Schooner Charmer ~ 4 March 1899

At 9:20 a.m. on March 4, 1899, Surfman David S. Willis reported a vessel stranded four miles east of the station. Keeper Terrell took the station crew to her assistance, arriving at 1010. The vessel proved to be the three-masted schooner Charmer (341 tons) from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, bound for Charleston, South Carolina with 567 tons of coal. She had struck bottom on the shoal during a heavy fog and had beat to within 800 yards of the beach. Captain Bragg, a local pilot of Ocracoke, also boarded the vessel to assist. Keeper Terrell landed Captain Charles L. Olsen and his crew of six at Ocracoke in order for him to have easier access to a telegraph.

The entire cargo, valued at $1,700.00 was lost. The only thing saved from the vessel was about $60.00 worth of sails and rigging. Soon after wards, the Charmer went to pieces.

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30 1899:

In attempting to make Ocracoke in a fog this vessel stranded on the bar. Crew from Portsmouth boarded her, but could do nothing further than to land the crew. Later on they took the master to Ocracoke to send a telephone message to Hatteras, to be forwarded thence to the owners of the vessel. When the owners arrived they turned the vessel over to Captain Bragg, a local pilot, but she soon went to pieces. (See letter of acknowledgment.)

OCRACOKE, NORTH CAROLINA, March 10, 1899

DEAR SIRS: The owner of the Charmer was here and put everything in charge of Captain Bragg, and as I am leaving Ocracoke today for Philadelphia, I take this opportunity of thanking you for the prompt assistance rendered to myself and crew in our distress. Yours, in dept, CHARLES L. OLSEN, Master of Schooner Charmer