Divers flock to state's graveyard of 



sunken ships 



The remains of thousands of vessels 

 lie strewed across the ocean floor off 

 the North Carolina coast. Nicknamed 

 "The Graveyard of the Atlantic," the 

 state's treacherous capes and sandy 

 shoals have proven disasterous for 

 many a worthy sea captain during a 

 battering storm or moonless night. 



But what has been a nightmare for 

 sea captains has become a paradise for 

 the sport diver. Not only are the 

 wrecks themselves interesting — 

 capsules of American history — but 



Photo by Ron Thrower 



they also attract a variety of marine 

 flora and fauna. 



"Even if you hate ships you have got 

 to be impressed when you see these 

 wrecks underwater," says diver Shirley 

 Kelley. "Because a ship belongs on top, 

 when you see it underwater where is 

 doesn't belong, it's an eerie feeling." 



Many of the wrecks which used to lie 

 in the state's ocean graveyard were of 

 the pre-Civil War vintage. Time and 

 the sea have taken their toll on these 

 vessels and only an occasional wooden 



hulk remains to remind us of the era's 

 majestic sailing schooners. 



The Civil War blockade runners 

 have fared better in the shallow seas 

 along the state's southern coast, where 

 they tried to run the Union blockade of 

 Wilmington. 



"All wrecks change from year to 

 year because of deterioration and win- 

 ter storms that stir up the bottom," 

 says Paul Goetz. "But the blockade 

 runners which lie just off the beach are 

 especially changeable. The natural 

 movement of the sand up and down the 

 beach will cover and uncover these 

 wrecks from time to time." 



The most famous wreck to lie in 

 North Carolina's underwater grave- 

 yard is the ironclad U.S.S. Monitor. It 

 was declared the nation's first marine 

 sanctuary in 1975. Permission must be 

 obtained from the Underwater Archae- 

 ology Branch at Fort Fisher to dive on 

 the Monitor. It lies 16 miles off Cape 

 Hatteras in 220 feet of water — a depth 

 too risky for sport divers. 



World War II wrecks 



While divers have limited access to 

 Civil War vessels, tankers and 

 freighters sunk during World War II 

 are abundant along the state's coast 

 because of German U-boat activity. 



"It's really kind of scary," says one 

 veteran diver. "We all thought the war 

 was being fought in Europe and the 

 South Pacific, but it was actually right 

 here on our doorstep." 



During the first three months of 

 1942, Hitler's U-boat fleet downed 

 over 50 vessels off the North Carolina 

 coast alone. But by mid-April the 

 United States began strengthening its 

 defense and four German subs were 

 sunk. 



After World War II, better naviga- 

 tion techniques, shipbuilding methods 

 and weather forecasting combined to 

 reduce the number of ships victimized 

 by the shoals and the storms. Only oc- 

 casionally now does a vessel fall prey to 

 the state's hazardous shoreline. 



Today most divers prefer to dive on 

 the World War II wrecks because they 

 remain largely intact and are big 

 enough to attract more marine life, 

 says Dennis Regan, a diver and Sea 

 Grant's marine advisory services 



A diver swims by the wreckage of the U-352 



