Crissie Wright, good lord. I’ve been to Cape Lookout Bight, such amazingly clear aqua water, not many places on the NC coast get that, the currents tend to keep the sand churned up but not there, you can see bottom clear as a bell fifty feet down.
A nor’easter barreling down on them prompted the captain of the Crissie Wright to seek refuge there. They never made it. Temps dropped from the seventies to below freezing in an hour, winds split the main mast before they could get the sails down. Temps dropped below zero overnight. They froze to death in the rigging, massive waves breaking over the hull of the ship, run aground on the shoals.
Locals were horrified, watching them die like that, they’d lit bonfires on the beach in anticipation of survivors, but they couldn’t get out past the 12’ surf. The ship was in clear view, not far away at all. No towns there anymore, Diamond City was wiped out by a hurricane. Their livelihood was whaling.
Only human habitation there now is the park service, the lighthouse is automated. Still, a beautiful place. A little haunted, though.
My Grandmother loved Nags Head
The great lakes are loaded with shipwrecks.
There are more lighthouses on the great lakes than the Atlantic and Pacific coasts combined
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry Fought the war of 1812 on Lake Erie from Presque isle
The outer banks would be great off season.
Empty beaches
Interesting about the NC shipwreck the Deering. Thanks
I’ll be on Hatteras in September. I can’t wait.
Atlantic View Estates.