VOLUME XVII NO. 21 DISTRICT ROTARY GATHERING HELD AT NAGS HEAD Enjoyable and Successful Two Day Affair for 278th District, including 38 Clubs President Bob Smith and Presi dent-Elect Zeb Vance Brinkley of the Manteo Rotary Club, and their various committies had their hands full, Sunday and Monday when the club was host to the 38 clubs of the 278th Rotary District. The meet ings were held at Nags Head, and a highlight of the occasion was the dinner Sunday night for Rotarians and their wives at the new Shrine club. Registration began Sunday aft ernoon at the Carolinian Hotel, convention headquarters. The con vention is primarily a training school for incoming Rotary of ficers, and George Colclough of Burlington, District Governor elect was present, with several past District Governors. At the dinner Sunday night, the principal speaker was Dr. I. G. Greer, president of the N. C. Business Men’s Foundation. He was introduced by Governor-elect Colclough. Mr. Colclough was presented by District Governor Olin H. Broad way of Henderson. Other speakers were Past District Governors Sherwood Roberson of Roberson ville, H. B. Spruill of Windsor. A much applauded feature of this meeting was the singing by Dick Jordan’s Blockheads, other wise known as the Rotary Quartet. They are Ralph and Lawrence Swain, Julian Oneto, and Johnny Long with Dick Jordan at the piano. Singing was led by Charles Overman, of Edenton, former Dare farm agent. More than 200 men and women were present at this dinner. P. D. Midgett of Engelhard was featured as the speaker on Voca tional Service at the meeting Monday. Breakfast meetings for Presi dents-elect and for Secretaries- Hotel, and the Arlington respect ively on Monday. Total registrations for the as sembly w>re 131. H. B. Spruill spoke on the Stu dents Exchange fund and Jack Jenkins of Henderson of the Ro tary Magazine. Dr. R. S. Rankin of Duke Uni versity spoke on International Service. Dr. W. H. Plemmons of Chapel Hill spoke on Community Service; and Norman Gold of Rocky Mount, Club Service. The assembly closed at 3 p.m. following Monday’s luncheon meet ing. SEA GOING SANDY RETURNS TO MASTER By AYCOCK BROWN Sandy, a two year old Chesa peake Retriever returned to her master Jack Hoffler at Nags Head this week after one of the most unusual junkets ever made by a dog. It happened this way. Hoffler, quartermaster aboard >ne of the Cape Charles ferries, was home for a short vacation. He decided to go Gulf Stream fishing last Saturday and Sandy 'ollowed him to the Inlet. After :he fishing cruiser got underway, eaving Sandy, she followed the shoreline from the Oregon Inlet >oat wharfs to the inlet. When last seen by her young naster Sandy had waded into the waters of the inlet and was go ng back on shore. Upon his return luring the late afternoon Sandy was missing from the vicinity of he boat wharves. Because she is ;uch an intelligent and friendly log. Hoffler assumed that someone tad stolen his Chesapeake Re riever. Three days later Hoffler learn >d that a strange dog had taken ip at Oregon Inlet Coast Guard Station. A member of the crew had ound her wandering along the >each several miles south of the tation on Saturday. On Wednes lay, at Hoffler’s request Sandy vas placed aboard the Oregon In et ferry for the journev acw’ Iregon Inlet. Before the ferry had entered it’s slip the intelligent 'hesapeake had spotted her mast ir on shore. She did not wait for he boat to dock, but jumped over >oard and started swimming horeward. I Now that she is re-united with ler master, the assumption is that ifter the Gulf Stream fishing boat tassed the Inlet on Saturday, San ly decided to swim seaward in earch of her master. How she aanaged to keep from being wash d to sea by the outgoing tide is local mystery, but she had done rhat no other dog had ever done, warn across Oregon Inlet and then a confusion wandered down the each —or else she was washed to See SANDY, y and upon reaching the automobile, she allegedly shoved the child into the vehicle. Sheriff Owens said the man and woman were riding in a “F lag Me taxicab bearing Washington, D. C., license plates and said that he did not believe the woman was the boy’s mother but that she and the man were acting as agents for Mrs. DeFebio. The other DeFebio children, one eight years old and the other four, said they were confident that the taxicab belonged to their mothei. They said they had never seen either the woman or man who drove off with the-other child. Sheriff Owens said the warrants were drawn under the Lindbergh kidnap act which is a capital of fense The taxicab used in the kidnap ping was reported to have been parked near the bus atation m Elizabeth City Wednesday night CMDR. FLEET UNIT IN KOREAN WATERS ■ (IP ’ r Mr.. mSm COMMANDER ELLERY CLARK MIDGETT, who has been spending several days at his home on Roa noke Island, has been notified that lie will be transferred soon from his assignment in Brooklyn to a post as acting commander of fleet activities in Inchon, Korea. 