The Graveyard of the Atlantic

The Graveyard of the Atlantic is a name given to a stretch of coast from the Chesapeake Bay down to the southern tip of North Carolina's Outer Banks due to the number of early shipwrecks there. The first recorded one occurred around 1526 off the coast where the Cape Fear River empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Even when sailors learned the coastline, shifting

sandbars would still cause problems. The shallow waters, strong currents, and unpredictable weather added dangers. Lighthouses were constructed all along the Outer Banks to try to help. Adding to the problem were wreckers, residents who scavenged goods from wrecked ships for part of their livelihood. Some even lured the ships into a dangerous situation hoping for wreckage. 

Thousands of vessels and the men who manned them went down. Somewhere around 3,000 vessels are believed to have sunk in the area off the Outer Banks between Hatteras and Ocracoke alone. During wartime, more German submarines sank off North Carolina than any other state. For more information you might want to visit the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras Village, North Carolina.

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