Hulk Fred Walton ~ 17 August 1899

Annual Report of the Operations of the Unitd States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1900:

Parted its moorings and driven on Hog Shoal, 2 miles ENE. Of station, by the fierce hurricane which was raging. Owing to thick weather, the surfmen did not discover the casualty until 5.25 p.m. on the 18th, when they made out the hulk, which is used as a lay boat off Ocracoke by the Norfolk and Southern steamers, flying a signal of distress. Surfmen pulled out to it and found it broken in two and full of water. They took the ship keeper and his wife, who were the only ones on board, into the surf boat and landed them at Ocracoke.

Wreck of the Fred Walton & the Lydia A. Willis
During the Storm of August 1899

On the morning of August 16, 1899, it became apparent that a large scale storm was in the making. The wind had shifted and was steadily increasing. By noon it had reached 50 miles per hour and by dark it was blowing full hurricane force. Two local families arrived at the station by boat, seeking shelter. They had been driven from their homes by the extremely high tides. It became necessary for the keeper to "scuttle" the station to keep it from floating away. On the following morning the full force of the storm struck with plus 100 mile perhour winds. There was nothing they could do but ride out the storm.

By late afternoon on the 18th the storm had subsided enough for the lookout, Surfman William T. Willis, to see something which looked like a vessel. He called for Keeper Terrell, who "... went in lookout, took glasses and spied, just then it cleared up, we could see that she had distress signals." They left immediately in the surfboat, arriving at the wreck at 6:15 p.m. The vessel proved to be the unrigged Fred Walton, which was used by the Norfolk and Southern Railroad as a lay-boat off Ocracoke. "She had parted her moorings and drifted down on Hog Shoal (two miles ENE of the station), broke into and filled up, we took the ship's keeper and his wife (Captain and Mrs. W.D. Gaskill) ashore to Ocracoke, where they lived." At 8 a.m. on the 19th the Portsmouth station crew left Ocracoke to take the agent of the Walton to the wreck to look for money which was left on board. The keeper reported:

"... on our way we saw colors aboard Sch. LYDIA A. WILLIS. She had parted her chain thursday morning and drifted on Dry Shoal Point (three miles east of the station). We had past her Friday afternoon when we went to Lay boat FRED WALTON but could see nothing that looked like life abord. The Captain said they was all to the lee of house and did not think to set colors until saterday morning. There was four men abord had been six but two had been swept off Thursday in the Hurricane. They wanted to be carried to Ocracoke ware there friends was. One was very bad off. We used bottles of hot water and heated bricks to his limbs and soles of his feet. We stade with them all night and brought them out all right. Put them aboard Steamer OCRACOKE, Sunday morning which they took for thear homes, Washington, N.C."

The rescued men, all of Washington, were: Captain Robert Griffin; Benj. Griffin; A.S. Kelley; and John Rors. Those swept away by the hurricane, also from Washington, were George L. Buckman and Henry Blango.

The lifesavers had left the station at about 5:30 p.m. on the 18th and didn't return until 1:05 p.m. on the 20th. Both vessels were complete losses.

Schooner Leading Breeze ~ 23 November 1901

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1902:

Stranded during a southerly gale on Dry Shoal Point, 2-1/4 miles ESE. from station. Station crew promptly manned surfboat and started for scene of disaster. Meantime, the schooner had broken up, and the life savers found the crew of four men adrift on the vessel’s cabin, to which they had lashed themselves. The shipwrecked men were taken to the station in the surfboat and were given food and shelter, also dry clothing from the stores of the Women’s National Relief Association. Later the keeper provided them with transportation to their homes. The vessel was a total loss. (See letter of acknowledgment.)

PORTSMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA, November 25, 1901

DEAR SIR: I desire to call your notice the great service that the keeper and crew of the life-saving station at this place rendered myself and crew by taking us off of the wreck of the schooner Leading Breeze, when stranded off Ocracoke Inlet on the afternoon of November 23 and immediately broke up. Caught in a heavy south-east gale with sails split, we were unable to weather the breakers, and were driven ashore by the wind and sea at a place where the surf was the heaviest. Our boat were soon stove in by the big-seas that boarded us. With tremendous seas breaking over her, our schooner soon commenced to break up, and the thick fog hanging over us made it impossible for us to see the land or to see the way through the surf. We lashed ourselves to the cabin top and drifted clear of the wreck as she went to pieces, the breakers washing us shoreward with only what we stood in. We had small prospect of reaching land and were abandoning all hope when, just before dark, we sighted the life-savers in their surfboat making their way through the shoals and breakers, winding through narrow channels and heavy surf, and with difficulty avoiding the floating wreckage which was drifting n their way and adding more danger to the difficult task of taking us off. Despite all obstacles, their object was successfully accomplished just as it was growing dark, and we were speedily landed and at once taken to the station, where we were furnished with dry clothing, every want attended to, and made to feel that we were among friends whose attentions were heartfelt and sincere. We wish to thank you and the head of the service which saved our lives and placed us under so great an obligation. Yours truly, BRADISH W. JOHNSON, Master American Schooner Leading Breeze ; CHARLES W. ANTONSON, Mate ; OLAF FASMER, Seaman ; T.S. TRUMBLE, Seaman

Schooner Lydia A. Willis ~ 17 August 1899

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1900:

Two lives were lost from the small schooner Lydia A. Willis near Dry Shoal Point off Ocracoke, NC, during the hurricane of August 17, 1899. The names of the lost were G.L. Buckman, passenger, and Henry Blango, cook, both residents of Little Washington, NC.

     The Willis was an old craft of 17 tons, which had been chartered for a pleasure trip by a party of 9 gentlemen belonging in Little Washington. The entire company on board when the vessel sailed numbered 12—3 of whom made up the crew. On Wednesday, August 16, the schooner anchored off Ocracoke, and as the wind was already blowing well-nigh a hurricane 6 of the passengers wisely chose to go ashore, leaving the crew and three of the pleasure party still on board. During the night the full force of the storm broke upon the ill-conditioned craft, which parted her chains and brought up at 4 a.m. of the 17th on Dry Shoal Point about 3 miles east of the Portsmouth Life-Saving Station.

     The testimony of the captain (who was saved) could not be obtained, but he is understood to have vaguely stated the time when the two men were lost during the day or the night of the day of stranding—“Thursday or Thursday night.”

     The weather was so thick that nobody on shore saw, or possibly could have seen, the wreck, and as a matter of fact its presence was not known to anybody until the afternoon of Friday, August 18, when it was discovered by patrolman William T. Willis of the Life-Saving Service who reported it to keeper Terrell. At that hour the “lay boat” used by the Norfolk and Southern steamers was reported ashore on Hog Shoal flying a signal of distress, and the life-saving crew at once launched a surfboat and started to board her. On their way they saw the Willis apparently deserted, and showing no signal whatever. The wind was still blowing hard, and piling up a high sea, and the keeper therefore kept on his way to the vessel which had called for aid. He started out about 5 o’clock, and at 6.15 reached the lay boat, which he found broken in two, full of water, and having on board the ship keeper and his wife. These the life-saving crew took off and landed at Ocracoke, reaching there at 7 o’clock, having again pulled within a mile of the stranded Willis, which they scrutinized in vain for signals of distress or the slightest signs of life on board.

     The keeper determined not to attempt to return to the station that night, but to remain in Ocracoke; but before he “turned in” the agent of the Norfolk and Southern Railroad hunted him up and requested him to make another trip to the lay boat in the morning, for the purpose of recovering some $300 from the safe.

     About 8 a.m. the next day the agent appeared at the landing, and with him keeper Terrell and crew started out in the station surfboat to board the lay boat, when, as they opened out the point, they perceived a signal flying on board the Willis. It was only a bit of canvas, but the keeper was sure it was not flying when his boat passed the Willis the previous evening, and he was therefore satisfied beyond any question that there must be some person or persons on board the wreck. Therefore he pulled that way and soon made out four men, whom, upon boarding her, he found to be two of the crew and two passengers. They desired to be taken to Ocracoke instead of the life-saving station, and therefore they were speedily placed in the surfboat and conveyed to the village, which they reached between 10 and 11 a.m. Three of the men were taken in charge by some of their friends, while the fourth, Mr. A.S. Kelly, of Little Washington, was conducted to a hotel, where he was provided with proper care, and on the next morning had so far recovered as to be able to go to his home.

     The captain of the Willis told the keeper that as soon as she struck the shoal all hands took to the rigging, and that after that time there was no possibility of leaving the rigging to make a signal. Previous to that time the weather was so thick that the vessel could not be seen. He further stated that late Friday afternoon, 36 hours after she stranded, the tide and sea had fallen so that the deck was out of water, and as the weather was still thick they all lay down in the lee of the deckhouse and went to sleep. None of them was awake when the weather lightened up about 5.30 p.m. and consequently no signal of distress was set up that night. On Saturday morning it appears to have occurred to them that it might be a good plan to set a signal, which they did, with the result that they were promptly rescued as already stated.

