Schooner Crissie Wright ~ 11 January 1886

Beaufort, NC Post Office Mural Portraying Crissie Wright
by Simka Simkhovitch (1939)

Found at Havelock News

It is said that Crissie Wright was a beautiful ship, an 800-ton, three masted "tern" schooner launched July 11, 1874, in Bridgeton, NJ. She set sail from Baltimore on December 31, 1885, with a load of guano on her way to Savannah, GA.

She entered the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean from the Chesapeake Bay and was off the treacherous coast of North Carolina on January 11, when the weather quickly turned. A coming winter storm would soon become deadly for her crew.

According to legend (there are no known official investigations of the shipwreck), the Crissie Wright lost her rudder and the schooner’s captain, Thomas Clark, took refuge in the Cape Lookout bight, anchoring off Shackleford Banks to wait out the coming storm. The weather turned so quickly however, that no crew member could get off the ship before the temperature dropped below 20 degrees. Except for the ship’s cook, all crew members drowned or froze to death in the bitterly cold gale that blew the night.

According to Sally Moore, author of They Watched the Crissie Wright Go Down, the ship ran aground near Moore’s Landing just off Shackleford Banks:

"As the men struggled to repair a damaged rudder while waiting for high tide to float them free of the sandbar, a fierce northeast gale blew in, dropping the temperature from near 70 degrees to below freezing in less than an hour. The crew, already soaked from working on the rudder, scrambled on board and sought what refuge they could find, some wrapping themselves in the mainsail and lashing themselves to one another. As the night went on and the conditions worsened, the men became unconscious, some falling into the icy water as frustrated would-be rescuers watched from the beach. Finally, at 4:30 the next afternoon, the weather broke and rescuers were able to reach the battered ship."

According to writings from Our Shared Past by Grayden and Mary Paul, after boarding the battered remains of the Crissie Wright, the rescuers from the bankers village of Wades Shore "saw a big bulge in the jib sail where they discovered four men wrapped together in the canvass. Three of them were frozen stiff, but the man underneath, covered by the other three, showed some signs of life. This was the ship’s cook, Robert Johnson, the lone survivor." He died a scant year later, never having recovered from his ordeal.

To this day, Beaufort natives still use the expression "cold as the night the Crissie Wright came ashore."

Bark Codorus ~ 4 August 1886

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887:

At quarter to 3 o’clock in the afternoon the bark Codorus, of Baltimore, MD, bound thence from Rio Janeiro, Brazil with a valuable cargo of coffee, mis-stayed and stranded on the outer shoals off Cape Hatteras, NC, about 8 miles to the southward of the Cape Hatteras Station (6th District). There was a light southeast breeze at the time and the accident was, in great part, attributed to the strong set of the current. She had on board a crew of 12 men and one passenger. The station being closed at this season the keeper, as soon as possible, assembled a volunteer crew and put off to the vessel in the surf boat, reaching the scene near dark, but found it out of the question to go alongside on account of the heavy breakers on the shoals. As she appeared to be lying easy and in no immediate danger, the surfmen returned ashore to wait until daylight before attempting to board her. A strict watch was kept during the night and a fire built on the beach to guide the wrecked people to a safe landing in case they were obliged to abandon the craft before morning. Rockets were also set up to reassure them. Shortly after 6 o’clock (5th) the captain and three sailors managed to reach the shore in their own boat, to the south of the shoals, where they were met by the keeper and conducted to the station. As the assistance of wrecking tugs was desired, a message was at once sent to Hatteras village for transmission at that point over the Signal Service wires, but subsequent developments proved this step needless for when the surfmen went off again to the vessel, which they immediately did, she had broken in two and was fast going to pieces. Crews from the adjacent stations of Big Kinnakeet, to the north, Creeds Hill and Durants, to the westward, went to the wreck in their boats and joined in the work of rescuing the people, saving their effects, and conveying ashore provisions and cargo. The castaways were sheltered at the Cape Hatteras Station, all of them remaining a week, and the captain 6 days longer. Some 60 odd sacks of coffee were stored, which the keeper afterwards delivered on board a schooner authorized to receive them. The bark became a total loss.

