So Long Ocracoke... We Had A Blast

    Our last night in Ocracoke was great.  Good friends Russ and Michelle took us for a beach ride to "the point" to watch the sunset.  The sunset was spectacular!  We all then headed back to their place for the best fettuccine alfredo we have had, bar none.  Michelle out did herself with dinner.  We even got a shout out and special request played on the Ocracoke radio station thanks to Mr. Russ and his connections.  The radio station played Southern Style by Darius Rucker of course.  One of the best dogs ever, Whiff, who belongs to Russ & Michelle also had a big night and was exhausted by the end of dinner.

  Russ, Michelle, and Whiff, thank you so much for all the good times. We miss you already and can’t wait to see ya’ll again and your new house in Ocracoke in the spring. 

    Today’s trip from Ocracoke to Morehead City was BEAUTIFUL.  We left at 7:20 AM.  Just doesn’t get any better with not a cloud in the sky and light winds.  There were shrimping boats all over the sound.  “Tis the season” for shrimp.

  

  Entering Morehead from Adams Creek there were dolphins chasing us in our wake.  Not a good picture, but trust me, there were lots and lots of dolphins.

 

    We pulled into Morehead City Yacht Basin about 3:15 PM. Morehead City has one of the two deep water ports of North Carolina.  The primary export here is phosphates from the Aurora mine owned by PotashCorp.  This mine is currently the largest producer of phosphates in the world and much of the ore moves through the port in Morehead.  These are some of the industrial buildings and phosphate barges in Morehead.

    Morehead City is also well known for its recreational fishing opportunities.  Its proximity to the Continental Shelf and Gulf Stream make for easy access to deep water fish such as marlin, wahoo, mahi mahi, grouper, snapper, and sea bass.  In 1957 the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament was established here and the event continues to draw huge crowds to Morehead City to witness some of the largest Atlantic blue marlin to be caught in North America.  With a grand price of over $1 Million Dollars, sportfish boats come from all over the East Coast.  The event occurs every year in June.

Fishing boats on the docks at Morehead City Yacht Basin.

    The trip from Ocracoke to Morehead covered 67 miles today and we did stop to take on about 850 gallons of diesel fuel at Jarrett Bay just before getting into Morehead due to a cheap fuel price.  Tomorrow’s weather is predicted to be stellar and we are planning to go out the inlet here and run all the way to Georgetown, SC outside.

Spooky Stories

   Ocracoke Island has seen its share of tragedy, and with tragedy comes ghosts.  So, in the “spirit” of the Halloween season (get it “spirit”) I thought some ghost stories might be fun.  Pengi is really into Halloween and is dressed up, so here goes.

    There are some 81 cemeteries on the little island of Ocracoke and these don’t include the unmarked graves of countless pirates, shipwreck victims, native Americans, and slaves.  Some say there are more dead people on the island than living. 

    Shipwrecks of course are a large provider of ghostly stories.  One very famous wreck is that of the “Home”.  The Home was a new 220ft. steamship considered a marvel at the time.  She ran from NY to Charleston, SC in record time, making the trip in just 64 hours.  The cream of NY and Charleston society purchased passage on her. 

    On only her 3^rd voyage from NY to Charleston on Oct. 7, 1837 she carried 130 passengers.  As she neared Cape Hatteras she encountered a monster hurricane, a so-called Racer's Storm.  The captain knew even this modern vessel was no match for the storm and turned her west hoping to beach her.  Running aground was better than being lost at sea.  At 10 PM the Home got caught in the shoals just before hitting the beach 6 mile north of Ocracoke village.  The crew launched the 3 life boats (yes 3) that they had and handed out the 2 personal life vests (yes 2) they carried on board.  They also rang the ship’s bell hoping to rouse sleeping Ocracokers.  It must have sounded like a death toll.  As the ship broke apart its passengers and crew were thrown into the sea.

    Only 40 passengers made it to shore while 90 perished.  Most of their bodies found the next day were strewn across the Ocracoke beaches along with miles of wreckage.  The islanders worked throughout the night and the next day collecting the dead.  Most could not be identified and were buried as they were found with clothing and jewelry still on.  One islander said the bodies were so swollen from the sea, one could not have gotten their jewelry off, and they were buried with their diamond, pearls, and jewelry of all description.  Arcadia Williams said as a child she remembered her mother salvaging a complete outfit from a trunk that washed ashore.  “It was the prettiest thing I had ever seen.  The owner must have been a very wealthy lady.  My mother never would wear it.  She hung it upstairs where she could look at it now and then until it rotted away.”

