A Mullet Camp 



During the fall mullet runs, 

 the Bankers set up temporary 

 camps made of small thatched 

 huts near the beach. Using nets 

 150 and 200 yards long, the 

 fishermen seined the nearshore 

 waters. After making the catch, 

 the Bankers would clean, salt 

 and pack the mullet in barrels 

 for shipment to inland markets. 



whaling was limited to four months a year, it provided 

 the Bankers with a profitable income. One whale 

 could yield from $1,000 to $2,000 in whalebone and 

 oil. The oil was used as fuel for lamps. The bone was 

 shaped into corsets, dress hoops and umbrella ribs. 

 The remainder of the whale was sold for fertilizer. 



The Bankers also caught porpoises for processing in 

 a small factory that was located on Shackleford 

 Banks. Like the whales, the porpoises yielded large 

 quantities of oil that could be used to fuel lamps. 



The mullet fishery proved to be profitable for the 

 Bankers. The Cape Lookout Bight formed a natural 

 trap that supplied the banker fishermen with an abun- 

 dance of mullet and other fish. Salted mullet became a 

 specialty that made the Bankers famous all along the 

 East coast. They took special care in cleaning, salting 

 and packing the mullet. 



While Cape Lookout became noted for its abun- 

 dance of fish, it also garnered less favorable recogni- 

 tion as a treacherous shoreline. And added to the 

 danger of the shoals was the fact that the profile of the 

 land was so low that even in clear weather a ship 

 might be on the shoals before the captain realized his 

 vessel was close to land. 



To aid mariners in their navigation of the cape, 

 Congress authorized the erection of a lighthouse. The 

 lighthouse was completed in 1812 and consisted of two 

 towers, one brick and the other wooden. The wooden 

 building was painted in red-and-white horizontal 

 stripes. 



Mariners soon found fault with this lighthouse, say- 

 ing its structure was too short to make its light visible 

 for long distances at sea. In answer to complaints, the 



Lighthouse board authorized a taller tower, which was 

 completed in 1859 and built of red brick. It would be 

 sixteen years before the lighthouse was painted in its 

 now familiar black-and-white diamond pattern. Dia- 

 mond City was named for the diamond-patterned 

 Cape Lookout lighthouse in whose shadow it stood. 



But even the beams of the lighthouse couldn't save 

 the crew of the Crissie Wright, which ran aground just 

 off Wade's Shore on a cold January night in 1886. The 

 Crissie Wright, a schooner bearing a crew of seven 

 men and a cargo of phosphate, was sailing for her 

 home port of New York City when she was caught in a 

 blistery southwester. The captain decided to take 

 refuge from the storm in Cape Lookout Bay. But as 

 the schooner approached the hook of the cape, the 

 wind shifted and pushed the vessel into the shore. 



The Crissie Wright was broached larboard side-to 

 and taking on water fast when the captain gave the 

 order for the crew to lash themselves to the mast and 

 riggings. During the night the wind shifted to the 

 northeast and the temperature dropped to eight 

 degrees above zero. 



At daybreak the wreck was sighted from shore. The 

 Bankers quickly gathered and made numerous at- 

 tempts to launch their whaling boats into the surf. 

 But stiff winds and 10-foot waves pushed the boats 

 back at every attempt. 



A huge bonfire was built to keep the rescuers warm 

 and to signal the men on the Crissie Wright that ef- 

 forts were being made to save them. But it would be 

 the next day before the winds calmed and a rescue 

 could be accomplished. By then, all but one of the 



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