The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-06-06
GRAVEYARD OF SHIPS
STORMY TERRORS OF HATTERAS
DESCRIBED.
For Two Hundred Years and wore
Mariners Have Feared lt--Hard to
Put Danger Signal There.


Put Danger Signal There.
Cape Hatteras,N. c., Cor. Baltimore SUM-
This lis the particular portion of North
Carolina best known to the world. All
mariners these two hundred years and
more have known of its dangers. 1t is the
graveyard of ships and it keeps the secret
of the grave. L. +. Smith, who for nine
teen years has been the keeper OF the
lighthouse, says that in the diamond
Shoals" which are the dreaded faeture or
the cape a ship once caught is literally
swallowed up. The largest tramp steam
ers disappear in twenty-four hours.
The secrets of hatteras are many, but
some are known. The shoals are the
elmer and ''outer diamond" and between
these is a slough or lead" in which the
wafer is 80 feet deep. But in bad wealth.
or the water actually "breaks" in TINS
depth. The water is always made addl-
tionally heavy by the sand, and this IS
made plain by the fact that when wave
breaks over a boat it always leaves
large deposit of sand.
1t is ten miles from the lighthouse
to the outer diamond, and from the latter
the Gulf stream is only eighteen miles
away. 1t is the nearest point to the
stream on the Atlantic coast. 1t is very
often cloudy and stormy here, when at
places quite near there is sunshine.
The attempt to place a caisson ON the
outer diamond was failure, and 1T seems
that the trial was not a fair trial. The
caisson was towed down, but there were
not enough cement to fill it, nor were
the other sections ready to bolt ON and
thus get it well above high water and
weighted with cement. The caisson was
timed over and disappeared. No trace
of it remains. The Experimental struct-
ure." as it is termed, shared the same
fate. The first storm inclined it, and
then over it went.
Now the problem is whether the pro-
posed lightship will stand the terrible
flashing of the seas 1t is the opinion OF
the Hatteras people that the ightship
will have to be placed in the lead where
the steamers go, where the water is 81
feet in depth. They consider it very
doubtful whether it viii stay there. The
absolute failure of the skeleton beacon
or governmental structure, seems to show
that lightship is the only resource
The sand is not quicksand, but it is all
the while in motion. Hence the quick
burial of ships. There is little or no
wreckage on the beach save the remains
OF the ship Altoona. The point of the
cape is now losing" The beacon light
or sbug." as it is termed, was built high
on the beach. 1t is now in the surf at
ordinary tides. The shoals do not reach
out nearly so far as those at Cape Look
out. the next cape to the southwark.
One Of the light-seekers says that with
in the sound" is a cape which is du-
plicate of Hatteras, with the double
shoals known as the diamonds. This he
referred to as 1.-The shadow of the cape
in the sound is a cape which is a du-
ly the cape is duplicated.
There is a remarkable change in the ap-
pearance of the beach at Hatteras. The
beach above is practically treeless and
very low, so low that the sea breaches it
at many points. Below Hatteras there
are heavy woods, large sand hills, and the
beach becomes two miles broad. 1t is
quite a different world and all in the
space. one may say, of few yards. The
woods continue twelve miles, all the dis
lance to Hatteras inlet.
The lighthouse, built in 1870, to replace
the old one, which was badly cracked, is
200 feet high. Its light is often seen at
Roanoke Island, 80 miles away.
The old lighthouse was not torn down,
but was blown UP and has left a great
pile of masonry two hundred yards nearer
the point of the cape than the present
light.
The view from the top of the light
house is singular one. With a glass
no less than FIVE life-saving stations are
visible. There are fresh-water lakes
quite near the light and in these gardens
OF soil reclaimed from the lake and dyked.
Fan palmettoes grow plentifully, and
this is almost their northern limit. The
Spanish bayonet, rising to height of
to 10 feet, is seen in all directions. The
lighthouse rises from a large area of
green grass The appearance OF the place
is far from forbidding.