Schooner Electric Light ~ 27 March 1886

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886:

In the forenoon the crew of the Ocracoke Station (Sixth District) coast of North Carolina, went out and towed ashore a boat which was discovered adrift, bottom-side up, about a mile and a half from the station. It was thirty-seven feet in length, with oars and row-locks, and had a small hole stove in the bottom. It proved to belong to the fishing schooner Electric Light, of Gloucester, Massachusetts, that was wrecked by a collision at sea on March 27th. The owners were communicated with and the boat was properly cared for, subject to their order.

Schooner Hennie ~ 23 January 1886

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886:

The crews of the Cape Hatteras and Creed’s Hill Stations (Sixth District) coast of North Carolina were both engaged on this date in assisting to launch the schooner Hennie, of Elizabeth City, North Carolina. She parted her cable during the heavy westerly gale of the 9th, and went ashore on King’s Point, in Pamlico Sound, about six miles to the westward of the first and three miles to the northward of the last named station. After breaking away from her anchorage an attempt was made to weather the shore by setting the mainsail, but the wind burst the canvas, and the schooner was driven high out on the beach, where the crew of three men left her and spent the night in the woods, not being able to find a house on account of the intense darkness. Owing to the thick growth of trees that intervened, the accident was not observable from either station. On the 23d the captain of the stranded vessel applied to the life-saving men for assistance and they at once proceeded to the scene of the mishap. They pried the craft up and put skids under her and she was moved about seventy-five yards into the water. On the 29th the flood tide advanced high enough to float her. She came off somewhat damaged, and her cargo of oysters, which was obtained in Robinson’s Channel, and was being taken to Elizabeth City, proved an entire loss.

Schooner Jennie Beasley ~ 26 January 1886

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 1886:

At 8 o’clock on the night of the 26th, during the prevalence of a northeasterly storm with thick weather, the schooner Jennie Beasley, of Bucksport, ME, was wrecked on the coast of North Carolina, about one mile north of the Currituck Inlet Station (6th District). She had 7 persons on board, including the captain’s wife, and was bound from Clark’s Cove, MA to Wilmington, NC, with a cargo of guano. She struck about 300 yards from the shore, and was discovered at half-past 8 by the patrol, who gave the alarm as quickly as possible. An hour later the crew were on the ground with the beach apparatus, the sea being too rough for boat service. The vessel by this time had worked in to within 200 yards of the beach, and, although the weather was so thick that she could scarcely be seen, they were successful in establishing communication with the first shot. The whip was at once hauled off and the hawser followed, and then matters came to a stand through the fouling of the gear, owing to the strong current alongshore and the innumerable stumps and roots of trees which studded the beach far out beyond low water mark, the lines becoming so twisted and entangled that it was impossible to clear them until daybreak. It should be stated that before the hawser was sent off the Currituck crew had been reinforced by portions of the crews of the Wash Woods and Whale’s Head Stations, the next adjacent stations north and south, whom keeper Etheridge had summoned by telephone to his aid before setting out. It was a weary watch during the remainder of the night, the weather being rainy and cold; but day broke at last upon the scene, and as soon as it was light enough the men lost no time in clearing the entangled lines, although it was a difficult task, as they had to wade out into the surf almost neck deep to accomplish it. When everything was in readiness the breeches buoy was sent off, and by 8 o’clock (27th) the unfortunate people were ashore and safely housed at the station, where their dripping garments were quickly replaced with dry ones from the supply donated by the Women’s National Relief Association. On January 31st the station crew aided in stripping the wreck of sails and rigging and getting them ashore. As the bay was frozen over and no communication could be had with the mainland, the sailors were compelled to remain at the station Until February 2d, a period of eight days, or until an opportunity offered for sending them by steamer to Norfolk. The captain remained still longer to sell the wreck at auction and close up his affairs. He left on February 11th.

Schooner Kate Wentworth ~ November 18, 1886

The Boston Globe, Nov. 20, 1886

Schooner Scud ~ 1886

Schooner Scud en route to Hatteras from Norfolk, VA under the command of Captain Broker and one crewman when she sank four miles NE of the Hatteras Inlet station.