Storms & Shipwrecks

According to Richard W. Lawrence in his Research Report accompanying the Queen Anne's Revenge Shipwreck Project, "The most continuously stormy period for the North Carolina coast is in the winter and early spring when well developed high and low pressure cells pass through the area with frequently shifting wind direction often of gale force. March is usually the month with the greatest number of storms with wind speeds over 45 miles per hour..."

Detail, Rembrandt
Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee

Lawrence gives the total number of shipwrecks on the North Carolina coast as 2,482.

In a table listing shipwrecks by month, he notes "a noticeable correlation between the storm seasons...and shipwreck loss." Here are the figures for shipwrecks on our coast by month:

January..........300
February........203
March............273
April..............219
May...............110
June...............100
July................108
August...........197
September......261
October..........239
November......228
December.......244

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm.