Huron, USS [1]
Huron, USS
[2]The USS Huron remains one of the most famous shipwrecks in North Carolina's "Graveyard of the Atlantic [3]." A man-of-war steamer, the Huron ran aground off Nags [4]
[5]Head [4] in the early morning hours of 24 Nov. 1877 while on a routine survey expedition from New York to the Caribbean via Key West. A failure to adjust course to account for a slight eastward curve of the coastline caused the 541-ton, steam-powered ship to ground on a reef just off the beach. High seas broke apart the barkentine-rigged vessel over the course of the predawn hours. Of 16 officers aboard only 4 survived, and 85 of 115 crewmen perished.
The wreck happened just two miles from one of seven lifesaving stations erected on the Outer Banks [6] in 1874, but it occurred after the lifesaving season of the summer and fall had ended; observers on the beach could do little more than watch the Huron's destruction. Mourned nationally, the tragedy led to reforms in the U.S. Lifesaving Service [7], including extension of the lifesaving patrol season and construction of additional lifesaving stations along North Carolina's coast and elsewhere. The remains of the vessel lie submerged off Nags Head.
References:
Joe A. Mobley, Ship Ashore!: The U.S. Lifesavers of Coastal North Carolina (1994).
David Stick, Graveyard of the Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast (1952).
Additional Resources:
USS Huron, North Carolina Office of State Archaeology: http://www.archaeology.ncdcr.gov/ncarch/underwater/huron.htm [8]
Image Credit:
USS Huron (1862-1869). Courtesy of Naval Historical Center, photo # NH 53408. Available from http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-h/huron.htm [2] (accessed August 1, 2012).
USS Huron (1875-1877). Image courtesy of the Naval Historical Center. Available from http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-h/huron2.htm [5] (accessed August 1, 2012).
1 January 2006 | Carter, Kathy
