Tug Levi Davis ~ 29 November 1896

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Services fr the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897:

Stranded in hazy weather, about 6 p.m., 4 miles SE. of the station and ¾ mile off shore, her master mistaking an old sunken wreck for a buoy. The evening patrolman, having discovered the casualty, burned his Coston signal to reassure her crew, and the surfmen were soon on the scene, where they were shortly afterwards joined by the life savers from the Cape Fear Station and by the tug Blanche, which vessel at once proceeded to Southport to procure additional hawsers, there not being sufficient length of line at hand to reach the stranded towboat. However, during her absence the boiler of the Levi Davis broke loose and the craft bilged, her crew of 8 men being taken off in the Oak Island surfboat, together with most of their personal effects, while the Cape Fear surfmen saved a small boat belonging to the steamer. Upon the return of the Blanche the shipwrecked men were put aboard her and the life savers returned to their posts, the Oak Island crew being given a tow abreast their station. The Davis proved a total loss.

Newspaper Article:
New York Times, December 1, 1896