The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1953-12-11
VISITORS
Continued from Page One)

VISITORS
Continued from Page One)
happened to be down at the Kitty
Hawk bayfront on the morning
of September II, 1900, when a
stanger came ashore from Cap
tain Israel Perry's sailboat that
had arrived the previous evening
from Elizabeth City.
The stranger was Wilbur
Wright and he was anxious to
reach the home of Captain and
Mrs. w. ]. Tate where through
correspondence previously, he
had made arrangements to board
for awhile. Wilbur asked the
Baum boy to show him how to
reach the home of the Tates, and
that is how Elijah, now 68, hap
pens to have a role planned for
him in the flight celebration this
year.
Capt. Tate in 1900 was with the
lighthouse service. He had pre-
viously been the village post
master, a post which Mrs. Tate
held at the time Wilbur Wright
arrived at Kitty Hawk, where he
was joined shortly afterwards by
his brother Orville.
Arriving in Elizabeth City on
September 9, 1900, Wilbur went
to the waterfront to make ar
rangements for passage to
Kitty Hawk. After some difficult
ty>he made arrangements for the
trip, a voyage he remembered
wildly, until his untimely death
in 1912. On the cruise from Eliz-
abeth City, Captain Perry (who
was resident of nearby Coling-
ton Island) encountered strong
headwinds after leaving Pasquo-
tank River, making it necessary
to seek an anchorage in smooth
waters of North River which was
along the route. Late the next
day the trip was resumed and
the sailboat reached Kitty Hawk
Bay after dark. Rather than &c
ashore that night and search for
the home of the Tates, Wilbur de-
cided to remain aboard until the
following morning.
Elijah Baum today is probably
the best informed person in Kitty
Hawk on the early days of the
Wrights' in this community
Often he serves as guide for per-
sons who wish to see the site OF
the house where the Wrights
boarded with the Tates, a house
long since replaced by a newer
one. A marble marker on the
site tells the story of the Wright
Brothers activities in that area,
activities which included the as
sembly of a glider, which led to
their conquest of the air at Kill
Devil Hills in a powered flying
machine three years later. Baum
can also show you the sand dune
on the beach a short distance
away from the former home of
the Tates where the aeronautical
brothers later had a camp. AS. a
matter of fact he once showed
the site to Orville Wright who
visited the area many years later,
but who had forgotten its exact
location.
Drinkwater Sent Messages
Alpheus w. Drinkwater was
employed as a telegraph operator
by the U. S. Weather Bureau ir
1908. Sometime during early
December of that year the Moo.
casin, one of the Navy's subma.
rines being towed from a north.
ern port to Norfolk broke its
hawser off Cape Henry and drift
ed southwestward to fetch uI
on the beach near Corolla or
Currituck Beach. Drinkwater wa:
assigned to the scene of salvage
operations to send in regular re
ports over the weather bureau
and life saving service telegraph
lines as to progress made on re
floating the submarine.
"There was a man in the Whit,
House at the time who was mucl
interested in the salvage opera
tions,' Drinkwater recalls. TIL,
man was Theodore Roosevelt.
On the afternoon of Decembe