The Outer Banks of North Carolina are home to some of the state’s best mysteries and folklore. The region is also forever tied to a ghost ship that mysteriously washed ashore in 1921.
The Carroll A. Deering was a five-masted commercial schooner first launched in 1919 and found to run aground without its crew off Cape Hatteras just two years later.
Surfman C.P. Brady, on the lookout at the Coast Guard station, sighted the Deering at dawn on January 31, 1921. The ship was hard aground on the outer edge of Diamond Shoals. Rescue boats were unable to approach the vessel due to adverse weather conditions. Finally, on February 4, 1921, rescuers boarded the vessel, and it became clear that the schooner was abandoned, with food still on the stove.
Although the U.S. government investigated the wreck of the Carroll A. Deering, the incident remains a mystery to this day. Several explanations and theories exist, including severe hurricanes, pirates, and the Bermuda Triangle, but none seem to hold.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.
