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Photo 1.
One and a half hours into the flight from Richmond, Virginia: the
Wright Memorial (at center of circle) and First Flight airstrip
running right to left along bottom.
A nasty
crosswind prevented me from landing here on this day. First Flight is
notorious for swirling crosswinds. A sad looking Piper sits in the
parking area in mute testament, its nosegear broken and prop bent.
I landed
at nearby Dare County Regional Airport (MQI) on Manteo Island (in the
sound between the outer banks and the mainland). This is a nice
airport with fuel, soda and snack machines, and comfortable couches.
Photo 2.
Sun, sand, sound and ocean on the Outer Banks.
Photo 3.
About 35 minutes south of Kitty Hawk: the Cape Hatteras lighthouse
(barely visible between struts and below cross brace). You can also
see where it once stood - closer to the ocean.
Photo 4. A
few minutes later: turning final for Billy Mitchell Airport (HSE) in
Cape Hatteras (the runway is the smudge visible at center of photo).
The beach is a short walk across the runway and over a small dune.
The airport has no services but the beach is beautiful and very desolate.
Photo 5.
Flying low over a secluded beach somewhere in the outer banks (not
within a wildlife refuge!).
Photo 6. A
shipwreck in northern Hatteras (visible in right of photo with part
of one end just poking above the water). This may be a Civil War
steamer called the Oriental. |
If you
ever look at a map of the shipwrecks in the Outer Banks you will see
that they line the entire shoreline in an unbroken string from one
end to the other.
Some
Visible Nearshore Wrecks (from
my GPS):
N 36
33.612 W 75 52.112 Located in the far northern outer banks
(actually into Virginia), past Corolla and Corova (which is
accessible by driving on the beach only) and just past the barrier
that stops traffic from traveling any farther north. A very complete
outline of a large iron ship is visible just beneath the surface.
This may be the "Clythia", a 214' long iron-hulled bark
that ran aground in 1894 while carrying a load of Italian marble. The
marble was salvaged in the 1960's.
N 36
14.940 W 75 46.784 This wreck protruded above the water. This
area is populated by luxury cottages in northern Duck.
N 36
01.885 W 75 39.729 This wreck is right down the runway centerline
of First Flight airport. I believe it may actually be two wrecks -
the Greek tanker Kyzickes, which foundered in 1927, and the Swedish
freighter Carl Gerhard, which came to grief in 1929. These are known
locally as the "triangle wreck" because they touch and form
a roughly triangular shape.
N 35
47.226 W 75 31.795 This wreck was just north of Oregon Inlet.
N 35 42.939 W
75 29.273 Northern Hatteras island near a parking area. Photo on
left. After doing a little research I believe this may be the
"Oriental". The Oriental was a Federal iron-hulled screw
steamer, lost in 1862 after becoming stranded on a sandbar. The steam
engine still sticks up eight feet above the water at low tide! This
is amazing when you consider that it's been pounded by the surf for
140 years.
N 35
32.348 W 75 27.837 Further south on Hatteras island.
Finding
information on these wrecks was aided by a searchable shipwreck
database provided by NOAA http://anchor.ncd.noaa.gov/awois/search.cfm.
Here's a
nice website with photos of old shipwrecks in the outer banks: http://dragonfantasy.com/OuterBanks/shipwrecks.htm.
Some of
the wrecks are so close together that it was difficult to tell which
one my GPS coordinates pointed to.
Photo 7.
The sun glinting off the lower James River on the return flight. Just
visible through the haze is the shore. The haze was so thick on this
flight that dead reckoning would have been nearly impossible.
- Text and photos
copyright Mark Williamson (8/21/2001) |