The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1954-04-16
MORE THAN 100 DIE in WRECK
OF METROPOLIS LOG YEARS
AGO AT CURRITUCK BEACH
Major Disaster Jan. 20, 1878, About Two
Months After Wreck of Huron Which
Claimed SO Lives at Mays Head; Ship Load
ed With Immigrants Bound for South
American Railroad Job.

tnat the vessel would ever reach
land.
The report of James Poland
lsays that although the ship
struck the beach at 6:45, no help
was seen until II am, when a
man on horseback made his ap-
pearance ON the beach, waved his
hat and promised assistance.
"At 1890 PM" says Mr.. Po-
land, "The life saving crew made
their appearance, but came poor
/ ly prepared to save lives. All the
assistance they could render was
to get them out of the surf as
they came ashore. Had they come
| to the scene of the wreck during
the forenoon, nearly everyone
could have been saved. At Z PM.
the ship broke up completely,
throwing all hands into the sea.
New Graves on the Beach
He said that for three miles in
the neighborhood of the Cur
rituck Light Shooting Club the
beach was full of debris. In some
parts it was piled up to a height
of four or five feet. Along this
route the beach was thickly
studded with newly made graves
of the victims of the ill fated
vessel. They were marked with
rude boards, and in some places
five and six were buried in a
single grave. He said he could
not attempt to describe the ap-
pearance of the beach in the di-
rect vicinity of the wreck. 1t was
the scene of disaster. It was a
true realization of shipwreck.
Mr.. Poland said: ''We heard ac-
counts from the rescuers of van
dalism that was almost hard to
believe, of ghoulism that was al
most incredible, committed by
some of the negro residents of the
beach, and also by number of
whites. We were told of how the
dead were robbed of valuables
ond clothing, the sacred person
of the female not being a bar to
this savageness of barbarism. We
cannot here relate them. They are
a blot upon civilization that
makes blush come to the cheek
and a sorrow to. the heart.
Life Saving Facilities Inadequate.
! Charles B. Dickman, first mate,
said: ''The lives of over 100 men
and two females may be justly
attributed to the culpable negli-
gence and inefficiency of the
Life Saving Station"
The Norfolk papers were very
bitter in commenting on the
wreck. They said:
! '"The survivors were in a ter
rible condition from dysentery,
Commissions, pneumonia, pluerisy,
rheumatism, catarrh, wounds and
sprains. Money was raised by the
people of Norfolk to care for the
survivors, they being all poor
who had no means with which
to care for their destitute condi-
tons. The old Church of st, Pauls
was offered for a hospital to take
care of the wounded. The Cygnet
and Croatan, government vessels,
brought the dead and wounded
to Norfolk. Sleeping apartments
for them were maintained in an
old store on Market Street"
| The next morning the Norfolk
papers said:
| "The Metropolis is a most
thorough wreck. She has gone to
pieces and broken up into kind
/, ling wood. She must have been
thoroughly rotten and never tit
! to put out to sea. The only parts
of it that are visible are an iron
davit and a part of the boiler.
The beach is strewn with frag-
ments of the wreck, in some
places piled several feet high.
There was no recovery of the
bodies this morning (Feb. p. The
rapidity with which the vessel
broke up is strikingly evident
from the fact that a bar of rail-
road iron came ashore on por-
tons of the wreck. The Oldest
residents of the beach say that
/ they have never known more
complete wreck. 1t was criminal
to send her to sea, as the debris
shows how rotten the timbers
were. Mr.. w. A. Pyner, who has
large experience in breaking up
vessels of all kinds, says he never
saw such sacrifice to a criminal
negligence wholly unpardon-
able"
Terrible Suffering.
The natives were described as
being on the scene in great num-
bers, gathering in the debris
while many bodies were strewn
about them on the beach. Sixty
survivors were kept at the Light
house and fifty at the Currituck
Shooting Club. The wretchedness
and misery of the rescued, their