Bark Alphild (Swedish) ~ 27 February 1893

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893:

Wrecked on shoal. Boarded her, and after assisting wreckers for two days in an unsuccessful attempt to float her, landed them in surfboat. Crew of Oak Island landed 9 of the crew with lifeboat on 28th, and on following day took master ashore. Later, master and three wreckers having returned to vessel and threatening weather setting in, took them ashore with surfboat.

Schooner Charles C. Dame ~ 14 October 1893

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894:

Lost her reckoning through encountering hurricane of October 13, and struck on Frying Pan Shoals early in the morning of this date, where she became a total wreck; the heavy waves making a clean breach over her decks and slowly dashing her to pieces, drove her crew to the jib boom for refuge. At daylight life saving crew discovered vessel 8 miles offshore and started for her with surfboat. After a toilsome and dangerous struggle of 7 hours against adverse and violent seas, succeeded in reaching wreck and rescuing the crew of 8 men, worn out and almost overcome by 12 hours’ exposure, in a cramped position, to the fury of the storm. Landed them at station, provided clothing, of which they were destitute, and cared for them two days, transporting them to Southport on the 16th. Crew of Oak Island Station, attempting to cross Cape Fear River Bar, and failing on account of severity of sea, requested tug to tow them out to wreck, but were refused on the ground that the weather was too tempestuous. (See letter of acknowledgement.)

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, October 19, 1893

DEAR SIR: Allow me to extend the thanks of myself and crew of the schooner Charles C. Dame to you and the heroic men who manned the lifeboat from your station to my vessel on October 14, when she was breaking to pieces on Frying Pan Shoals. Without your assistance it is more than probable that myself and crew would have been lost in the terrible seas that swept our decks. Your heroic fight of twelve hours to reach the vessel was a super-human effort that deserves a record in the annals of the Life-Saving Service, which I, as a mariner, always regard as a sailor’s hope when shipwreck stares him in the face in storm-ridden seas along our coast. Your rescue of every man, and the safe landing of your own and my crews, was a piece of work that it delights me to pay tribute to, and the kind treatment of us while under your care requires me to double my thanks, and extend the same from my officers and crew. This but feebly expresses the feeling of gratitude that animates my writing this; but believe, dear Captain, that in my heart there is a warm affection and admiration for the keeper and crew of the Southport (Cape Fear) Life-Saving Station. I hope we may meet again when you will be in my care, but under different circumstances. I remain, sincerely, SAMUEL S. GROVE, Late Master of Schooner Charles C. Dame

     In addition to the foregoing letter to keeper Watts, of the Cape Fear Station, Captain grove furnished the following statement for publication, which appeared in the columns of the Southport Leader, October 19, 1893, under the caption:

CARD OF THANKS

I desire for myself and crew to express my heartfelt gratitude for the services rendered us and the great bravery exhibited by Captain John L. Watts and his crew in taking us off the wreck of the schooner Charles C. Dame on last Saturday. The rescue was made at the risk of their lives. SAMUEL S. GROVE, Captain of Schooner C.C. Dame

THANKS TO BRIAN MANNERS for sharing the following images of the Schooner Charles C. Dame that were found in a pile of old watercolors found by his father. Drawn by Charles Cook in 1884, they may have been quick sketches or studies done on site ... perhaps for a future painting.

Schooner Emma J. Warrington ~ 4 October 1893

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894:

Became water logged in stormy weather, forcing master to beach her. Made haste to reach her with apparatus, but she came up so high that her crew of four men waded ashore. Brought off their personal effects and two young tame bears that were confined in the cabin. Next day, assisted by keepers of two adjacent stations (Kittyhawk and Caffeys Inlet) stripped craft of everything of value. Cared for shipwrecked seamen at station. On the 6th took two of their number, and on 9th remainder of crew, with all gear saved from wreck, to steamboat landing. (Lee letter of acknowledgement.)

