Will the mystery of the Carroll A. Deering ever be solved?
Ninety-six years after it ran aground at Diamond Shoals, the mystery of the Carroll A. Deering lives on. Learn the full story of the mystery, the facts we know and the theories of the crews’ disappearance in Jeff Hampton’s article for The Virginian-Pilot, written on the 96th anniversary of the event.
“A five-masted schooner slammed into shoals off Hatteras 96 years ago today with sails fully engaged – and not one soul on board.
Only a healthy six-toed cat greeted the Coast Guardsmen sent to the rescue.
The Carroll A. Deering has been known ever since as the “ghost ship.”
“This is still one of the great unsolved maritime mysteries,” said Joe Schwarzer, director of the North Carolina Maritime Museums. “There are any number of potential explanations for it.
At least five government agencies, including the Coast Guard and the FBI, investigated the wreck while family members and locals could only speculate about what happened.
The 225-foot Deering left Boston and picked up a load of coal in Norfolk in late 1920, bound for South America. The Deering company hired W.B. Wormell to replace Capt. William Merritt, who became too sick to make the voyage.”
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