Schooner Frances E. Waters - Nags Head, North Carolina
N 35° 56.067 W 075° 36.721
18S E 444794 N 3976851
On display at the Nags Head, NC Town Hall, the schooner Frances E. Waters was claimed by the Great Storm of October, 1889 in the area known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic."
Waymark Code: WM6G50
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 05/29/2009
Views: 9
Since 1526, as many as 2,000 ships have wrecked off the North Carolina Coast, resulting in the nickname "Graveyard of the Atlantic." The Outer Banks coastal geography of scattered, shallow sandbars makes this area a hotspot for shipwrecks. This geography can be attributed to to collision of the warm GulfStream current and cold Labrador current.
The 147 ton Schooner, Frances E. Waters left Georgetown, SC with a crew of six and a cargo of lumber. After the storm of October 23, 1889, the ship was found upside down on the beach at Nags Head by the Kill Devil Hills Life-Saving Station crew. There were no survivors.
The wreck sat on the beach at Nags Head until a storm in May of 1978 picked it up and floated it southward, crashing through Jennette's pier, cutting the pier in two. The storm then carried the wreck south to Oregon Inlet. The city moved it back to Nags Head to rest outside city hall.
Date of Shipwreck: October 23, 1889
Type of Boat: Sailboat
Military or Civilian: Civilian
Cause of Shipwreck: Capsized in a storm
Accessibility:
Available for viewing in an historical display at the Nags Head, NC Town Hall.
Diving Permitted: Not Listed
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Visit Instructions:
Only log the site if you have visited it personally.
Floating over a site does not qualify as a find if it is a wreck that requires diving - you must have actually visited the site - therefore photos of the site are good.