Twenty four British trawlers were sent to help the United States.
May the 11th, 1942:... "HMT Bedfordshire went out as usual
and patrolled the coast. During that night her luck suddenly
ran out and she was torpedoed and sunk by German U-Boat U558 off Ocracoke Island, NC. All 37 crew were lost and only four bodies were ever recovered from the sea".
In the northeastern section of the state, a series of forts and gun batteries were built at Hatteras, Ocracoke and Oregon Inlets. As part of the comprehensive coastal defense system designed to defend North Carolina's northerly inlets and upper sounds from invasion by Union forces, two fortifications were erected on the north side of Hatteras Inlet . These forts, later named, Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark, were specifically built to defend Hatteras Inlet. The inlet was rightly considered by both Confederate and Union military officials to not only be one of North Carolina's major shipping inlets, but also the key to the Albemarle-Pamlico Sound region
On 26 August 1861, Wabash departed Hampton Roads, bound for Hatteras Inlet, N.C., to take part in the first combined amphibious assault of the war. Wabash accompanied Monticello, Pawnee, revenue cutter Harriet Lane, the tug Fanny, and two transports, carrying over 900 troops under Major General Butler. Union forces secured Hatteras Inlet with the capture of Forts Hatteras and Clark on 29 August 1861. The attack force suffered no casualties and took over 700 prisoners.
This is the British tanker, the Mirlo, that was torpedoed by German U-boat U-117, August 16, 1918, off the coast of Rodanthe, North Carolina. For their heroic efforts in saving the lives of 48 men from the burning ship and gasoline and oil coated waters, the British government awarded the keeper and surfmen of Chicamacomico the gold lifesavings for "Gallantry and Humanity in Saving Life at Sea.". Visit Chicamacomico
The Lost Forests of Hatteras Island
by Thomas Yocum
More than 150 years ago, children clambered across grapevines between the tops of ancient live oak trees and dropped into the ocean from vine swings. Forests covered large portions of Hatteras Island from surf to sound. It was a very different place. The trees are gone. The result of a fateful chain of events that has changed Hatteras Island forever Read the rest of this interest article
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden
( 1866-1932)
Father of Radio Broadcasting.
"Nearly a hundred years ago, a group of workers struggled to raise a 50-foot pole above the hot sands of Hatteras Island. On top of the pole was electronic equipment pointed north toward Roanoke Island. At the pole's base was a small field laboratory barely large enough for equipment and a technician. It was a very unlikely place for an event that would change the world"
OFF CAPE HATTERAS -- Orange with rust, encrusted with sea life and bearing dents from one of the most famous naval battles in history, the ironclad Monitor's turret broke the water's surface on calm seas Monday after nearly 140 years at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Click for complete Series