TUCKAHOE, CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, October 11, 1893

DEAR SIR: On October 4 I was wrecked near Paul Gamiels Hill Life Saving Station, North Carolina, and I desire to express to you my appreciation of the kindness tendered to myself and crew by Captain Austin and crew, and of their valuable services in saving our personal effects and all that was possible from the wreck, and assisting us to get to our homes, all of which will long be remembered with a grateful heart. Respectfully yours, R.C. YOUNG, Master Schooner Emma J. Warrington

Schooner Enchantress ~ 31 August 1893

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year June 30, 1894:

Fell in with the storm of the 28th, in which the mate was washed overboard, the master’s leg injured, and the vessel water-logged so that she drifted about helplessly until she finally stranded, on the 30th, 16 miles from station, and became a total loss. On morning of this date, having been four days without food, master and one of crew took to the yawl of the Jennie Thomas when it came alongside, and landed with part of crew of that vessel where keeper was guarding some property belonging to the schooner Kate E. Gifford. Keeper sent them to station, where they were fed and clothed, and the master’s injuries dressed. Next morning the balance of the crew, 5 in number, came to station, and were succored until later in the day, when, together with the crew of the Thomas, they were taken to Southport with the assistance of volunteers from Cape Fear Station. In rendering assistance to these three vessels (the Gifford, Thomas and Enchantress), keeper was employed 48 hours continuously.

Bark Formosa ~ 20 February 1893

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893:

Struck on Outer Diamond Shoal and sunk; crew of 9 men landed in their own boat. Brought 7 to station and cared for them, the remaining two staying at Cape Hatteras Light-House. On 21st took 6 of them to Durants Station, where they were taken care of until the 23d, when they procured transportation to Philadelphia on schooner Addie Henry. On 22d transported master and two males to Big Kinnakeet Station, from which place they took steamer for Elizabeth City on the 23d. (See letter of acknowledgement.)

CAPE HATTERAS STATION, NORTH CAROLINA, February 20, 1893

I wish to acknowledge my thanks to the life-saving keeper and crew for services and kindness rendered to myself and crew after landing on the beach at the hour of 7 p.m., February 19, 1893. The barkentine Formosa struck on the outward Diamond Shoal, and immediately bilged and fell over on her beam ends, sea at the time breaking over the ship. No time was offered to signal the life-saving station. One boat was immediately launched, wind blowing a fresh gale from west-southwest. At 2 a.m. on the following morning landed three miles north of Cape Hatteras Light House, and was immediately discovered by life-saving crew, taken to station, and kindly cared for. J. SHEPPARD, Master ; H. PURDY, Mate ; G. Neuhaus, Second Mate

Schooner Genevieve ~ 29 November 1893

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894:

Three-masted schooner, supposed to be the Genevieve, sunk 12 miles from Cape Fear station. Saved two gaff topsails and some blocks. Searched in the vicinity for the crew, but found no one.

Schooner Kate E. Gifford ~ 30 August 1893

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894:

Water-logged by the hurricane of the 28th; drifted ashore 8 miles from station and became a total loss. Keeper who had gone to Southport to assist in landing crew of Schooner Three Sisters (see record) summoned volunteer crew and started to the rescue. After a hard struggle over an almost impassable beach, brought apparatus opposite the wreck early in the morning of the 30th and landed the crew of 7 men, with their effects, in the breeches buoy. The shipwrecked seamen were taken to the station, and there suitably provided for. Crew of Cape Fear Station assisted to rescue the crew of the Schooner Gifford, and in the afternoon took 6 of their number to Southport.

(NOTE: See also Sea Island Hurricane of 1893.) 

