Schooner Samuel Smith ~ Abt. 1 December 1804

The Wilmington Gazette, Wilmington, NC, 4 December 1804

Merchantman Shannon ~ March 1764

Caledonian Mercury

Edinburgh

March 31, 1764

The [Scottish] Shannon, [Captain] Williamson, from Virginia for Glasgow put ashore at Curotuck [Currituck] in North Carolina. The ship lost, the crew and part of the cargo is saved.

Brig Seaman ~ 13 July 1849

The Tri-Weekly Commercial, Wilmington, NC

Schooner Savannah ~ 27 December 1912

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913:

The 584-ton, 4-masted schooner Savannah, bound from Jacksonville, FL, to Portland, ME, with a cargo of pine lumber, and carrying a crew of 9 men all told, stranded about noon of this date on the western edge of Frying Pan Shoals, coast of North Carolina, in a westerly gale and thick weather. Vessel and cargo, valued, together, at almost $40,000, were totally lost. The ship’s crew, however, were saved by the crew of the Cape Fear and Oak Island Stations.

     As the schooner lay on the shoals, with the mountainous seas smashing against and over her, she was discovered by keeper Brinkman of the station first named. To make sure that she was aground the keeper climbed the Cape Fear light tower to get a look at her through a spyglass. On leaving the tower he asked the light keeper to set a signal, which, according to a previous understanding, would convey to the station crew at Oak Island and to the revenue cutter Seminole the information that a vessel was in trouble offshore.

     The Cape Fear crew put off the beach in their surfboat without loss of time, and covered the 8 miles to the schooner in two and a half hours. The Oak Island crew also appeared about the same time in their power lifeboat. It was agreed that keeper Brinkman should undertake the work of the rescue, a boat under oars being more readily and safely handled than a power boat in broken water about a wreck. This arrangement was duly carried out, the Oak Island crew standing by, ready to assist their comrades should the surfboat meet with misfortune while alongside. “After a hard battle with wind and sea,” says keeper Brinkman in his report, “we took the captain and eight men off.”

     The ship’s crew were cared for at the Oak Island Station until the following morning, when they were placed aboard the Seminole, which had appeared off the station during the night. The cutter and two tugs attempted to float the schooner, but without success.

Schooner Savannah (Inset: Capt. W. N. Gould)

Steamer Santiago ~ 11 March 1924

Loaded with 32,000 bags of sugar, the 5,000-ton Ward Line freighter Santiago left Cienfuegos, Cuba on March 4, 1924. The week before she had run ashore in Matanzas, necessitating the discharge of about 129 tons of sugar into lighters before she floated free. The sugar was put back on board  and, apparently undamaged, the Santiago the sailed for New York.

     Three days later, she ran into a severe storm and for the next 70 hours plowed through heavy seas while the wind increased steadily in intensity. The end came the night of March 11th, at a point approximately 60 miles south of Cape Hatteras. It was precipitated when one of the hatches broke open, letting great quantities of water pour into the holds.

     The men were set to her pumps but were driven from her hold after several hours by the inrushing water. Perceiving that the open hatch cover was still intact, the first and third mate attempted to move forward to retrieve it. But as they reached the hatch cover, a huge wave poured over the deck and the two officers disappeared. By then the holds were practically filled with water, the pumps were inoperative, the engines had stopped and the vessel was unmanageable. Captain J.S. Baldwin had rockets sent up as signals of distress, ordered the boats launched and gave the command to abandon ship, meanwhile lashing himself to the mast.

     In the scramble for the boats, three more men were washed overboard. The first lifeboat was finally lowered over the side, but before it could be moved into the open it was thrown against the huge steel hull, crushed and swallowed up by the sea along with the men on board. The second boat went over successfully, with 11 men aboard. “There was no attempt to man the oars,” a survivor said later, for all the occupants could do was “to cling desperately to the gunwales.” This boat drifted clear of the sinking freighter. Shortly afterwards, with Baldwin still lashed to the mast, the Santiago rolled over and disappeared.

     For three more hours the lifeboat drifted in tumultuous sea, half-filled with water, the men able only to hang on for dear life. Suddenly the boat capsized and the 11 men were thrown into the water. Ten managed to regain hold on the over-turned boat.

     Early the next morning the wireless station at Charleston picked up a message from the Norwegian steamer Cissy: “Picked up life-boat containing six sailors, three firemen, one carpenter from the steamer Santiago which sank 60 miles south of Hatteras. No other life-boats seen. Proceeding to Baltimore.”

Burlington Free Press, Burlington, VT

Schooner Seaman ~ 5 March 1837

NORTH CAROLINA MARITIME MUSEUM

Beaufort, NC

www.ncmaritimemuseum.org

1836 Map of the Vicinity by
Morse and Tuttle

On this day in 1837 the schooner Seaman, of Duxbury, was lost at New River Inlet. Half full of water with no people on board, she was boarded March 5 by the Miles King of Norfolk. The crew had been taken off by the steamer South Carolina.

Steamer Sardinian Prince ~ 1 January 1896

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897:

During a rift in the fog, at 6 a.m., the Wash Woods surfman on the south patrol discovered the Sardinian Prince aground about 2-1/2 miles SSE of he station and ¾ miles offshore. Having burned his Coston signal, he returned and called his mates. After summoning towboats the surfboat proceeded to the scene, reaching the steamer at 7:30, and at once assisted to carry out a kedge. Having been shortly joined by the lifesavers from Currituck Inlet a second anchor was run out, but the tide had fallen too much to admit of releasing the craft. The deck load of lumber was now thrown off, and at 3 p.m. four tugs, which had reached the spot, took hold of the stranded vessel and succeeded at 5 p.m. in floating her. On the 4^th inst. 2,000 feet of the jettisoned lumber, which had come ashore near Wash Woods, was saved by outside parties employed through the efforts of the keeper, who notified the insurance agents and wreck commissioner, the latter disposing of the same by public auction on Jan. 9.

(Note: It's not clear to me that the Sardinian Prince was actually wrecked. JH)