     One thing of value came of the 1837 Home tragedy.  Congress passed the Steamboat Act the next year requiring all seagoing vessels to carry at least one life jacket for every person on board.

Many people in the village report seeing an older couple dressed in very nice clothes resembling 1800’s attire walking in the cemetery or along Cemetery Road.  They are suspected to be spirits of a couple lost with the “Home”.  Here is the location of the often seen identified couple.

Front of the cemetery along Cemetery Rd.

     In 1921 a five-masted schooner, the Carroll A. Deering ran aground on Diamond shoals near Hatteras Island just north of Ocracoke.  When rescuers reached the boat, there was no one on board.  Everything was in order and tables were said to be set for a meal, but no people were found.  An intensive investigation never determined what happened to the crew.  Rumors of piracy and mutiny of course abound, but we may never know.  Her bow eventually washed ashore on Ocracoke and maybe some of the unidentified spirits here are from the Carroll A. Deering also known as the “Ghostship of Diamond Shoals”. 

    A later tragedy occurred and involved an island resident, Jim Gaskill.  Jim was the son of Bill and Annie Gaskill, the owners of the Pamlico Inn on Ocracoke.  As WW II neared, Jim left Ocracoke and joined the US Merchant Marine and shipped out on the vessel “Caribsea”.  This was a freighter that carried manganese ore.  Jim was the second mate on board the “Caribsea” and as such his license was displayed in a glass case along with the other officers.

    On the night of March 11, 1942, the ship was off Cape Lookout just south of his home of Ocracoke when a German U-boat torpedoed the “Caribsea”.  She was hit at the waterline and went down quickly.  Only 7 men survived, all on the deck or bridge above the water.  The remaining crew members were killed including Jim Gaskill.    His body was never found.

  Something of Jim’s was found however.  A panel from the pilothouse of the ship washed ashore on Ocracoke Beach.  On that panel was the mate’s license and Jim’s license.  The other ships officers’ papers were not on the section of the panel that washed ashore, only Jim’s.  The next day, a spar from the ship with Caribsea painted on it was found on the Pamlico Sound side of the beach.  This was unusual, as this piece of debris would have had to drift through Ocracoke Inlet to come to rest on the sound side of the beach.  Even more unusual it came to rest not far from the Pamlico Inn.  Islanders took the debris as a sign and made the spar into a cross that is still in the Methodist church here on the island.  This is the United Methodist Church were the spar is located.

    The Ocracoke lighthouse, is of course, also subject to hauntings.  One unnamed ghost frequents the lighthouse lawn.  She is sighted most often on summer evenings after a thunderstorm.  The apparition is of a pretty young woman wearing a light blue gown.  She has long dark hair and olive skin, and is sometimes reported to be carrying a lantern.  Her identity is a mystery.

    A second spirit around the lighthouse, however, is believed to be a famous lady.  Theodosia Burr Alston was the daughter of US Vice President Aaron Burr.  She married Joseph Alston, Gov. of South Carolina during the war of 1812.  On Dec. 31, 1812, Theodosia sailed aboard the schooner Patriot from Georgetown, SC heading to NY.  She was to visit her father Aaron Burr who had just returned from a 4-year exile in Europe.  (That is another story for you history buffs).  After leaving Georgetown on Dec. 31^st, the Patriot and all those aboard were never seen or heard from again.  Stories of the ship’s fate and that of Theodosia abound.  Some believe pirates attached the ship killing those on board or possibly kidnapping Theodosia.  Others suspect a mutiny or most likely the ship was sunk in bad storms that were known to have been along the coast during late Dec. and early Jan. of that year.  To this day it is not known what really happened, however many believe a ghost seen around Ocracoke lighthouse is Theodosia.  She is in a white period dress and has long dripping wet hair.  Ocracoke Lighthouse on a sunny bright day.

    The Island Inn of Ocracoke has a spirit that frequents room #23.  It is the ghost of Mrs. Godfrey a former keeper of the inn.  She is fond of rearranging the make-up and toiletries of females that stay in this room.  She has also been known to sit at the foot of the bed of visitors to room #23.  This is the Island Inn which is now abandoned and somewhat rundown looking.  It would really be spooky at night. 

    These are only a few of the many tales that abound on the island but I thought they might be fun for some to hear about.

 

    Tomorrow Keith and I will hopefully be heading out of Ocracoke to Moorhead City.  The wind last night was really ripping but it is slowly laying down today and should be nice for tomorrow's ride to Moorhead.  