Schooner Mary W. Morris ~ 27 October 1893

Shipwreck at Oak Island to soon get final resting place
On Oct. 13, 1893, the three-masted schooner Mary E. Morris was sailing off Brunswick County, carrying phosphorus from Charleston, S.C., to its home port of Philadelphia.
   Unfortunately, a hurricane came ashore that day at Myrtle Beach, S.C., and swept north toward Raleigh. It washed away wharves in Wilmington damaged a few weeks earlier by the Great Hurricane of 1893, which struck in late August.
   The Morris sank in the October storm a few miles south of Southport. The good news is all hands made it safely ashore.
   And that might have been the end of the story had not the ship’s remains turned up on Oak Island. Old-timers remember the ship’s skeleton periodically emerging from the sand in the vicinity of 13th Place West and then disappearing again.
   Archaeologists from the state’s Underwater Archaeology Branch at Fort Fisher surveyed the wreckage in 1979, 1984, 1990 and 1997. It was in one piece then, the oak floor timbers sticking out from the keel like ribs.
   Then came Hurricane Dennis. Folks around here don’t remember Dennis as being all that destructive as it moved by on Aug. 29, 1999, but its waves picked up the Morris and bashed it into four walkways along the dunes.
   “It broke in two pieces, and both of them started banging down the beach,” said Nathan Henry, an underwater archaeologist who surveyed the wreckage afterward.
   A crane company pulled the wreckage off the beach, cutting it into sections and moving it to the town’s athletic fields before Hurricane Floyd struck on Sept. 16, 1999.
   Thanks to the town’s visionaries and Chris W. Rogers, the Morris will soon be on the move again. It will be relocated to a grassy median in Barbee Boulevard beside the J.V. Barbee Library, 8200 Oak Island Drive.
   Mr. Rogers started working on the project as an intern for the town of Oak Island, earning credits toward his Master of Public Administration degree at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
   He is wrapping up the project as a consultant to the town.
   On Wednesday, Mr. Rogers met with Jamie Ezzell, division manager for Edwards Crane, and Gene Kudgus, the town’s public works director, to go over the details. They looked over the 15-ton skeleton, which lies in four major sections with some bits and pieces scattered around.
   A pedestal will be prepared at the library site, and an informational display will include a rendering done by Wilmington artist Kim Camlin.
   Mr. Rogers said the town has budgeted $9,000 for the project, but additional funds are available if needed.
   Mr. Ezzell said the trickiest part will be flipping it over. It lies with the keel side up, but Mr. Rogers wants it to be right side up when the pieces are displayed end-to-end at the new site. Mr. Ezzell said his company occasionally flips new yachts at area boatyards, and he had some ideas on how to accomplish it while minimizing the chances of damaging the 111-year-old wreck.
   Identifying the wreck wasn’t easy. In 1999, archaeologists thought it might be the Wustrow, a German brig lost in the August 1893 storm.
   But that ship was only 106-feet long, while the Morris was more than 130 feet long. Mr. Henry compared the pieces of the wreck to specifications mandated for vessels insured by Lloyd’s of London to determine its size, about 400 tons. Then he looked for ships of that size and description lost off Brunswick shores. The Mary E. Morris, which was insured by Lloyd’s of London, fit the bill.
   The ship will be moved on a weekday sometime after the Fourth of July, and Mr. Ezzell said Oak Island Drive wouldn’t be closed more than a few minutes as his four trucks drive to the library site.
   UNCW’s 4-year-old Master of Public Administration program is placing qualified people in positions throughout the area, said Tom Barth, a political science professor who directs the MPA program.
   But I believe Mr. Rogers is the first of them to move a shipwreck.

Found at http://www.starnewsonline.com/news/20050619/shipwreck-at-oak-island-to-soon-get-final-resting-place

Schooner Martha ~ 3 March 1893

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893:

Carried away mainsail in heavy weather; stranded on shoal and became a total wreck. Assisted by crews from Big Kinnakeet and Creeds Hill Stations. Succeeded, after great exertion, in landing her crew of four men with breeches buoy. Took them to station and kept them there for four days.

Schooner Nathan Esterbrook, Jr. ~ 20 February 1893

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893:

At about 1 o’clock on the morning of February 20, 1893, the surf man having the patrol to the northward from the Little Kinnakeet Station (6th District) North Carolina, discovered a large vessel, which proved to be the schooner Nathan Esterbrook, Jr., of New Haven, Connecticut, ashore two and one half miles north-northeast of the life saving station, and about three hundred and seventy-five yards from the shore. The vessel was of seven hundred and thirty-one tons burden, having on board a cargo of guano valued at $35,000, and was on a voyage from New York City to Savannah, GA, carrying a crew of 9 men all told. The wind was from the southwest, and although strong, was favorable for the schooner, and while it was intensely dark the weather was not stormy, but the master had in some way missed his calculations, and almost before he was aware of his peril, ran hard aground as stated above. The tide was falling and the surf was heavy.

