Shipwrecks of the Outer Banks In Pictures
Click on any picture below to see a larger image. All photos below by Fred Hurteau.


This is another shot of the unmarked wreck shown on the previous page.


Shipwrecks often appear and disappear during storms on the Outer Banks. They are sometimes washed onto shore, or carried out to sea, and covered or uncovered as the sand is hauled about by the ocean currents and storm surges from hurricanes.


The G.A. Kohler washed high up on the beach in a hurricane on Aug. 23, 1933. The huge 4-masted schooner languished on the dunes like a beached whale for nearly ten years. During WWII this popular tourist attraction was burned to obtain her scrap metal. In 1973 when this photo was taken this was all that visibly remained.

The Altoona broke in two at Cape Hatteras point in 1878. This piece of the wreckage is visible in the background of the 1973 photo below, showing the other section of the ship. One source indicated this wreckage has washed away after remaining visible for more than 100 years.

This is another photo of the Oriental seen earlier on this page.

This enlargement better shows the boiler stack which has defiantly withstood the oceans fury since 1862.

The unmarked shipwreck (at right) rests within sight of the Oriental (pictured at left). Click on this thumbnail and find the Oriental in the ocean at the far left of this picture. The spikes in the foreground are the remains of fencing used to stabilize dunes.

M.A. Spencer

M.A. Spencer

M.A. Spencer
The three photos above are different angles of a wreck marked by the park service as the M.A. Spencer, but I have been unable to locate any references to a shipwreck by that name.
The photos at left and right are two opposite ends of an unmarked shipwreck on Ocracoke Island. Although most of this wreckage was buried under the sand, it appeared to be as long as the remains of the Laura A. Barnes shown below.

The Laura A. Barnes (at left, right and five photos below) was a 4-masted schooner out of Camden, Maine, that shipwrecked in a storm on June 1, 1921. The crew was rescued and the stranded ship was sold to some locals for salvage. It was stripped and the salvage was sold at auction. Parts of her went into building a house, which was a very common occurrence on the Outer Banks. Storms shifted the remaining wreckage about, and vandals have set fire to the hulk several times.

Laura.A. Barnes

Laura.A. Barnes

Laura.A. Barnes

Laura.A. Barnes

Laura.A. Barnes

Laura.A. Barnes
 

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