There be Pirates Ashore

    One would have thought they had stepped onto Ocreacoke Island in the 1700s yesterday.  There were more people dressed in period clothing than regular clothes or it seemed that way.  Pirates were everywhere.  Just across from the park service docks was a pirate encampment with tents and people doing demonstrations.  They even roasted a hog, which smelled pretty darn good.  Luckily the weather was beautiful.   Sunny but not hot with light winds.  Pengi was just beside himself with anticipation.  He insisted on having his picture taken in front of Blackbeard's ship the Adventure.

    The big event of the day was the reenactment of Blackbeard's final battle.  As many of you that know me well are aware, Admiral Gail does not do explosions and gun fire any better than an old chocolate lab. So before all the noise started I headed out of town on my bike to the beach.  The weather was great for a little beach time so no loss.  Pengi offered to take pictures but his flippers make it hard for him to manage the camera, so Capt. Keith did the honors.  Thanks Capt. Keith.
    There were 3 ships in Silver Lake.  Two of the ships were hired by Virginia Gov. Spottswood and commanded by Robert Maynard carrying Royal Navy men.  The third ship was Blackbeard's ship, the Adventure.  They did a great job.  With canons blazing they dispensed with the pirate and saved the day.
 
And here are the two Royal Navy ships in the harbor.

Blackbeard's ship the Adventure.

Blackbeard himself standing in the center of the Adventure.

 
 Here are the Royal Navy men marching home from their ship with Blackbeard's Head in tow.


 While the Royal Navy was dispensing with Blackbeard, I took to the beach just north of the little Ocracoke airport.  I had some luck finding treasure.  Just walking the beach I found two  perfect Scotch Bonnets, a difficult to find shell which Keith and I have never found intact anywhere other than the remote island of Portsmouth, just south of Ocracoke.  These are the Scotch Bonnets I found.  Pengi is guarding them from pirates.

 
Weather the next two days looks bad.  Rain on and off today with winds building.  Wind could get up to 30-40 knots tomorrow.  We are staying here in Ocracoke until the weather improves which is supposed to be Tuesday, then heading out for more adventures.  Check in Monday for some Ocracoke ghost stories.  I thought these would be appropriate for the upcoming Halloween holiday.

Views from a Kayak

    Stellar day weather wise today.  Sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky and temps perfect.  Cool in the morning but with the bright sun, the day warmed nicely.  Keith and I were industrious and put a coat of teak sealer on the outside decks in the morning.  Then I took off with the kayak in the early afternoon for a paddle since it was so nice and the wind was very calm.  The Pamlico Sound was "slick cam" (as they say here in Ocracoke).  That means the water was very calm. As you can see there was nothing more than a ripple on the Pamlico Sound.

    Hard for a "dingbatter" to get "squamish" with the water so "slick cam".  Translation: Hard for a non-islander to get sick on the stomach with the water so calm.  So now that those of you reading the blog have your language lesson in speaking Ocracoke, I will show you where I was kayaking today.
    I left Silver Lake which is the harbor where we have the boat and went out the small inlet into the Pamlico Sound.  This is the old Coast Guard station and current ferry docks.

   The coast guard station was downgraded in 1996 and the building is now the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching.  The ferry docks are used multiple times a day for the large ferries that come from Ceder Island and Swans Quarter transporting both people and vehicles to and from the island.
    I paddled down along the island heading south.  A ferry was making its way toward the inlet and getting ready to enter Silver Lake.

  It is best to time coming and going in the kayak so as not to be in the narrow inlet into Silver Lake when the ferry is coming or going.
    After about a 20 minute paddle I came into Teach's Hole.  This is a shallow but wide area cutting into the sound side of the island, and at the north end of Teach's Hole is a small creek which I entered.  The water is only about a foot deep in most places but the creek does go up in quite a distance.

    I tried to sneak up on some wildlife.  This heron and cormorant were wary of me but I got pretty close.

  I use a small point and shoot camera in the kayak rather than my good Nikon just in case of a water calamity, but there is not much of a zoom on this one.
    I also saw a pair of ducks but as you can see from the male's picture they were definitely not afraid of me for good reason.

  The real ducks I saw would not let me get very close.
    Several turtles were in the shallow water and easy to see beneath the kayak but the camera would not capture a good picture through the water and glare.  I was able to annoy a small hermit crab for a portrait.  There were dozens of these little guys in the shallow water as well.

    After messing around for a while, I headed back to Southern Style.  This is a picture of Silver Lake as I am coming back on the kayak.  It is a nice little protected harbor.

    And here is Southern Style with the pirate ship just in front of her.