     The patrolman no sooner saw the lights of the schooner than he knew she was stranded, and he therefore made his way with all possible haste to the life saving station, where the crew was aroused and at once prepared to go to the wreck. While the apparatus cart was being run out, and some extra articles that the keeper thought might be found necessary were being loaded into a horse cart belonging to him, he telephoned to the Gull Shoal Station, some 5 miles to the north of his own, and also to Big Kinnakeet, some 6 miles to the southward, informing them of the stranding and requesting their presence at the scene. Then he went to the top of the lookout and burned a red signal to the shipwrecked men to let them know that preparations were in hand for their rescue. The lifesaving crew then harnessed themselves to the apparatus cart and started off, the keeper going ahead and making faster time with his own cart loaded with the medicine chest, blankets, life belts, extra shot lines, etc. Not long afterwards he met the Gull Shoal crew and sent some of them with a horse to assist his men who were behind with the apparatus cart. No time was necessarily consumed, but the extreme darkness of the night and the condition of the beach were such that a considerable period was required to get abreast of the wreck with the apparatus, which was not accomplished until nearly three o’clock.

     The Lyle life gun was immediately brought into requisition, carefully sighted by the lights of the schooner which were still burning, and a moment later its friendly shot went whizzing through the air toward the mark. The distance was great, and the darkness so impenetrable that the eye could not follow the flight of the projectile, but the fact subsequently appeared that notwithstanding the difficulties of the situation both the keeper and the gun had done their work well. It is true the shot did not rest on board the vessel, but it reached her fairly and would have proved entirely successful had it not happened to strike the heavy forestay and rebound into the water. After waiting a sufficient length of time and finding that the line was not being hauled aboard, the keeper knew that the shot had failed, and promptly prepared to try again. The second projectile was fired with a larger line and a heavier charge of powder, but fell short. Upon the third trial the same weight of cartridge was used, but a lighter line (of the same size as the first one), and this shot landed the line in excellent position across the fore gaff, between the fore and main masts.

     The shipwrecked crew at once began hauling out the whip, and in the space of a few minutes the hawser was sent out and made fast, but unfortunately, as it later appeared, too low down. The movements of the life saving end, were guided solely by the signals of the lantern on board the schooner, and they had no knowledge of what was going on there except from that source, therefore, when a signal was made that the hawser was fast they set it up, clapped on the breeches buoy and sent it forth without delay. The second mate got into the buoy, and it was about to start on its first trip shoreward when a change of condition occurred which ultimately resulted in the only instance of loss of life which attended the wreck. Just as all was ready the wind suddenly veered from the west southwest, and began to blow a gale from the north, swinging the wreck around and thus bringing the beach apparatus hawser across the head stays. A signal to haul away was however, shown, and the buoy was accordingly promptly pulled ashore. When it reached the beach its occupant was found to be unconscious and was supposed to be drowned, the hawser having been made fast so low down on the schooner that the buoy was necessarily dragged through the water a large portion of the way. Efforts were instantly made to resuscitate the apparently drowned man, and he soon recovered consciousness, when he was transported in one of the carts to the Little Kinnakeet Station, attended by surfmen selected for the purpose, while the rest of the three crews assembled at the scene remained to complete the rescue of the eight men still on board the Esterbrook.

     The gear being fouled the keeper now determined to give over any further efforts with that method and make an attempt to reach the vessel with the surfboat. A launch was finally accomplished in face of the high wind and furious surf, but these obstacles supplemented by a rapid long shore current, were too much for the crew, and ultimately compelled them to abandon the effort and return to the beach. It was now daylight, and keeper Hooper signaled to the men on the wreck to change the hawser and whip line to the lee bow, and while this was being done and the shore end of the gear set up over again, as was necessary, he sent a team to his station for the life car, which he proposed to use in the further operation, as perhaps under the circumstances a speedier and preferable means of getting the remaining men ashore. When it arrived the car was slung upon the hawser in place of the breeches buoy, and four trips were made with it, two men being loaded at each trip. So many perplexities were encountered that it was well into the day when the last man was safe on the shore, and it may well be accounted a fortunate circumstance that the vessel was sufficiently strong to hold together with all spars standing until rescue was completed.

     No lives were lost by drowning, but the second mate, Charles Clafford, who, as before stated, was unconscious when he reached the shore, and as it afterwards appeared from his own statements and those of his shipmates was injured before leaving the vessel, and later by being dragged across the head stays, suddenly failed early in the forenoon, and at about 9:30 o’clock gave up his life. From the instant he was landed to the moment of his death every possible means was adopted for his recovery, but without avail. Just before he expired he threw up profuse quantities of blood, and it was the opinion of his comrades, as would seem to be the fact, that his death was due to necessarily fatal internal injuries. His body was carefully dressed in clothing taken from the supply provided by the generous benevolence of the Women’s National Relief Association, and then reverently interred by the life saving men in the presence of the surviving members of the shipwrecked crew.

