Caribsea Wreck

In past posts I have written about the U-Boat attack on the Caribsea, a 251' freighter that was sunk off the Outer Banks on March 11, 1942. Ocracoke native, James Baughm Gaskill, was killed in that attack. 

Today the Caribsea lies in 85 feet of water east of the Cape Lookout Shoals. According to Roderick M. Farb in his book, Shipwrecks, Diving the Graveyard of the Atlantic, "the site of the wreck is 12.5 miles from the Knuckle Buoy on a heading of 31 degrees."

Although much of the ship's hull is gone (the Navy depth-charged the wreck during WWII to prevent German U-Boats from hiding nearby) divers are still rewarded with views of the bow, the forward hold, and her two anchors, as well as a large windlass, and the engine & boilers.

Farb writes that the wreckage harbors sponges, urchins, mollusks, crustaceans, various species of fish, and an occasional shark or manta ray.

Our current Ocracoke Newsletter is a 1938 article about Capt. Gary Bragg, waterfowl hunting, and wooden decoy carving. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news112116.htm.