The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-01-12
Think PLAN IS not FEASIBLE
1ariners Doub Success Of Scheme
Proposed BY EeIs'
Previous Attempts to Put a Tower on
Diamond Shoals Have Failed-Sands
Are Always Shifting and Fury OF the
Elements is Awful.

water front but who winks his wealth
er eye when n talks of the proposed
lighthouse on Diamond Shoals. The
grizzled and weather beaten veterans
Of the sea all have their doubts re-
garding the project and the majority
will tell you that a lighthouse on the
~treacherous shoals is an im~possibility.
There are men here in port who
have rounded Hatteras hundreds of
times and who sometimes shudder at
some of the experiences they have
gone through off Hatteras coast.
These men have made a study of the
conditions that obtain around the
dreaded spot, where many a good ship
mas gone to destruction and where
many lives have been sacrificed I the
elements, and they say that the bot
tom is shifting continually so that il is
next to impossible to secure a firm
foundation at the shoals.
NEW PLANS ACCEPTED.
Captain Albert F. Eels, of Boston,
has been figuring on the lighthouse
ever since the last disastrous attempt
was made to place a beacon at the
| graveyard Of ali shipping. His scheme
/ was to build a lighthouse at some
port and then tow it to the cape and
there sink it so that the sand piling
around it would help strengthen the
rock and cement foundation he plan
med for the base. Eels' first plans were
| rejected and he was given q certain
length of time to change them, and
1 -~-, A. ~Jo-~ 1o~~ 1~~~ 49,
Ithe department of commerce and la
Dor. 1t is anticipated that the work
on the lighthouse will commence short
ly and that next spring will see the
experiment of planting it at a place
feared and dreaded by every mariner.
The entire maritime world will watch
with interest Captain Eels' expert
ment.
TWO FAILURES ALREADY.
Two unsuccessful attempts have been
made to place a lighthouse at the
shoals. The former plans called for
caissOns to be sunk and which would
support the foundation, the upper work
to be done after the foundation was
secured. Over a hundred thousand
dollars was lost in the two attempts
and a score of men narrowly escaped
drowning in the fierce storms that
swept over the shoals while they we're
at work.
One of the caissons referred to was
constructed in the Sixth ward of Nor
folk at a cost of $4,000. 1t had no
sooner been towed to the shoals when
a no~rtheaster came along and swept
the caisson and the men on it into the
sea. The ~life-savers rescued the i'm
perilled workmen.
The villagers down at Cape Hate
ras also have their doubts as to the
feasibility of placing a light at the
, shoals. The sands even at the light
house on the beach fifteen miles inland
have shifted in recent years so that
it is said the foundation of the light
is undermined and threatened.
STRAIN ON LIGHTSHIPS.
The lightships which have been sta.
toned at the shoals for about five
years have done excellent service anG
have been the means of warning scores
Of ships away from certain destruc'
tion. The lights on the mastheads OF
the lightships can be seen eighteer
miles at sea ON a clear. night.
In several fierce storms the light
ships have been swept from their sta
ton, the seas swapping the steel an
!, Choir chains as though made OF chall
and the mushroom anchors weighing
tons have been lost. On one occasion
one of the ships was driven out to Sc;
and for a whole week all trace of ne,
was lost. Finally she arriver Off Cap
Henry and reported that she had uset
7 her steam and sail power and had peel
able to outride the storm.
To give some idea of the awful sea
continually running at the shoals i
need only be stated that the Iightship
serve only three months on the sta
< ton at a time, after which they go t.
Baltimore for overhauling and repairs
In those three months the element
: work inroads on the stability of tn
}, ships and the consequence is that the,
have to be sent in for an overhaulina
GRAVEYARD OF SHIPPING.
Notorious Diamond Shols has al
+ awful record for the loss Of lives an
ships. Many a stout heart has met it
doom on the dreaded sands and man
a hardy Sailorman has found a water
grave in the briny deep which play
3 no favorites with men or ships an
where the seas are always eager to en-
gulf some hapless craft that has los
her way in the storm only to pound t
pieces on the bars that extend fftee
I ! miles to sea.
One of the worst wrecks in the his
tory of the shoals vas that Of III
British steamer Ariosto, which went i
the breakers on Christmas ave., 1885,
when twenty-one men Of the cre7
were drowned at a time when the he
roic life-savers were straining ever
nerve to reach the doomed ship.
u CREW. DROWNED LIKE RATS.
The tramp went ashore in an awfr
storm. 1t was a terrible night whe
U she struck with the wind blowing
hurricane and the seas daShing on tn
beach with the oar of a thousan
guns. The life patrol saw the signal
d of distress and answered with a rookie
Daylight saw the crew huddled IN tn
III