     While the circumstances of this rescue were not extraordinary so far as the weather was concerned, they afford a fair illustration of the methods of life saving-the breeches buoy, boat, and life car all having been successively brought into use—and they also emphasize the value of telephonic communications between the stations, by which three crews were easily and promptly assembled under circumstances calling for a very considerable number of men.

     The shipwrecked people were furnished with dry clothing, and remained at the station until the day after the wreck, when they took their departure on a wrecking steamer for Norfolk, VA, leaving with the keeper the following statement expressive of their appreciation of the services of the life saving crews:

The schooner Nathan Esterbrook, Jr., of New Haven, Connecticut, stranded at 12:40 o’clock on the morning of February 20, 1893, about two and one half miles north of the Little Kinnakeet Life-Saving Station. The captain and crew of the station were promptly on hand. There was no lack of duty in saving our lives. Furthermore, I wish to state that the man who died at the station was saved alive. I believe that he got hurt in getting clear of the vessel, causing his death. Everything was done to save his life that could be done. I am very thankful for myself and crew for the kind treatment that we received from the captain and crew of the life-saving station. GEO. L. KELSEY, Captain ; A.L. DUNTON, Mate ; JOHN MANSTON, Steward ; T. ANDERSON, Seaman ; F. KUHLA, Seaman ; J. ANDERSON, Seaman ; T. ANDERSON, Seaman

Barkentine Ravenswood ~ 13 October 1893

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal ear ending June 30, 1894:

Driven ashore in severe gale and sea; assistance by boat impossible. Took apparatus cart along beach, opposite point where she was about to fetch up, and, when she struck, landed her crew of 10 men with breeches buoy, assisted by crews of New Inlet and Gull Shoal stations. Sheltered and cared for ship’s company at station, giving proper medical assistance to master, who was ill. Succored portion of crew 16 days. (See letter of acknowledgement.)

CHICAMICOMICO LIFE SAVING STATION, NORTH CAROLINA, October 31, 1893

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: The (British) barkentine Ravenswood, while on a voyage from Boston for Satilla River, Georgia, on Friday, October 13, 1893, encountered a terrific storm and was stranded on the North Carolina beach about noon. We can not speak too highly of the promptness shown by Captain J.H. Westcott and noble crew in rescuing us from a perilous position. Although the sail was lashing furiously over the wreck, the first shot line was carried successfully over us, the distance being about three hundred yards, and, after hauling the whip line and hawser on board, in about thirty minutes afterwards we were all safely landed on the beach and conveyed to the station, where we were cared for and treated with the greatest kindness. A few days later our captain, Edward Kennedy, was taken sick and confined to his bed. I cannot express our gratitude for the generosity shown by Captain Wescott in supplying the wants of the sick, in sending for doctors and securing extra food, and lots of other home comforts. Keeper L.B. Midgett and crew of New Inlet has our gratitude and thanks, and also keeper D.M. Pugh and crew of Gull Shoal, in rendering us their assistance in time of need. FREEMAN SLAWENWHITE, mate ; NATHAN S. GERARD, Second mate, Barkentine Ravenswood

Steamer Wetherby ~ 2 December 1893

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894:

Stranded on Outer Diamond Shoal, 12 miles offshore and became a total wreck. Notified the adjacent stations of Creeds Hill and Big Kinnakeet by telephone, then set out for her in surfboat; found her listed to starboard and filling rapidly. Crew of 24 men abandoned her in surfboat and two of the ship’s boats, taking part of their effects, each of the ship’s boats being in charge of a surfman placed on board by the keeper. Soon after leaving the vessel met the Creeds Hill crew, who took one of the ship’s boat with 13 men in tow, landing them with surfboat when the shore breakers were reached. The Cape Hatteras crew conveyed the other boat to within 3 miles of the shore, when the surfboat from Big Kinnakeet Station met them and took charge, landing the sailors in safety. Cared for the 24 mariners at Cape Hatteras and Creeds Hill stations until the 6th instant, when they were transferred from Durante Station to the schooner Lizzie S. James, which carried them to Norfolk. (See letters of acknowledgement.)

