By Mike Hughes
No matter what you read, they always portray North Carolina as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. It is true that there may be well over 5000 shipwrecks off the coastline, but North Carolina waters should not be compared to Atlantic waters. The waters here can range in temperature between 76-80 degrees. The lobsters are spiny, not heavy clawed. The fish are tropical. The ledges are coral gardens. The diving is generally more typical of the Cayman Islands than it is comparable to Maine, New York, or Newfoundland.
I've never tried to personally count all the wrecks off North Carolina, but I do know someone that probably has or is in the never-ending process of charting them all. Dale Hansen of Discovery Diving in Beaufort has mentioned some of these wrecks to me over the years that I've known him. He and a dedicated group of divers have been collecting data on the existing wrecks as well as finding new wrecks. I believe the team is currently in the process of getting ready to announce a newly discovered wreck just as soon as they make sure that all parties concerned get due credit for the discovery. Dale is passionate about wrecks and as it turns out, he couldn't have picked a better location for his passion. It turns out that storms, high waves, and mechanical failures have helped sink more ships here than we could ever do alone due to human errors and making artificial reefs. From the sixteenth to Eighteenth centuries ships routinely sank in heavy seas without any trace or record. One of the most famous wrecks from this early time is Queen Anne's Revenge Captained by the pirate Blackbeard (Edward Teach) that ran aground by Top Sail Inlet. With a bell marked 1709 and 21 cannons strewn on the substrate, there is little chance that it could be any other ship that stranded on a sand bar and went down around that time. Oh, don't bother looking; the pirates took all but a few specks of gold with them.
During the Civil War the most famous ship to go down off the coast was the USS Monitor. With only twin 11inch guns based on a turret, the Monitor faced off and stale matted in battle against the 10 fixed guns of the ironclad CSS Virginia "the remodeled USS Merrimac". This battle ended the days of the tall sailing ships. My brother, a war historian, points out that more importantly it was the end of fixed gun emplacements. The industrial North replaced the Monitor with three new ironclads within six months. The Agricultural based South on the other hand destroyed the only iron clad they had so it wouldn't fall into Northern hands. You can see that it could take a book just to do justice to all the wrecks of North Carolina, let alone just these two mentioned wrecks or even the 184 historical wrecks located near Cape Look Out. Rod Farb is the author of The Guide to Shipwreck Diving: North Carolina.
One of the most famous wrecks to dive here has to be the German submarine U-352. The VII-C Class is 218ft long and rests at a max depth of 110ft. The outer hull is still in good shape. Besides the sub, schools of fish live here and make a great backdrop for photo images. The U-352 was one of a dozen ships and submarines sunk off the coast during the war years. The U-124 sunk several tankers over 400ft long. The U-588 torpedoed a 162ft long British armed trawler. The U-352 sunk the Atlas Oil tanker. The U- 158 sunk the Caribe Sea freighter. The U-552 sunk 5 vessels by itself. Other U-boats created other disasters almost to the point where any vessel sailing these waters during the war years was an artificial reef waiting for a place to happen. This added to North Carolina's notoriety as the graveyard of the Atlantic, but on these dives expect to see wrecks dotted with groupers, sea turtles, barracuda, lionfish, and sometimes cool looking sand tiger sharks. The U-85 near Nags Head has lots of attractive coral growth on it and you can still see where the USS Roper's depth charges buckled the hull.
After the war, the carnage and sinking continued with such notables as the 298ft long USS Tarpon, a shark class submarine, that sank in 1957 at 140ft of depth and the 406ft long passenger freighter Proteus with 46 state rooms that sunk in 1958 at 120ft of depth. Suffice to say, that you could spend several years diving the waters of North Carolina before you even saw half of all the known wrecks. Ships continue to sink here in bad weather and I should mention that more accurate assessments have deduced that the shipwreck called the Hutton is actually the oil tanker Ario. The tanker Papoose is actually the tanker Hutton, and the Papoose is deep off the Oregon Inlet. Also, like any good menu there are lists of wrecks to choose from so you can choose between freighters, fishing trawlers, tankers, coast guard cutters, cable ships, submarines, or armed trawlers.
But don't order yet! If all this wasn't enough, North Carolina artificial reef projects include the 441ft long Liberty Ship Theodore Parker in 30-60ft of water, and a 328ft long landing craft repair ship called the USS Indra in 35-70ft of water.
So you are not a fan of wreck diving? No problem. North Carolina has miles and miles of 5 to 20ft tall underwater ledges full of coral and fossil artifacts. While 6-mile Ledge and 8-mile Ledge hint at how long they are, Lobster Ledge hints at what you might find here. Fossil Ledge is famous for divers finding 6.5inch teeth from prehistoric 60ft long sharks that used to patrol these waters. Fortunately it's safe to go back in the water now and with a little luck you may find a fossilized tooth that doesn't quite fit in the palm of your hand. Dive trips to fossil sites vary greatly and you have to shop around to get the best price. Also, they don't guarantee that you will come back with a large prehistoric tooth, you just have to keep your eyes open and hope for some exposed serrated artifact to be pointing out of the sandy substrate, but even if you come back toothless, it still could be good experience as well as another fun dive to log.
As far as shore dives go, the most famous beach dive is Radio Island near Beaufort. It's a jetty dive with up to 43ft of depth. You might see dolphins playing on the surface and stingrays just beneath.
As you can see, its no wonder why they call this area the graveyard of the Atlantic, but it baffles me where the Atlantic part enters into the picture. Tropical pirates, tropical reefs, tropical fish, and tropical storms all suggest to me that the best kept secret in North Carolina is that you are diving in the Caribbean without having to take an over water flight to get there. Great Dives. ■
Check out these sites for information about the Queen Anne's Revenge
www.discoverydiving.com
www.obxdive.com
www.olympusdiving.com
www.qaronline.org
www.gypsydivers.com
www.visitnc.com
www.huronscuba.com
www.wilmingtondiving.com
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