#topsail

Oh to read a good book at the beach

One of my favorite pics of me from my trip to North Carolina this weekend. This was out on Topsail Island, part of the Crystal Coast, which has beautiful beaches that are only rivaled in the US by Florida. The island was one of the rumored locations where the Spanish Treasure Galleon ‘El Salvadore’ wrecked upon during a hurricane in 1630; smashing her against the shores and her gold cargo lost, and the ship’s remains ripped back out to the ocean. As a result in 1937 the “Carolina Exploration Company” came in search of the Spanish gold and dug for 4 years with construction equipment and hiring locals to dig. In 1941, inexplicably in the middle of the night the company packed up, told locals they didn’t have to come into work tomorrow and they were gone before sunrise. So there’s for the last 80 years been the question of if they found the gold, didn’t report it and fled, or if their finances finally ran out after 4 years and they just quietly left in defeat. In either case on the island now, on what’s private property, is the “Gold Hole” from when it all occurred.  Also, since the 1900s, there’s been rumors of a “ghost ship” from the southern end of the island, out of an area known as “Rich’s Inlet,” where ships detect on their radar a blip indicating a ship leaving the inlet, but there’s never any ship to be seen on the waters. 

Masts and sails in a sailing ship.

on the yardarm furling what looks like the lower topsail

a few of my Duplicats!! they’re a closed species by yours truly and their fat paws give me life