#shipewreck

Hurricanes that form in the tropical Atlantic often spin their way up the East Coast and smack into the Outer Banks, but they can also form right on top of the region. In winter, low-pressure systems moving off North America come into contact with the juicy Gulf Stream and can rapidly intensify. Before modern forecasting, these atmospheric “bombs” would pound ships with massive waves and wind, with little warning.

In the late 1600s and early 1700s, the Outer Banks was a pirate paradise. The North Carolina Colony was a lawless land with hardly any government. But there was plenty of maritime commerce taking place. Pirates, like the famous Blackbeard, would steal goods from a merchant ship and sell it back to colonists on land at a discount. But eventually even Blackbeard and his ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, fell victim to the Outer Banks when he ran aground near the town of Beaufort, N.C. Some think he did it on purpose to easily offload the booty — a common practice of pirates.

A map of just a few of the shipwrecks off the Outer Banks. (Angela Fritz/The Washington Post) During World War II, German U-boats lurking off the Outer Banks sank hundreds of Allied merchant ships. More than 5,000 people were killed over the course of the war, mostly civilians and merchant mariners. During this time, the Outer Banks were known as “torpedo alley.” U-boats would use the cover of darkness to target ships as their silhouettes blocked out lights on shore behind them. There are also several U-boats resting on the bottom of the sea.

Outer Banks wreckers made a living of scavenging cargo and ship parts that would wash ashore. But some wreckers intentionally caused the calamities. A horse with a lantern hung around its neck would be driven down the beach bobbing up and down, mimicking the movement of a ship. Thinking that this was another vessel in safe deep water, an unsuspecting captain would steer toward it, only to run aground.

Storms and shifting sands have taken down the majority of the boats in the ship graveyard. The first vessel believed to have sunk in the Outer Banks was The Tiger. The ship was part of Englishman Sir Richard Grenville’s expedition and went down in 1585. In 1933, the massive four-masted schooner G.A. Kohler was grounded by a hurricane. It remained in place for 10 years and was eventually burned to salvage its iron fittings. What remains of the hull is still visible at times today at ramp 27, four miles south of Salvo.

Perhaps the most famous ship to sink in a storm in the Outer Banks was the “ironclad” U.S.S. Monitor during the Civil War in December 1862. While under tow behind the USS Rhode Island, it encountered a ferocious storm near Cape Hatteras. While well-suited for combat in a river, the Monitor was hardly seaworthy and didn’t stand a chance. It didn’t take long for the all-metal vessel to founder and sink, taking 16 sailors to the bottom with it.