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The Captains of nineteenth century steamers and vessels under sail had charts marking the approximate location of an invisible phenomenon in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the United States. The phenomenon exists today.
The Gulf Stream is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic current that originates at the tip of Florida and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States as far north as Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. In some places it is fifty miles wide.
Spanish galleons sailing along the coastline of The New World reported that the current of the Gulf Stream was more powerful than the wind. In attempting to sail south in the stream, their vessels were sailing backwards. In order to avoid this dilemma, ocean-going vessels sailed close to shore until they passed the tip of Florida.
The majority of nor’easters were born off the coast of the Outer Banks, a string of four barrier islands, 200 miles long, following the shores of North Carolina. The treacherous seas off the Outer Banks and the large number of shipwrecks that have occurred there gave that area the nickname “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” Why are thousands of ships lying sunken along the Atlantic Seaboard? The primary answer is the flow of the Gulf Stream, bad weather, and poor judgment.
After the Civil War ended in 1865, there was a great increase in the number of cargo and passenger vessels sailing north and south. Many shipwrecks occurred along the dark coastline between the Cape Henry Light in Virginia Beach and the Bodie Island Light in North Carolina. Another lighthouse was needed to fill the gap.
Planning began in 1873 for construction of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, located 33 miles south of the Cape Henry Light. Currituck is a derivation of a Native American word meaning “the land of the wild goose”; it was used by the Chowanog and Poteskeet Indian tribes who lived on the mainland. They used the barrier islands as their fishing and hunting grounds.
In 1874, the Jones Hill Life-Saving Station was established a mile north of the lighthouse. It was one of seven stations built on the Outer Banks; among them were Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, and Bodie Island. At Jones Hill, seven local men were hired to staff the station from December through March.
Dexter Stetson, who had overseen the construction of the Cape Hatteras and Bodie Island lighthouses, was also responsible for building the 162-foot brick Currituck tower and the two-story keepers’ quarters. It was equipped with a first order light that could be seen 18 miles at sea. On December 1, 1875, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse was lit under the supervision of the first three keepers; Nathaniel G. Burris as head keeper; Lewis Napoleon Simmons as 1st assistant; and Thomas T. Everton as 2nd assistant.
From the hand-written logbook on file in the National Archives warehouse in Washington, this entry by N.G. Burris was noted:
March 1, 1876: The Italian Bark, Nuova Ottaia, struck on the beach and went to pieces the next day. The crew of the Life-Saving Station lost their lives in attempting to rescue the crew. Nine of the crew was [sic] lost and four were saved.
This was the second four-month season that the Jones Hill station had been in operation and all seven men in the surf boat were locals.
November 26, 1877: Some bodies from the wreck of “Huron” came ashore near this station. More came on the 27, 28 and 29. The light keepers helped bury them.
The steamer U.S.S. Huron sank at Nags Head on the Outer Banks on Nov. 24th.
She was the last American vessel built of iron rather than steel, with sails to supplement their steam engines. The ship experienced a problem with its compass during a heavy thunderstorm and ran aground at Nags Head. The shipwreck occurred at 1:30 in the morning in darkness and in heavy seas.
Most of the crew remained on deck waiting to be rescued by the crew of the Life-Saving Station at Nags Head. Unfortunately, they were unaware that the station was closed until December, the regular season opening. Total loss of life on the U.S.S. Huron was counted as 103. (As a result of this incident, the working days of the Life-Saving Stations was extended to begin in October and end in May)
Just sixty-five days later, this entry was logged by N. G. Burris:
January 31, 1878: About 11 AM I was informed there was a wreck on shore below here.
I immediately hastened to the spot. We did all we could to save the passengers and crew and afterwards minister to their wants. The vessel is a total wreck and most of the cargo lost. Near a hundred of the passengers and crew remained and were fed at this station.
Until February 2nd, 1 had about 70. It was the steamer Metropolis, from Pennsylvania bound to Brazil. It had been chartered to take laborers and supplies to a certain place on the Amazon River to build a railroad. The vessel was old and encountered a gale soon after she left Delaware Bay. She was breaking up badly before she reached the shore and before night there was nothing left to be seen except the top of the boiler.
Feb. 15th: During the past week, we have been on the beach picking up bodies from the wreck, trying to identify them and take them home for burial.
The Metropolis was a small freighter weighing 879 tons and about 120 feet long.
She was formerly a Federal Gunboat named The Stars & Stripes. She was carrying 500 tons of iron rails and 200 tons of stone when she went down. Of the 235 passengers aboard, 102 died in the tragedy.
As a result of this shipwreck, happening so soon after the U.S.S. Huron, another Life-Saving station was built on the Outer Banks. The Poyners Hill Life-Saving Station was built in 1878 and located six miles south of the Currituck Lighthouse.
The Currituck Beach Light Station was manned for 64 years before it was automated in 1937 and the keepers removed. These 11 men were the head keepers of the light:
N.G. Burris 1875-1879; Lewis Simmons, 1879-1881; William Shinnault, 1881-1882;
William Scott, 1882-1884; Amasa Simpson, 1885-1888; Lazarus Hinnant, 1888-1895;
William Simmons, 1895-1905; Nathan Swain, 1905-1920; Loren Tillet, 1921-1930; Homer Treadwell Austin, 1928-1937; and William Tate, 1937-1939.
After World War II, the lighthouse’s usefulness declined, the property was abandoned, and by the 1970s, the tower and the keeper’s house had fallen into disrepair.
Vandals had stripped the house, broken doors and windows, and left the house open to the elements. The porches had fallen off and tangled vines crept in and out.
On Sunday morning, November 14, 1976, my partner and I were on the last leg of my lighthouse photo trip that started at the Point Isabel Light in Texas. (We were novice lighthouse hunters from California, and in those days we only had road maps as guides.)
We got to Currituck, NC at 1 pm and stopped at a local grocery store to get directions to the lighthouse. Much to our chagrin, we learned that the body of water running northward from the bridge we had crossed 40 miles back was called Currituck Sound. The light was on the far north end of the island we had just left.
I unhitched the Jeep from our motor home and raced 40 miles back across the bridge and turned left to Duck, NC…then six miles further on a dirt road to the gate; it was 9 miles up a sandy rough road to a 2-mile stretch of asphalt and a dead end. I shifted the Jeep into 4-wheel drive and drove over very soft sand to the beach for a one mile drive at the water’s edge, then back across soft sand over what used to be a developed roadway system. There it was - uninhabited and in ruin. The old keeper’s quarters looked like a haunted Halloween house. My how the place had changed!
Since those days, back in 1976 when I visited the lighthouse, the non-profit Outer Banks Conservationists was created to preserve the light station when no one else was willing to step in and restore the national landmark. The OBC has spent more than three decades and nearly $1.5 million from private funding. They receive no government funds.
The red-brick lighthouse, which was never painted, looms high above the northern Outer Bank landscape in the historic Corolla Village. The lighthouse is open to the public and visitors can climb the winding staircase, 214 steps in all, to the top for a panoramic view. The station is open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Easter through Thanksgiving.
Visitors are greeted by modern day head keeper Luis Garcia and ssistant Pat Riley who will tell about the duties that were done every day and Meghan Agresto, the site manager, will answer any questions that visitors may have. The three of them have been on duty at the station since 2005.
This story appeared in the
Nov/Dec 2012 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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