Outer Banks Shipwrecks

Ever since ships began navigating the coast of North Carolina, the area has maintained a reputation for being dangerous. Weather, geography, war, piracy, and human error have all contributed to this dense shipwreck zone.

Today, the region that stretches from the Currituck Outer Banks south to Bogue Banks is referred to as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." From the 1585 grounding of the English ship Tiger off the Outer Banks to the 2012 loss of the Bounty, more than 2,000 shipwrecks have occurred in the Graveyard of the Atlantic. The stories behind the shipwrecks illustrate the best and worst of mankind, showing courage and compassion as well as the atrocities of war. This history informs readers about commerce, technology, war, environment, maritime life, and the complexity of the human element.

Mary Ellen Riddle is the education curator at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras. She has researched more than 100 shipwrecks that occurred within the Graveyard of the Atlantic from the 1600s through the 1900s. Both topside and underwater photography show the variety of watercraft in the area--from wooden lifeboats to a German submarine. The images in this book were gathered from private and public collections, including those of the North Carolina Maritime Museum system.