The Wilmington morning star., 1946-09-02
MORE ABOUT
CAPE FEAR
FROM PAGE ONE

Steam Boat Company VI the State
OF North Carolina are the only
owner of the Ship or Vessel call
ed the A. P. Hurt of Fayetteville
whereof A. P. Hurt is at present
| Master, and a Citizen of the Unit
ed States, as he hath sworn, ana
that the said Ship or Vessel was
built at Wilmington State of Del
aware in the year 1860 as per Ger
tificate of Pusey, Jones & CO.,
Iron Steam Boat builders, dateo
May 1, 1860, and now on file IN
office, and N. T. Bouldin having
certified that the said Ship or yes
sci has one Deck and no Mast n
that her length is n hundred n
eighteen feet, her breadtn
eighteen feet, her depth four feet
and she measures eighty-one tons
that she is an iron hull, stern
wheel steamer, has no galleries
and no figure head; And the SAID
A. P. Hurt having agreed to the
description and admeasuremenl
above specified, and suff Client
security having been given, &C,
cording to the said Act, the SAID
steamer has been duly registered
at the Port of Wilmington, Della
ware.
Given under by Hand and Seal
at the Port of Wilmington this
First day of May in the year one
thousand eight hundred and sixty,
N. T. Bouldin, Register"
Star-NEWS, 1888 - Well bet
you didn't get through all that in
one breath. 1t only goes to show
that excess verbiage in Federal
government paper work is moth
ing new under the New Deal sun.
The other piece of information
about the old Hurt is a clipping
from the Star-News # Sunday,
December rs, 1888. The story goes
like this:
Plans for raising the sunken A.
P. Hurt, ancient stern-wheeler
which sank years ago in the Capt
Fear river. and to place it once
again in operation were announc-
ed yesterday by Capt. W. c. Man.
son, of Wilmington, who has pur-
chased the craft.
THE A. P. Hurt was the first
vessel ever built with steel plates
and for years prior to the War be-
tween the States until the 1920's
operated between Wilmington and
Fayetteville.
SAT that time it was owned and
operated by the Fayetteville
Steamship company, of which
Capt. Manson was president.
Recently Capt. Manson pur-
chased the vessel and made plans
to raise it and again place it in
service. He said yesterday he will
announce soon where the steam
er will operate.
He has formed a corporation,
OF which j. o. Carr is general
counsel, to direct the activities of
the ancient steamer"
MUDDY MYSTERY - The
story ends there, and we really
mean lends" with all the finality
OF a swiftly closed book. AS far
as we know, the old Hurt still
lies in the river mud between
Dock and Orange streets, the
same position it occupied when it
sank, FULLY loaded and ready for
the trip to Fayetteville, many
years agof date unknown).
What happened to Captain Man.
sons project to raise the ship and
restore it to its former condition
and service is a mystery as pro-
found and enigmatic as the rivers
inscrutable face under which the
ship may still lie.
This mystery is more intriguing
than you may think. The man who
brought in the Hurt pictures and
the information was Captain Man
SON himself. He brought them in
while we were out of the office,
and we haven't been able to get
up with him to obtain the mys-
tery's solution.
Meanwhile, We hope all this NAV
be OF some satisfaction to MI. Nit
chell up there in F~airhaven, Mass.
It's the best we could do, sir, On
such a tough assignment.
MnDE now