    Ended the afternoon with Keith and I biking up to Ocracoke Oyster Company for a snack.

    Tomorrow is the big pirate take-over.  Stay tuned to see if we survive the pirate invasion.

Ponies and Cemeteries

    Because the weather was kind of cold and windy, Keith and I biked over to the Pony Island restaurant for breakfast.

   Why the name Pony Island you ask?   Ponies have quite a history here on the outer banks and Ocracoke, which is sometimes called Pony Island.  Legend has it that the ponies are the descendants of Spanish or English horses that came ashore after the ships they were on became wrecked on the many shoals around Ocracoke.  They may also be offspring of livestock owned by early islanders.  No matter.  Just as "Banker ponies" did farther north on the outer banks, Ocracoke's ponies ran free for centuries.  Ocracoke's horses are slightly smaller than most and thus the term pony.  However, they also have some unique features.  Ocracoke ponies have 5 lumbar vertebrae instead of 6 like most horses and 17 ribs instead of 18. All very interesting if you are (or were) a veterinarian.
    Their free roaming days of course have come to an end.  Over time, as the island grew and modernized, they became somewhat of a nuisance.  After WW II when highway 12 was paved, they were in danger of being struck by cars.  One solution came from an unlikely source.  Boy Scout Troop 290, the nation's only mounted boy scout troop was created in the mid 1900s by islander Marvin Howard.  This was a way of keeping and caring for some of the ponies so they could stay on the island and not all have to be relocated.  Most of the island's boys joined the troop and they raised money for a coral and fence midway up the island.  Each trooper also had to catch, train, and care for at least one pony.  The troop and its ponies became well known and was even featured in a 1956 Boy's Life magazine article.  They also were the basis of a 1959 children's novel, Wild Pony Island by Steven W. Meader.
    The troop eventually disbanded but the ponies are still an attraction.  The National Park Service has taken over the care of the ponies and they stay on a 180 acre fenced area along Highway 12.  Regular veterinary care as well as outside breeding help to keep the herd strong.  Since the ponies are about 8 miles up highway 12, I may not be able to make the 16 mile round trip to get pictures of them.

    I do have some pictures from the British Cemetery here on Ocracoke and the history behind it might be interesting for some.
        A little known war was waged off our Atlantic coast.  Particularly in the early part of WWII the Germans perched dozens of U-boats along our east coast waters.  They sank over 400 tankers, freighters, and even several passenger ships resulting in the loss of some 5,000 lives.  At least 87 vessels went down off the Outer Banks from U-boat attacks or mines set by the Germans.  Most of America was unaware of what was going on, but islanders heard explosions offshore, had bodies and wreckage beginning to wash ashore, and were even told to draw curtains at night or use blackout shades and to partially black out car headlights.  In March of 1942 some 25 ships were sunk off the Outer Banks a rate of nearly one a day.  Even the Ocracoke light was turned off.  Islanders reported routinely seeing the glow of burning ships offshore.

    The British had begun sending antisub trawlers into the Atlantic coastal waters to aid the US in fighting the German subs.  One such trawler was the HMS Bedfordshire.  She was on loan to the US with a British crew of 38 and she ran patrols from Cape Lookout, NC to Norfolk, VA.  Her commander was Lieutenant R.B. Davis.  On March 11, 1942 she was just southeast of Ocracoke when she encountered the U-558.  At 11:40PM U-558 fired and made a direct hit on the Bedfordshire.  All 37 on board at the time were lost.  She never even got off a distress call.  One crewman, Sam Nutt, was not on board as he had been arrested the night before during a stopover for the Bedfordshire in Morehead City. (Probably  drank too much.)  When he was released from the local clink the next morning, he did not get to the docks in time to catch the Bedfordshire and she left without him.  He boarded another boat and was to join the Bedfordshire at sea, but when they got to her expected location, there was no trace of her.  Saturday March 14^th, 1942 two bodies washed ashore on Ocracoke.  A few days later 2 more bodies were found in the waters off Ocracoke.  The first two were able to be identified as Lieutenant Thomas Cunningham and Stanley Craig the telegraphist.  The other bodies were Bedfordshire crew but could not be identified.  All 4 were buried with a formal service on land donated by an Ocracoke family.  Below are headstones of the 4 lost sailors.

       In 2001 with the aid of preservationists, the original crosses that first marked the graves in 1942 were returned and placed just at the entrance to the cemetery.

 

    The land is considered British soil now and an annual memorial service is held on March 11^th and attended by British officials.  A plaque at the cemetery reads:  If I should die think only this of me, that there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever England.

