Graveyard of the Atlantic is a nickname for the treacherous waters and area of numerousshipwrecks off theOuter Banks ofNorth Carolina, United States, which are due to the coast's shifting sands and inlets. To a lesser degree, this nickname has also been applied toSable Island off ofNova Scotia, Canada, as well as the waters offCape Cod,Massachusetts, United States.
Along the Outer Banks, navigational challenges posed by theDiamond Shoals area offCape Hatteras, caused the loss of thousands of ships and an unknown number of human lives. More than 5,000 ships have sunk in these waters since recordkeeping began in 1526.[1] TheGraveyard of the Atlantic Museum, located inHatteras Village, focuses on the history of this area and features many artifacts recovered from area shipwrecks.
Among the better knownshipwrecks were theUSS Monitor, a participant in the famousBattle of Hampton Roads during theAmerican Civil War, and thePatriot which carriedTheodosia Burr Alston,Aaron Burr's daughter.[2][3] TheMonitor foundered and sank on December 31, 1862, offCape Hatteras, while thePatriot presumably sank off the coast in January 1813. The first recorded shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina was in 1526 off the mouth of Cape Fear River.[4] The large numbers of explorers who came to the area in subsequent years had to travel through the rough waters to get to the coast of North Carolina. In June 1718,Edward Teach—better known asBlackbeard the pirate—ran his flagship, theQueen Anne's Revenge, aground near present-day Beaufort Inlet, NC. Thirty-two years later, in August 1750, at least three Spanish merchantmen ran aground off North Carolina during a hurricane: theEl Salvador sank near Cape Lookout, while theNuestra Señora de Soledad went ashore on near present-day Core Banks, and theNuestra Señora de Guadalupe went ashore near present-dayOcracoke Island.[5][6] Survivors of a much earlier shipwreck created thelost town ofWash Woods, Virginia, using lumber that washed ashore. However, the extreme weather eventually claimed the town as well.
The Graveyard extends along the whole of the North Carolina coast, northward past Chicamacomico,Bodie Island, andNags Head toSandbridge Beach, and southward in curving arcs to the points atCape Lookout andCape Fear.[7] This spot is known as Cape Point, which is the stretch of beach that divides Hatteras Island's north- and south-facing beaches. It is a very famous spot on the east coast, despite its fragile location.
Cape Hatteras has been a deadly trap for sailors that have entered over the centuries. The stretch of shore is home to more than 600 shipwrecks off the shifting sandbars of the Hatteras Islands.[4] The sandbars shift due to rough waves and unpredictable currents.
Another danger was the Outer Banks "wreckers." Some residents of the Outer Banks, known as wreckers, made part of their living by scavenging wrecked ships—or by luring ships to their destruction.[8] Horses with a lantern tied to their neck would be walked along the beach. The lanterns' up and down motion would appear to other ships to represent clear water and a ship ahead. The unsuspecting captain would then drive his ship ashore following the false light.[9]
DuringWorld War II, GermanU-boats would sit offshore and prey on passing freighters and tankers silhouetted against the lights onshore. Hundreds of ships along the North Carolina coast were torpedoed by submarines in this fashion in what became known asTorpedo Alley.[9]
In the twenty-first century, ships still have trouble in the area, including theBounty, which sank off Cape Hatteras in 2012 due toHurricane Sandy, and a 72-foot fishing boat called theOcean Pursuit, which ran aground onBodie Island in 2020.[10][11]
The title "Graveyard of the Atlantic" is also applied toSable Island, a narrow crescent of sand that lies 300 km southeast ofHalifax, Nova Scotia. There have been over 350 recorded shipwrecks[12] since HMSDelight in 1583.[13]
People believe that the island was first discovered in the 1520s by the European explorerJoão Álvares Fagundes, who named it Fagundes, but the name was changed by the French at the end of the 16th century to île de Sable, which means Sand Island. The island is little more than a 40 km-long sandbar, although it does have a number of freshwater ponds.[14] It is only 1.5 km wide at its widest; the highest point on the island is approximately 30 metres tall.
Rev.Andrew Le Mercier was aFrenchHuguenotpriest fromBoston who tried to colonize the island in 1738.[14] There are approximately 400–550feral horses that are believed to be the descendants of survivors of those that were introduced by Le Mercier. These horses feed off the wild grass, plants and fresh water sources throughout the island. Sable Island is home to the largestgrey seal colony in the world.[15] There are also many types of birds, including theIpswich sparrow, who breeds only on Sable Island. In 2013, Sable Island was designated a National Park Reserve.[16]
In the age of sail, the danger of Sable Island was due to the shifting sandbars that surround it, and the thick fog in the area due to the close proximity of the coldLabrador Current and warmGulf Stream current. Ships were often pushed onto its shores during storms, resulting in a lifesaving station being established there in 1801.[17] In 1872, the Canadian Government added two lighthouses[18] one on each end of island, which helped reduce the number of wrecks. The last shipwreck was a yacht namedMerrimac, which occurred in 1999. With the many advances in modern navigation, the twolighthouses have been decommissioned.
Due to the strange (and mostly uninhabited) location of Sable Island,Guglielmo Marconi made it an outpost for radio communication experimentation. In 1901, Marconi thought this Atlantic island would be a good location for a wireless station for transatlantic communication.[19]
The Lower Cape and Outer Cape sections ofCape Cod have also sometimes been called The Graveyard of the Atlantic or similar appellations.[20] About 3,000 shipwrecks have occurred there in recorded history.[21]
Hazards off of Cape Cod include shifting underwater shoals, thick fog and violent storms. The number of wrecks dropped significantly after the opening of theCape Cod Canal in 1918, as ships could pass through the canal to the sheltered waters ofCape Cod Bay instead of traveling around or past the cape.
Significant wrecks off of Lower and Outer Cape Cod include theSparrow-Hawk, which was the first recorded wreck off Cape Cod, in 1626, and which was salvaged in 1863; theWhydah Gally of English pirateBlack Sam Bellamy, which sank in 1717 with a large treasure and was not located until 1984, becoming the only fully authenticated Golden Age pirate shipwreck ever discovered; and theHMSSomerset, a 70-gunthird-rateship of the line of theRoyal Navy, which wrecked in a storm in 1778.