OCRACOKE, NORTH CAROLINA, August 21, 1899

We, the survivors from the schooner Lydia A. Willis, which was wrecked on a shoal near Ocracoke Inlet on August17, hereby certify that Captain Terrell and his crew from the Portsmouth Life-Saving Station came to our assistance and rendered most valuable service in bringing us around all right. We desire to hereby express our sincere to Captain Terrell and his crew. ROBERT GRIFFIN, Master ; BENJ. GRIFFIN, Mate ; A.S. KELLY ; JOHN ROSS

Barkentine Vera Cruz VII ~ 8 May 1903

It was early morning, May 8th, and for Keeper F.G. Terrell and his crew the year 1903 had so far been unusually uneventful. Things were different this morning, Surfman Washington Roberts had just reported a large sailing vessel coming ashore while trying to enter Ocracoke Inlet from the ocean.
     Upon investigation the vessel proved to be the 605-ton barkentine Vera Cruz VII, of Portuguese registry, under the command of Julio M. Fernandes. She had sailed from the Cape Verde Islands bound for New Bedford, MA with 399 passengers and assorted cargo plus 214 barrels of sperm oil, valued at $6,000.
     The captain realizing that he was in trouble, had attempted to anchor the vessel, but facing a fresh northeaster and a strong ebb tide, she had dragged anchor and stranded in the breakers of "Dry Shoal Point," three miles from the Station and about 300 yards off shore. It took the lifesaving crew 41 trips in the station's open surfboats to bring the 398 passengers and 22 crew to the safety of the shoal. They also removed the body of a passenger who had recently died on board and buried him where they landed.
     With the tide rising around them Terrell hired several local men with skiffs to transport the survivors the remainder of the way to the station.
     It was now the 12th of May and the Life-Saving Station crew and good people of Portsmouth had housed these 420 unlucky travelers for three nights while feeding them a total of 2,540 meals and using four and 1/2 barrels of flour in the process.
     The lifesavers, with the help of several local men, had also removed 420 souls from the grounded vessel but when the Revenue Cutter Boutwell sailed for New Bern, there were only 416 of them aboard.

But what happened to the other four? More about the Vera Cruz VII at the Ocracoke Island Journal.

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903:

Stranded on Dry Shoal Point, 3 miles ESE. from station, at 2 p.m., while trying to enter Ocracoke Inlet, and set a distress signal. Surfmen boarded and were informed that the vessel was from Cape de Verde Islands for New Bedford, MA, with 399 passengers, a crew of 22 men, and a cargo of sperm oil. Her master stated that his fresh water was exhausted and that he was endeavoring to enter the inlet to replenish his supply when the ship struck.

     At his request station crew took the women passengers, 23 in number, 3 children, and 10 men, to the station in the surfboat. At 6 p.m. they again went off in response to her master’s signal and quelled a disturbance among the men on board. The next morning the wind freshened from NE. and the sea began to increase, whereupon the keeper procured the services of 7 volunteers and pulled out to the stranded craft with both of the station surfboat, and, at her master’s request, landed 371 of those remaining on board on Dry Shoal. They then obtained the services of additional men with boats and took all of the rescued persons to the station, the shoal being submerged by the sea before the last ones were removed.

     The rescued women and children were made comfortable at the station and the men cared for by the hospitable residents of the village, who permitted them to occupy the vacant houses, and cheerfully rendered the keeper all possible aid in preparing food for their sustenance. The body of one of the passengers, who died from disease prior to the disaster, was removed from the vessel and buried by the surfmen. On the 11th they took off a portion of the crew and landed the baggage of the passengers, and on the 12th instant transferred 416 people with their personal effects, to the U.S. revenue steamer Boutwell, which conveyed them to Newbern, NC. On the 16th the surfmen landed the mate and one seaman with their effects and took them to the station, leaving only one of the brig’s crew remaining on board. Subsequently he was taken off by the life saving crew, who thereafter made several trips to the wrecked vessel at the instance of the collector of customs at Newbern, and finally assumed charge of her under his direction and removed her sails to the station for temporary storage. On the 29th instant her cargo of oil was removed by a wrecking company, who sent it to Norfolk, VA. The vessel proved a total loss.