SIR: We, the undersigned, desire to tender our sincere thanks on behalf of twelve crew members of the steamship Wetherby, wrecked on Cape Hatteras Shoals on the morning of the 2d instant, for the assistance and kind treatment we have received at the hands of Captain Styron and the crew at this station. Respectfully, Isaac T. Tose, Second Mate ; William Jack, Second Engineer ETC

Schooner William Smith ~ August 26, 1893

Every Evening, Wilmington, NC, September 4, 1893

SEA ISLANDS HURRICANE ~ 27-29 August 1893

So sudden and unexpected was this hurricane’s appearance that most ships in the vicinity had no warning of its presence until the terrific winds actually struck.

     The 335-ton schooner Roger Moore had passed by Oak Island shortly before, en route from Wilmington to Ponce, Puerto Rico, with a cargo of lumber. She was caught on the fringe of the storm, and before it was over lost part of her sails and deck cargo, and one of her 8 crewmen was washed overboard.

     At midnight on August 27 the three-masted, 286-ton schooner Three Sisters, of Philadelphia, fully loaded with pine lumber she had picked up in Savannah, was off Frying Pan Shoals Lightship. By 1 a.m. on August 28 the wind had reached hurricane force, and within an hour the sails and mizzenmast had been lost, and both master and mate washed overboard and drowned. This left the cook in charge of the five-man crew.

     Throughout the following day she drifted, wallowing in the rough sea, shipping large quantities of water, and slowly being driven toward the coast. She was spotted at two o’clock that afternoon from the watchtower of Cape Fear Station by keeper J.L. Watts and shortly afterwards by Dunbar Davis at Oak Island. When it was clear that the ship’s intention was to run toward ashore, they realized it would be fatal to both vessel and crew given the tremendous seas breaking northeast of the cape and signaled the vessel to anchor where she was and await assistance. Before dawn on August 29, 11 surfmen shoved off, rounded the cape without accident, and reached the schooner soon after sunrise. Despite heavy seas, it was a comparatively simple matter to take off the 5 crewmen and return with them to Southport where medical attention could be given. As for the Three Sisters, she was left at anchor, to be towed into the harbor for repairs when the storm subsided.

     No sooner had the Oak Island crew returned to their station when they learned a signal had been hoisted for the German brig Wustrow, stranded about 9 miles west, near Lockwoods Folly, and gone to pieces. Subsequently, word had been brought to the station that the crew of the brig had reached the beach with the aid of some fishermen in the vicinity. Keeper Davis was on the verge of dismissing his volunteer crew, but before doing so he climbed to his watchtower on the chance that he might be able to see the vessel. Almost immediately he spotted it, closer to the station than had been reported and still in tact. As he focused more clearly on the vessel, he realized he was not looking at the Wustrow, but a three-masted schooner. Two ships were aground west of his station!

     The schooner seemed to be anchored and was beyond the line of breakers, so Davis and his volunteers once again put off in the surfboat. They got only as far as Cape Fear Bar; the wind and tide and breakers combined to hold them in an almost stationery position no matter how hard they rowed. They eventually gave up and started back inside again. A pilot boat and tug appeared on the scene upon hearing of the vessel in distress, but both refused Davis’ request to tow his surfboat across the bar and into the open water beyond. His only course of action was to return to his station and proceed down the beach, on foot, with his lifesaving apparatus. It was mid-afternoon when his crew of 10 men began the long trek along the coast, pulling the apparatus behind them.

     “The beach was so cut through in many places,” Davis reported, “that we made very slow time, and I saw that we could not reach the wreck (the schooner, which later proved to be the 419-ton Kate E. Gifford, of Somers Point, NJ) before night; and further saw that she was not aground. I unloaded a part of the gear and pushed on, thinking to be some service to the crew of the brig. On coming within about two miles of the schooner I met a man with a mule and cart who stated that the crew of the brig had gone to a farmhouse and a party of fishermen was taking everything as it came ashore.”

