The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1920-02-13
NOT A WRECK
OFF N. c. COAST
Remarkable Record of Late
Storm and Some Facts About
Hatteras and Diamond
Shoals
(By RALPH POOL)

One of the most terrific storms
of recent years visited the At
lantic coast from Florida to
Maine last week. Off the danger
Gus Cape Hatteras on the North
Carolina seaboard the wind at
tanned velocity estimated at
loo miles per hour, but, strange
as it may seem there was not a
wreck on the Carolina coast.
Captain Edgar Chadwick, super
intendent of the Seventh Dis
trict of the United States Coast
Guard, characterizes this total
! absence of disatser as little short
| of a miracle.
! Cape Hatteras. "the graveyard of
ships' has but one rival, Cape Cod. off
! the Massachusetts, coast, for the prem
iership of peril to shipping on the en-
tire Atlantic seaboard. The Diamond
Shoals. extending some IS miles into the
ocean from Hatteras, are practically GER
tain destruction to any and all ships
which run afoul of them. The peculiar
danger of these shoals lies in their soft
formation. which permits the doomed
ship to slide into them until it is caught
fast. instead Of possibly humping
them and being able to back off. as in
ithe case of shoals of harder formation.
lOnce firmly stuck, the swift tides cut
the sand and silt away from about the
bows of the ship, and deposit it under
her center with the inevitable result
that the ship. unable to support the
tremendous weight of her forward end
tbreaks in two Not one ship in hun
dred over gets off the Diamond Shoals
These fateful shoals are formed b!
1.-THE action of the tides flowing nortf
and south along t he coas'
which meet off Hatteras and deposit
their cargoes of mud and silt in swlr
of conflicting waters, the result beln'
the Diamond Shoals. constant source
of danger to shipping is the shifting
L these shoals which goes on day an
night. A year and half ago big L
s. army transport, fortunately empty
t encountered new shoal three mile
; from any previously known formation
: Though the shoal was less than half tn
L length of the stranded vessel, the trans
: mort. buckled and broke in the middl
in a few hours.
AS place of safety for distresse
sbins a breakwater has been construct
y ed TO nrotect a small natural harbor a
Cape Lookout. So miles southwest Q
Hatteras. which is called the Harbo
of Refuge. Due to the fact, however
that the former cape is far from tn
= regular shipping lanes, this harbor IS
IL comparatively small value, though
y can accommodate vessels of any slz
There is a possibility>that a coaling sta
ct ton may be established there later.
IN Why do ships risk destruction by con
'e ing in close to Cape Hatteras! Here
T. the reason. By passing within tn
- three-mi1e zone of comparative safe'
10 between the/Hatteras lightship and til
E outer Diamond Shoals, a long detour
avoided. Shippers who have pilote
p their ships through this passage tt
E. wears without wreck gain fails
Ia sense of security, hence the frequel
~ disasters both in times of storm al
to relative calm The Gulf Stream, bea
IN ing away toward Europe at this pom
as is likewise avoided, and valuable TIM
e. an important factor in any sort of tran
Sc nortation. is saved. Thus do
or tho dread promontory off the Caroll
n coast exact with impunity its year
OF foil of ships and human life: