The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1951-12-21

and to his question whether horses
could be obtained the answer was
that all the horses were "off to
the northward" grazing. There was
no further expedient that ingenui-
ty or humanity could suggest, and
he was at last sorrowfully COM
PEELED to give up all hope of res
cuing the suffering men before the
Ocracoke crew should arrive. Being
powerless to do any good where
he was, he set off without delay to
the northward to meet that crew
and aid, if not hasten, their prog
ress.
After patiently plodding three or
four miles of water-soaked sand,
he met Keeper Howard on horse
back, preceding his men, who were
far in the rear with the apparatus
cart.
Impossible Beach
It appears that the skiff sent up
by Terrell with news of the wreck
reached the Ocracoke Station at a
quarter before three o'clock, and
inside of fifteen minutes the crew
were on their way soutward, Keep
er Howard pushing on ahead in
order to reach the wreck before
dark and examine the situation for
himself. Even on horseback, prog
ress could not be swift, while for
the heavily encountered crew the
journey was exceedingly tedious
and beset with much difficulty.
The beach is low and soft, and at
that time was constantly swept by
the breakers of the incoming tide,
reducing it to such condition that
any Roadway at all with the appa-
ratus cart was effected only by ex-
tremely laborious and persistent
effort. When about five miles from
the station one of the mules at
tached to the cart stubborly re-
fused to pull, and the other al
though willing, was almost tired
out. The surfmen then harnessed
themselves to drag ropes and plod-'
ded on as best they could with the
aid of one nearly exhausted ami
NAL.
When the two keepers met, they
resolved to hasten to the wreck
with all possible speed, in the hope
that they might get clear idea of
affairs by daylight, but with the
utmost diligence they weer not able
to complete the distance until just
as darkness fell. Then only the pro-
truding stern and bow of the
schooner, with dim outlines of her
spars, weer family discernible.
From the villagers it was learned
that an attempt to send off the
empty yawl as a test experiment
had been made and failed and that
the rising tide had first driven the
shipwrecked men to the top-gal-
liant forecastle, and finally to the
bowsprit, where they had slowed
themselves in the jib.
This was the state of affairs at
eight o'clock PM, when the Ocra-
coke crew arrived on the ground
almost totally worn out by five
hours of strenuous effort. There is
no reason for wonder that they
did not arrive sooner; on the other
hand, it would appear that they
accomplished the thirteen miles in
reasonable time, when it is remem-
bered that they dragged with them
the necessarily heavy apparatus
over a wet and trackless beach,
where an unencumbered pedestrian
could harly have made the journey
in less than four hours. If informa-
ton of the wreck had been commu-
nicated to them as soon as it was
discovered, the crew would have
rearhed the place and probably
have rescued the men before sun
down.
But it was now very dark, the
storm was still raging, and with a
due sense of the great responsible
ity resting up them, the keepers
carefully debated the question of
entering upon operation at once.
According to the information re-
ceived from the shore people the
three ship-wrecked men were un-
der the jib on the end of the bow
spirit, where they had neither
standing room nor any facilities
whatever for hauling out or set
ting up the gear if line should
be landed right where they were.
Further, the keepers did not be-
lieve that in the darkness then
existing line could be made to hit
so small mark, and they felt
almost certain that if one should
happen to reach the vicinity of the
men their distressing anxiety to
get ashore would lead them to in
cur such great disks in attempting
to find and use it as would result
in the loss Of some, if not all, of
their lives.
One of the witnesses says "the
schooner was rolling bad and the
surf breaking all over her solid"
= - =. - : 4.