     Davis immediately hired the man to take him to the spot where the Wustrow had stranded. “In the meantime,” Davis continued, “the schooner had tried to get underway and had grounded. It was now sunset, so I signaled to the schooner that I would assist her as soon as possible. I left a man to keep a fire opposite the schooner, and engaged the man with the mule to return for the balance of the gear. Even with the mule’s help we could make but little headway, for the sand was boggy and every half mile or so we would come to deep gullies. On one of our stops a man came up with a yoke of oxen, I engaged them, and while hitching them up Keeper Watts came up with F.W. Fulcher, D.W. Fulcher, H.E. Mints, L.A. Galloway and Ramon Williams. This was about 10 p.m., and still a hard job was before us, but I made no other stops and reached the vessel at 2 a.m.”

Dunbar Davis, 1892

     With waning winds of the hurricane striking them from across the open sea; with spray and spindrift rolling across the flat beach; with debris from one wreck washing ashore at their feet; David and his crewmen set up their Lyle gun, sank a sand anchor, hooked on the line and ball, loaded the gun with powder, and sent the shot straight and true toward the stricken Gifford. They knew the line had landed on the schooner, but the 7 men aboard the Gifford—which already was going to pieces—did not see the line in the darkness, so it just dangled there, the ball swinging back and forth in the wind.

     Forced to wait until daylight to resume their rescue attempt, the lifesavers built a great fire on the beach, affording some assurance to the shipwrecked sailors that they had not been left on their own. When dawn came, the line was at last spotted by the sailors and secured at a point high on the mast so that heavier lines and the breeches buoy could be hauled aboard. All 7 crewmen reached the beach safely. Davis and the first mate of the Gifford, remained at the scene to watch over the gear that had come ashore.

     By then it was the afternoon of August 30. The record to that time contained three vessels: schooner Three Sisters, grounded, captain and mate washed overboard, crew of 5 saves; brig Wustrow, beaten to pieces in the breakers, crew of 9 safely ashore and cared for by near-by farmers; and schooner Kate E. Gifford, grounded and breaking up, crew of 7 rescued in breeches buoy.

     Davis and the first mate built up a fire and had decided to take turns sleeping when they spotted a small boat coming in from the sea. The boat, a ship’s yawl, came up opposite them and then headed into the surf, landing safely with their assistance. There were 7 men in the yawl—cold, wet, hungry and exhausted. The boat was from the three-masted schooner Jennie E. Thomas, which had become waterlogged about 35 miles S.W. of Cape Fear. The mate and three men left her and boarded a near-by vessel in hopes of getting supplies. But the other vessel, the 371-ton schooner Enchantress carrying a cargo of railroad ties from Port Royal, SC, to New York, was in as bad a condition as theirs—waterlogged and unmanageable with one member of their crew washed overboard and the captain injured. So the captain and two of her crew had joined those in the yawl from the Thomas and the 7 had headed for the beach, eventually spotting the fire Davis had built. (Later, the Enchantress stranded near Lockwoods Folly and became a total loss. The Thomas was towed into Southport and repaired. The remaining crew members of both vessels were all saved.)

     When Davis finally returned to Oak Island Station at 9 o’clock that night he found it crowded with shipwrecked sailors: There were 6 from the Gifford, plus the mate; 7 from the Thomas and Enchantress and four from the Wustrow. All of the food in the station had long since been used up, and the clothing too. But the keeper of the lighthouse and his wife had come over to assist Mrs. Davis in tending to wounds and cooking, and provided a considerable additional food from their own supply.

None of following ships was ever seen again:

• The Mary J. Cook, 436 tons, was bound from Port Royal, SC, to Boston with a cargo of lumber. In addition to her crew of 7, she carried one passenger.
• The schooner L.A. Burnham, 389 tons, bound from Savannah to Portland, ME, carried lumber and a crew of 7.
• The schooner A.R. Weeks, 445 tons, from Satilla Bluffs, GA, to Elizabethport, NJ, carried lumber and a crew of 8.
• The schooner George W. Fenimore, 673 tons, from Brunswick, GA, to Philadelphia had lumber and a crew of 8.
• The schooner Oliver H. Booth, 2476 tons, from Brunswick to Washington, DC, had lumber and a crew of 6.
• The schooner Gertie M. Rickerson, 219 tons, from New York to Caibarien, Cuba, had a general cargo and a crew of 7.
• The schooner John S. Case, 198 tons, from Jonesport, ME, to Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, had lumber and a crew of 6.
• The schooner Lizzie May, 201 tons, was en route from New York to Fernandina, FL, in ballast with a crew of 6.