Shipwreck may be oldest off North Carolina coast

COROLLA, N.C.

Small waves lapped over Nathan Henry's rubber boots as the underwater archaeologist stood among the stubby hull timbers of what could be the oldest shipwreck on the North Carolina coast. // It was low tide and the surf was receding in Corolla. A cold north wind penetrated even a hoodie pulled over a knit cap.

Henry, a curator with the North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch, had come here Tuesday with Richard Lawrence, the agency director, to further document the 400-year-old wreck before it disappears.

"It wants to go south," Henry said.

Since storms struck the Outer Banks in November and December, the shipwreck has drifted more than two miles, from the beach across from the Corolla lighthouse to the surf due east of Sailfish Street in the Whalehead Beach neighborhood.

During its rough journey, floor boards and the keel have come off and disappeared. The wreck could fall apart and wash out to sea or settle completely under the sand.

Since the wreck was fully exposed in December, Henry and Lawrence have photographed, measured and studied the timbers and tracked its movements. This wreck is probably older than the famous remains of Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, that sank in 1718 near Beaufort, Lawrence said.

Wooden pegs rather than iron spikes held this ship together, like other English ships at the time, Henry said. The wood appears to be live oak, an indicator it could have come from an early Virginia colony, he said.

About 60 or 70 feet long, the ship could have been a military or merchant vessel with a sailing crew of about 10, Henry said. Both types carried guns.

Dare County residents and avid beachcombers Ray Midgett and Roger Harris, also at the site Tuesday, found the wreck years ago nearly buried on the beach across from the Corolla lighthouse.

Harris discovered musket balls and coins embossed with a likeness of King Louis XIII and another single coin dated 1601.

When it was first documented by the state three years ago, only a few ribs poked above the sand, leaving no clues of age or origin.

Winter storms washed half the dunes away, exposing the flooring, rib remains and a large section of the keel as it turned up at the bow.

Despite its age and significance, the wreck, as it is with hundreds of others in the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" along the state's coast, will go where the sea dictates.

"We've been doing this since 1978," Lawrence said. "The best we can do is document what's there and let nature take its course."

Midgett would like to see it raised from the sand, preserved and put on display.

"It's going to go to pieces," Midgett said. "I would love to see them save it."

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com