Saturday, May 31, 2014

Home?

My neighbor, Edward Norvell, sent me these photos of an exposed shipwreck near the Pony Pen. We think these timbers might be what is left of the steamboat Home that wrecked near there in 1837. Ninety people (men, women, and children) lost their lives in that terrible disaster.

Walter Howard recounted the story as he heard it many years ago from Kade Williams. I have reproduced Walter's article on our web site: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news100104.htm.

The ship's timbers were exposed recently, but they are slowly being covered again as strong winds blow across the beach.

































Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is the curious story of Vera/Charlie Williams. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news052114.htm.



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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:12 AM

    I am trying to connect Kade to Island genealogy. Who were Kade's parents? Many thanks.

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    1. Philip8:22 AM

      Arcade Williams was the daughter of John W. Williams III (1804 - ca. 1865) & Euphemia Salter (? - ?). She was the 7th of 9 children. She and most of her siblings never married, or were not listed in the censuses of 1850 & 1860. Kade's brother, William C. (Wid) Williams was an accomplished island fiddler.

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  2. Anonymous8:25 AM

    Much like a group that exists to remove and relocate bees in a safe humane manner is there not such a group for exposed timbers of ship wrecks? Is there not a museum or University grad students group chomping at the bit for an opportunity such as this? Have any attempts been made to get a google map type gps coordinates -- would that not be a simple thing to do with a smart phone?????DD

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    1. Philip10:45 AM

      In 1992 NPS Volunteers published "Shipwrecks of Ocracoke: Fragments of History." The 40 page document is not on the Internet, but I believe the manuscript is on file with the U.S. Dept. of Interior, National Park Service, Ocracoke Sub District, Manteo. 16 fragments of shipwrecks are identified, but not with GPS coordinates. Ships' timbers are routinely moved around by storms & hurricanes.

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  3. Julie S.10:27 AM

    I believe I have seen those timbers on past visits. Just curious, what makes you think they are from the "Home"?

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    Replies
    1. Philip10:50 AM

      It could be the remains of the Home because that vessel wrecked near there in 1837. Or it could be what is left of the Anna R. Heidritter, which also wrecked in that vicinity in 1942...or the timbers could be from some other vessel. There is no way to know for sure..

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