Mystery Lingers over Fate of Crew Shipwrecked in 1921 off Hatteras

On the cold last day of January 1921, just after dawn, Surfman C.P. Brady could scarcely believe his eyes.

Scanning deadly Diamond Shoals through a 71-inch-long telescope from the cupola of U.S. Coast Guard Cape Hatteras Station No. 183, not far from the renowned candy cane-striped lighthouse, Brady spied a five-masted schooner through the mist and spray. Fully rigged and with most sails set, the enormous vessel lay foundered a dozen miles away, firmly lodged deep in the shifting sands and in danger of being pounded apart.

What caused the "Carroll A. Deering," the pride of Bath, Maine, to run aground on the outermost reaches of the Outer Banks -- and what became of her captain and 10 crew members -- have remained enigmas for more than 80 years. In his new nonfiction novel, "Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals: The Mystery of the Carroll A. Deering," writer Bland Simpson of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill revisits the event and those that followed. UNC Press is publishing the book in October.

"In its day, the mystery ... spurred the captain's daughter into an inspired investigation, and a nation and the best of her sleuths and maritime forces all followed her lead and worked to near distraction to discover what happened...," wrote Simpson, who directs UNC's creative writing program. "The families of the shipbuilder and the captain and his crew all wonder still."

Rough weather prevented a Coast Guard cutter and a salvage tug from reaching the stranded vessel for four days. Except for three starving cats, which they rescued, boarders found no sign of life. The big ship's two small boats -- a dory and a yawl -- both were gone, as were her anchors and log. Her steering gear and binnacle were smashed, and a sledgehammer was found nearby. Coffee, pea soup and spareribs lay in the mess ready to be eaten. Eleven presumably good men disappeared forever.

The tale of the mysterious shipwreck was put into short form numerous times by such writers as David Stick and John Harden and by newspaper and magazine reporters, but no one had ever dramatized it at length before, Simpson said.

"I had been fascinated by the story since I was young and eventually decided I wanted to write a book on it using techniques novelists employ to make mine not only true, but also dramatic," he said.

Just tracking down most known pieces of the puzzle, even though he could not hope to solve it, involved much detective work. The writer read everything he could find on the subject. After poring through the archives at the U.S. Department of Commerce with limited success, he eventually discovered, after completing his first draft, that most federal papers concerning the wreck and its aftermath were stored at the Herbert Hoover Library in West Branch, Iowa. The library sent him copies of about 450 pages he requested.

Hoover was secretary of commerce at the time of the disaster. The captain's tenacious daughter, Lula Wormell, nearly obsessed with her family's loss, got Hoover interested in the unusual case, and he assigned his top assistant to follow up on it.

Among voluminous information that emerged from the investigation in subsequent months was that the "Carroll A. Deering" passed the Lookout Shoals light ship farther south a day and a half prior to grounding on Diamond Shoals and that a red-headed man had cried through a megaphone that the schooner was in distress. On April 11, Christopher Columbus Gray, a Dare County fisherman, claimed to have found a message in a bottle in the surf saying the vessel had been captured and was being looted. Initial handwriting analyses linked the note to the ship's engineer.

In June, the story of the FBI's discreet but thorough investigation broke, panicking Eastern shippers, global insurers and merchant mariners about possible pirates, maybe even Bolsheviks! Also that month, the captain of the steamship "Lake Elon" wired the Department of Commerce that he had seen the "Deering" on its last day, and it appeared to be sailing a collision course for Cape Hatteras.

Word filtering in from Barbados that the drunkard first mate threatened the captain on the voyage's outward leg to Rio de Janeiro suggested mutiny. Another theory was that gangsters hijacked the vessel to run rum up from the Caribbean for thirsty Prohibition-era Americans.

"To me, this was an amazing story, full of heartbreak and far more complex than I thought when I first heard about it and was intrigued as a boy," Simpson said. "Writing it was like getting on a ship and taking a wonderful ride. Even when I had finished, I kind of hated for it to go away because I wondered if I'd ever find one that good again."

Simpson spent his early boyhood in Elizabeth City, N.C., a river port on the Pasquotank River, and is the son and the nephew of Navy officers. Besides teaching creative writing, he is author of "Heart of the Country," "The Great Dismal," "The Mystery of Beautiful Nell Cropsey" and "Into the Sound Country." He also is an accomplished pianist, a member of the Tony Award-winning Red Clay Ramblers and a collaborator on musicals such as "King Mackeral & The Blues Are Running," "Kudzu" and "Fool Moon."

On Nov. 14 at 5 p.m., Simpson will read from his new book in Wilson Library's Pleasants Family Assembly room. The great-grandson of Carroll A. Deering, for whom the ill-fated vessel was named, will bring the ship's bell and ring it during the program. Also planned are a reception, book signing and an opportunity to view the N.C. Collection's exhibit "North Carolina Mysteries, Myths & Legends," which runs from Sept. 5 to Jan. 19, 2003.

Copies of the book are available by calling UNC Press at 1 (800) 848-6224.