    In keeping with the island cemetery theme,  a small plot located at Springer's Point is also notable.  This is the final resting spot for a unique islander.   Sam Jones was somewhat of a local legend on Ocracoke.  He made most of his money in Norfolk, VA but saw entrepreneurial potential in Ocracoke as it began to grow in the 1950s.  He moved to the island and built 3 houses including the enormous Berkley Manor and Berkley Castle.  He also had a beloved horse named Ikey D and was known to have the horse in his house at times even when entertaining friends.  He loved the horse so much that during a park service interview he said “ take a note.  I want my horse buried here.  I want a white picket fence put around it.  And when I die- you people are witness to this-I want to be buried standing up with my horse.” 

  The townspeople did try to adhere to Jone’s request, however when he died and they tried to bury him standing up; they couldn’t.  The water table was too high and he kept popping up.  (No lie.  Old timers are still around who were there to see it.)  The laid him down and he is still there near Springer’s Point with Ikey D.

Tharrrrrah She Blows

   Well I so wanted to go for a little kayak paddle this morning, but the wind has put the kibosh on that idea  for now.   This is a picture of several days ago when I did get out onto the Pamlico Sound.

     Hard to believe with all that water that most of it is never deeper than about 20 feet.  And many places is 2-10 feet deep.  Here comes the ferry.

 

     He needs to negotiate the channel to get into Ocracoke without running aground
    Since it is blowing pretty good again and now out of the North (kind of cold) I will wait to kayak.  Maybe it will lay down later and I can get the kayak out later today.
    Sunrise and sunsets are so gorgeous here.

    The colors are wonderful and because it is so flat one can see everything so well.

 

Pengi is getting very excited as this weekend is the Pirate Jamboree weekend here in Ocracoke.  There will be all sorts of shenanigans going on.  There will be a pirate encampment with demonstrations of life at that time and several replica ships in the harbor.  On Saturday afternoon there will be a reenactment of the battle that ended Blackbeard's life.  Blackbeard's ship arrived a few nights ago and is docked right in front of us.

    Pengi is trying to get as close as possible to the Adventure.

    The canon salvos start everything off tomorrow.  The reenactment is Saturday afternoon. I may need to put a little distance between myself and the explosions as those of you who know me, know how I am with loud noises.  Not to fear though as Keith and Pengi will cover the events and get pictures for sure.

Comments Please

Gail is working really hard on trying to keep the blog and update it a couple of times a week.  If you are reading and are enjoying her write-ups along with her pictures, I would ask if you could please leave a comment.  It is nice to know that there are people out there who are reading and enjoying the story.  We welcome all comments... anything from that's a cool picture, to more information on a blog post or how is the weather.  We just want to know if folks are reading and following along or not.  Thanks!

Wind and Rain

    Yesterday was a weather transition day.  It started nice and sunny in the morning but became cloudy by afternoon and the wind started kicking up.  Keith and I put the dinghy up on the top of Southern Style and secured her in the afternoon.  We also pulled  the kayak out of the water in anticipation of strong winds and rain predicted to come over night.  That evening  I made fish tacos with mango salsa and lime crema from some of the 3 speckled trout that Keith caught.  He is getting to be quite the fish provider.

  

    It was a smart move to secure the dinghy and kayak as she blew pretty hard (30 knots) over night.  The power went out around 3:30 AM and Keith went out to check on lines and fenders.  The entire village was out of power as there were no lights on anywhere.  We did not need to start the generator over night as the boat batteries where adequate to power what little was needed during the night, mainly just keeping the refrigerators and freezers cold.  In the morning we were not up long before the power came back on.  Southern Style did fine during the bumpy night however a few of the other boats at the park service docks that were broadside to the wind sustained a small amount of damage from being banged into the docks.

    The day today was overcast much of the time and very windy.  Good day to catch up on indoor (interior) cleaning and organizing.  I did however save some pictures for just such a slow day.  I though it might be fun for those following us to see some more of the village.  This picture is Eduardo's food truck.  Not much to look at but some of the best burritos I've had.

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     This is the grocery store in the village

.  It has all the basics and some extra things as well.  It may not be a Harris Teeter, but it does what we need it to do.  We certainly have not starved on the island.

   Late in the afternoon the weather was good enough for Keith and I to bike over to Zillie's.  This is a wine and cheese place new to the island.  We had a cocktail for happy hour.

        Here is Keith being relaxed.

    They also have a fig tree at Zillie's however as you can see, they are protective of their figs.