The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1953-06-12

HleISSu anu DOLIOIn up III the
breakers out on the bar.
His first thought was for
the crew, but there was not a
soul to be seen on the Inflated
craft, so after satisfying him
self on that point, and taking a
long and searching look in
every direction as far as the
weather would permit, he re-
traced his steps to- the station
and reported his grim discovery
to the keeper. The latt r,
(Keeper Jesse PARTRIDGE, at
once telephoned the news to
keeper Van Buren, Etheridge at
Mays Head, the wreck lying
within the latter's patrol limits.
Capt. Etheridge Immediately
turned out his men, and as the
launching of boat was out of
the question, proceeded with
such appliances as he thought
might be needed to the local
ity of the wreck, the party ar
irving there at about half-past
eight.
It was plainly to be seen
that there could be no one on
the half-buried hull against
and over which the surf was
dashing necessarily. A man
could not have maintained him
self there for a moment. The
surfmen were therefore deploy-
ed along the beach in quest of
bodies, and before long the
search resulted in finding one
corpse, that of a negro, en-
tangled in a part of the rigging
attached to a broken mast
which had washed up some dis
lance from the wreck, and
been left by the now receding
tide. This body was decently
inferred later in the day, there
being no marks on it which
might lead to its Identification.
The Mays Head crew pulled
out of the surf a quantity of
lumber and shingles, valued at
$500, probably one-third of the
schooner's cargo, and this was
all they were able to do. A
second body, that of a white
man, was cast ashore nearly
two weeks afterwards at a
point at least thirty miles to
the southwark, and recovered
by the crew of the Gull Shoal
Station. 1t was identified as the
body of r. w. Lecompte, of
Cambridge Maryland, one of
the schooner's crew, and rel
atives came and removed it.
This is all that is definitely
known, and the incidents of
that dreadful night will be for
ever shrouded in mystery. We
can only conjecture. A schooner,
probably the Francis E. Waters,
passed the Bodies Island Sta
ton, a few miles to the south
ward in the evening of the
23rd, between sunset and dark.
/, She was close hauled, working
to the northward, and apparent
ly all right. 1t is therefore sup
posed that, losing her canvas
or springing a leak and becom-
ing water-logged and unman-
ageable, she let go her anchors
to avoid drifting into the break
ers, when, the ground tackle
failing to hold her, she fell off
into the trough of the sea, rolled
over on her beam ends, and in
that condition drifted ashore
before the gale and sea. This
view is supported by the fact
that after the subsistence of the
gale, and the sea had gone down
sufficiently to permit TIL e
launching of the surfboat which
was not for several days, (29th),
= the crew found a quantity of
Wreckage outside the bar about
quarter of a mile from the
shore, and this was attached in
some way to the anchors on the
bottom. Or it is possible that
she capsized under too great a
press of sail in the effort to
work away from the treacher-
Gus sands under her lee. But
theorize as we may, there can
be no doubt from the establish
ed facts, especially the locating
of the anchors offshore and the
recovery of Lecompte's body at
so great distance from the
dismantled hulk, that the SUI
preme moment involving the
practical destruction of the
schooner and the loss of her
crew, came before she reached
the breakers and far enough
away to prevent her being seen
through the storm by the beach
patrol.
AS regards the question of the
responsibility of the Service for
the loss of life, there is album
dant evidence that the patrol