Caribsea

On March 11, 1942 the steam powered freighter, Caribsea, was struck by two torpedoes from a German U-boat off the coast of North Carolina. Ocracoke Native James Baughm Gaskill, one of the crew members, was killed in the attack. The ship's nameplate now hangs in the NPS Visitors Center.

From Village Craftsmen's History of the Ocracoke United Methodist Church:

"A hand-made wooden cross rests on the altar in the sanctuary of Ocracoke's united church building. The cross was constructed by Homer Howard, and painted gold by his wife, Aliph. The cross was made out of salvage from the ship on which island native, James Baughm Gaskill, served and lost his life. Jim Baughm's ship, the "Caribsea," was torpedoed and sunk offshore by a German U-boat on March 11, 1942, little more than a year before the new church was dedicated. Shortly after the sinking, Christopher Farrow, James Baughm's cousin, found his framed license cast up on the ocean beach. Later, the ship's nameplate and other debris washed up at his family's dock, at the old Pamlico Inn. The cross stands today as a memorial to James Baughm Gaskill, 3^rd mate in the USS Maritime service."

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is an account of the 2013 Portsmouth Island Christmas Bird Count. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news012114.htm.