Schooner Ada F. Whitney ~ 22 September 1885

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 20 1886:

At about noon, during the prevalence of a fresh easterly gale, with rain, the three-masted schooner Ada F. Whitney of Thomaston, ME, was driven ashore on the coast of North Carolina, about two and a half miles south of the Poyners Hill Station (6th District). She had a crew of 7 men, and was on her way from Boston, MA, to Brunswick, GA, in ballast.
     The crew of the station had watched her movements for some minutes before she struck, she appearing to be unmanageable from the loss of canvas. When, therefore, it became manifest that she would soon be ashore, they set out with the beach apparatus, and in half an hour were on the scene, although great difficulty was encountered in getting there, the high tide of the morning having covered the beach and left it in a very soft and bad condition. By the time of their arrival she had driven in to within 120 yards of the shore and swung broadside to, with the seas breaking over her deck and the spray flying half mast high. She was also rolling very deeply.
     The first shot from the Lyle gun lodged the line in the mizzen-topmast shrouds, and, as soon as the gear could be rigged the 7 men were brought safely to shore one by one in the breeches buoy. Their transit from the vessel was attended with considerable risk, as the schooner was gradually working nearer, and it was only by keeping the setting up tackle manned that sufficient strain could be kept on the hawser to prevent the men from being washed out of the buoy.
     While the rescue was in progress the district superintendent, Mr. T.J. Poyner, and Messrs. John C. Gallop and Josephus Baum, residents of the vicinity, joined the party and lent valuable aid. The keeper of the Caffeys Inlet Station, to the south, also came up and rendered good service. The latter had been watching the vessel from his station, and started with the apparatus as soon as she struck, but finding travel so bad with the heavily loaded cart he had pushed forward alone on horseback leaving his men to follow, and arrived in time to get the people ashore. The captain and mate were taken in charge by Superintendent Poyner and conducted to his home, while the rest were given quarters at the station, where they remained 5 days.
     During the succeeding night the schooner worked closer in and bilged, and on the following day, when the station crew boarded her to recover the people’s effects, she was full of water and in such condition as to preclude the possibility of saving her. The station crew a few days later assisted in saving the water casks and part of the rigging, the anchors and chains and other heavy articles being recovered by the Baker Salvage Company, of Norfolk. The wreck was condemned and sold at auction.

Schooner Busiris ~ 24 October 1889

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889:

Another vessel that met with disaster on the coast of North Carolina in the heavy north-northeast gale that began about sunset on the 23d was the British three-masted schooner Busiris, of St. John, New Brunswick. This vessel, manned by a crew of seven men, including the captain, had sailed from St. Mary’s, Georgia, several days previously, with a full cargo of lumber for her home port. All went well until the evening of the above-mentioned day, when the weather became boisterous, with a terribly heavy head sea, causing the schooner to labor badly, and at 11 o’clock at night, when some twenty-five miles east-northeast of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, the mainmast and mizzenmast went by the board, rendering her entirely unmanageable. She fell off into the trough of the sea and drifted before the storm, completely at the mercy of the wind and waves, and soon became waterlogged, but the buoyancy of her cargo prevented her from sinking. At 1 o’clock in the afternoon of the following day (24th) the wreck was sighted by the lookout at the Poyner’s Hill Station (Sixth District) toward which it was being driven. Immediately all was activity at the station, for it was seen that the dismasted craft must come ashore nearby, and that it would require sharp work to save her crew. The apparatus cart was run out of the boat room, hauled to the beach, and, as far as possible, the gear made ready for action. An hour after being discovered the wreck grounded some two hundred yards above the station and about the same distance offshore. The Lyle gun was soon fired, placing the shot line across the jib stay, but so far aloft that the crew could not secure it from deck, and the frightful rolling of the vessel prevented them from climbing for it. Seeing the difficulty, and not wishing to lose any time, the life savers hauled the projectile ashore and fired again. This shot landed the line within the reach of the anxious sailors, who eagerly seized it and hauled aboard the whip that the station men had bent to it. The hawser soon followed, and in a very few minutes the gear was set up. A tremendous surf broke on the beach and the vessel was lying so uneasily that it was impossible to keep the hawser taut. At the suggestion of the district superintendent, who, living nearby, had hurried to the scene at the first alarm, cork jackets were sent off to the vessel with the breeches buoy; and, as it subsequently proved, this was a wise precaution, every man having to be drawn ashore through the surf. Many residents in the vicinity gathered on the beach and rendered much needed assistance to the life savers. Men were stationed constantly at the crotch to keep it upright, and at the tackle, but so heavy and sudden were the vessel’s motions that the strain could not be kept on the hawser, and its bight was often in the water. The work of landing, though expeditiously performed considering the circumstances, was attended with much labor and trouble, owing to the slack line, and it would have been difficult for the station men to have accomplished it unaided. But for the cork jacket, which enabled the sailors to keep their heads above water when the buoy dipped into the surf, the rescued men would have fared badly. One hour was consumed in effecting the transfer. The schooner’s captain was entertained by the district superintendent until after the sale of the wreck, while the others of the shipwrecked crew went to the station, where they were furnished with a complete outfit of clothing (part of which was from the supply donated by the Women’s National Relief Association( until their own wet garments could be dried. Twenty-four hours later they departed for their homes. The Busiris and her cargo were sold at auction November 5th for a nominal sum. The following letter received by the assistant inspector of life saving stations (Sixth District) some days after the wreck, plainly indicates the value placed upon the services of the life saving men on that occasion by the captain of the schooner:

POYNER’S HILL STATION, November 1, 1889

“SIR: I beg leave to acknowledge the gallant service rendered myself and crew of the wrecked schooner Busiris, which drifted ashore dismasted and waterlogged during the terrible gale October 24th last, by the crew of the Poyner Hill Station. Their assistance was prompt and effective, and I desire to compliment them and the United States Life Saving Service in general for the efficiency displayed on that occasion. Without their assistance all of us would have perished. I wish to extend my kindest thank to all. Yours, ever truly, E.L. Morris, Master of the schooner Busiris.”

Bark Oriente ~ 28 April 1907

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907:

Stranded 2 miles SE. of Poyners Hill station, and discovered at 3.15 a.m. The life savers from both stations went to the wreck with their beach gear and fired 4 shots from the Lyle gun, the last one landing on her deck, but there was no sign of life on board. It was afterwards learned that her crew had abandoned her and were picked up by a fishing schooner and landed in Norfolk. A wrecking tug arrived and took charge at 3 p.m.

Bark Vibilia ~ 25 May 1891

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891:

POPLAR BRANCH, NORTH CAROLINA, May 27, 1891

"I wish to tender thanks in behalf of myself and daughter, officers, and crew of the bark Vibilia to Capt. J.T. Wescott and his life saving crew (of the Poyner’s Hill Station) for their prompt assistance in rescuing us, under trying circumstances. On the night of the 25th instant, from the above-named bark when she was stranded on Currituck Beach. I wish also to express our thanks to Mr. T.J. Poyner, of Poplar Beach, for his kind hospitality to those of us who were at his house. H. BEVERIDGE, late master of the Bark Vibilia."