Schooner Henry W. Cramp ~ 15 November 1914

On November 15, 1914 the schooner Henry W. Cramp sprung a leak during a heavy southeast gale and sank about four miles northeast of the Cape Lookout lightship. The keepers report follows, transcribed as found:

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1914:

"At 12:45 p.m., the daywatch (Daniel W. Yeomans) reported a vessel some distance off shore with the American Ensign Union down. We hoisted the answering Penant to let them know we had seen there signal. We launched Power Surfboat as soon as possible. Owing to high surf it took us some time to get from the beach. We boarded the Vessel. It proved to be the Schr Anna M. Hudson with the shipwrecked crew of the Schr Henry W. Cramp which she had picked up a drift in small boat. The Captain and crew of the shipwrecked Schr requested me to land them at this Station, which we did. Owing to the high surf and loaded condition of our Power Surfboat, she was completly submerged at times, while comeing to the beach through the breakers, but we come through all safe with no mis hap. The next day the 17th, I took the Captain to Beaufort, N.C. so they could get to there homes. I also notified the Revenue Cutter Service."

The Cramp was oaned by Coast Wise Transportation Company of Boston, MA and commanded by Captain E.H. Mercer of Ellsworth, ME. His crewmen were J.R. McDonald, Mate, Baltimore, MD; William Morris, 2nd Mate, Boston, MA; William Hanson, Engineer, Boston, MA; Fred Morris, Cook Baltimore, MD. The seamen, all of Boston, MA were: Pat Henderson, John Hanson, Charles Anderson, Olof Algren, Ed Nicholson and Frank Laverta. The vessel and its cargo of crossties were all lost at sea.

Schooner Helen H. Benedict ~ 6 February 1914

New York Times

February 7, 1914

SCHOONER GOES ASHORE.

Crew of the Helen H. Benedict Rescued by Life Savers.

NAGS HEAD, N.C., Feb. 6—The schooner Helen M. Benedict of New Haven, Conn., from Pert Amboy to Fernandina, with a crew of nine men, was driven ashore near here today in a gale. Life savers took off her crew in a breeches buoy.

The schooner Helen H. Benedict belonged to the Benedict-Manson fleet. She was thirty-three years old and was worth about $8,000. Her Captain was Windsor W. Torrey of Deer Isle, Me.

Schooner Hattie P. Simpson ~ 21 March 1914

NORTH CAROLINA MARITIME MUSEUM

Beaufort, NC

www.ncmaritimemuseum.org

On this day in 1914 the schooner Hattie P. Simpson sank off of Cape Lookout. The ship was headed from Philadelphia to Galveston with a load of anthracite coal but suffered continual damage in successive storms along the way. The crew dealt with the situation the best they could, but after three days the ship eventually succumbed to its wounds. The Captain and five crew members were lost with the vessel. Four survivors managed to swim to a life boat that had drifted free of the ship, and spent six days afloat. Finally a passing steamship, the Caracas, spotted the small boat and picked up the surviving sailors. They were later transferred to the U.S. Navy Battleship Kansas and taken to Philadelphia. 

Freighter Isle of Iona ~ 13 December 1914

The route from Cuba to Baltimore was one that passed by the Diamond Shoals. Special care had to be taken during the northward journey because the Gulf Stream propelled a ship along at a clip faster than normal. Ground speed could exceed a vessel’s cruising sped by several knots.

     When a dense fog closed in on the Isle of Iona, obscuring the sun and the stars whose observation is mandatory in order to fix a ship’s position, Captain Quack’s only recourse for approximating his location was dead reckoning: a “guesstimate” calculated by multiplying engine revolutions by wind speed and direction and predicted drift. Thus, as darkness fell on December 13, the Isle of Iona was moving north faster than Captain Quack reckoned.

     Instead of calling for a turn to starboard in order to round the dreaded shoals, he plowed straight ahead into the breakers on the south shore of Hatteras Island. All agree that the sea was rough, but according to different reports, the tide was either low or flood. The time was approximately 10:40 p.m. Coston flares informed those aboard the freighter that their plight was known to those on shore and within minutes both the Hatteras Inlet and the Durants life-saving stations were galvanized for action. By 10 a.m. the following day, all 27 men were brought to shore but the Isle of Iona eventually broke up where she lay.