23 VARIETIES OF GAME FISH CAUGHT IN DARE WATERS SINCE MAY 30 Twenty three varieties of game fish have been caught in the ocean, sound and Gulf Stream waters of Dare county since May 30, when sound and Gulf Stream laters of a Richmond angler, James E. Beat ley landed the season’s first sail fish while trolling from aboard the Albatross II with Caot Foster of Hatteras. Two varieties of fresh water fish have been caught daily during the same period. The catches have included from Gulf Stream, in addition to Beat ley’s 6-foot sail, one 97-pound cob ia, in addition to several smaller j fish of the species, amberiack, I King mackeral, school tuna, false i albacore, bonita and dolphin. Gulf Stream fishing is good out of Hat teras and Oregon Inlets. From inshore waters bluefish, channel bass, weakfish, (or trout whiting (sea mullet) flounder, Spanish mackerel, hogfish, and Sand perch. These varieties have been taken from the ocean piers, the inlets and sound waters. Anglers fishing over coral reefs and submerged wrecks inside the 100 Fathom Curve boated red snapper, Tautog, sea bass, and trigger fish. From the sounds catches of striped bass have been reeled in by' anglers. Fresh water catches have inclu ded large mouth bass from the .sags Head fresh ponds, Colington Island, bays, Kitty Hawk and low er Currituck sound. The red snapper, landed this i week were the first of this species to be landed with rod and reel along the Dare coast, it is believed. | “Reason no one has been catching snapper is because no one has fished for them. There are too | many other exciting game varie- : ties to catch,” said Capt Nelson Stowe, skipper of the Ursula of Hatteras, whose party landed two taken earlier this week. WANCHESE ARTIST’S FAME SPREADS FAR AND WIDE Ife gST t-I EK! I ..Jr n RALPH TILLETT of Wanchese is noted for his skill with a brush.'For more than a quarter of a century he has been doing pictures of his neighbors, and painting local scenery for his friends. In a large part of the homes on Roanoke Island will be found his handiwork. His store and barbershop at Wanchese is visited by many tourists who come to admire his work. The accompanying photo by Aycock Brown shows him with a picture he did of a neighbor, Miss Teeny Gaskill. MANTEO, N. C., FRIDAY JUNE 13, 1952 TOURIST BUREAU MEET HATTERAS TUESDAY, JUNE 17 The board of directors of the Dare County Tourist Bureau will meet in Hatteras at the Atlantic View Hotel Tuesday morning, June 17, at 10 o’clock, it was an nounced today by David Stick, sec retary-treasurer of the organiza tion. One of the most important matters to come under discussion will be the budget proposal for the coming year beginning October 1. While it will be a directors’ meeting, any person on Hatteras Island or in the county is extended an invitation to attend, it was stated. This will be the first time the group has met outside of Man teo where the Tourist Bureau has its headquarters. Activities of the organization cover the entire coun ty, and one of the duties of Ay cock Brown, manager and news director, is to visit the various communities regularly for news and public relations purposes. Members of the board of direct ors include: L. L. Swain, chair man, M. L. Burrus, vice chairman, David Stick, secretary-treasurer, George Frank, Edgar Perry, W. S. White, Dan Harris, Martin Kel logg, Claude Duvall, Asa Gray, Wallace McCown, Dan Q. Oden, Gordon Kellogg and B. M. Hed rick. Following the morning meet ing the group will have lunch at The Atlantic View. JOURNEY’S END OPENS KITTY HAWK SATURDAY Northernmost Tourist Court on Beach Opened by Baltimore Real Estate Man “Journey’s End,” newest housekeeping facilities on the Dare Beaches, will open for bhsi ness tomorrow, offering the va cationer 2-bedroom units, sum • ished well, with all modern con | veniehces. Eight units, plus one for the manager, are complete. The new motel features all tile baths, with tub and shower, Beautyrest mattresses, complete kitchens, and furnishes all linens. It is located on Wilbur Wright Circle, just across the highway from Southern Shores. Construc tion took seven weeks, from the pouring of concrete, to the com plete furnishing of all rooms. Basil B. Wells, prominent Bal timore real estate man, and a native of Morehead City, has .built the motel as the start of a development program he plans for property he owns in that area. Plans for the future include a restaurant, tourist cabins, and a swimming pool. He hopes to have the project completed in four years. Mr. Wells is owner of the Bur wood Homes in Baltimore, a de velopment project containing 74 homes, and 20 more under con struction. He plans to retire in about three years, and spend a good deal of his time in Dare ounty, allowing some time for jaunts to Florida aboard his boat, which he keeps in Morehead City. The motel will be under man agement of George Gesher. “Graveyard of Atlantic” Title of New Book by David Stick of Kitty Hawk * ■>< ■>, ' W- s' . 2J A JNM K ’ ! JMIWW - yyH II • -w*. i i v i ' \ Ml * ißm? t HUH I 11 . i ■ i A Oil? ■ DAVID STICK, shown above standing on a piece of shipwreck on the Dare County coast, has published a most interesting and valuable book dealing with the history, of shipwrecks in North Carolina. It is called the “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” and goes on sale tomorrow. It is published by the press of the University of North Carolina where Mr. Stick went to school. The book covers shipwrecks from the early days of sailing to U-boat warfare during World War 11. It is illustrated by 30 original line drawings by Frank Stick, the gifted artist father of David Stick, and it contains 276 pages. Concerning this new book, Walter Spearman of the University School of Journalism published Sunday in the Virginian-Pilot tl following interesting article: By WALTER SPEARMAN Making an ocean graveyard the birthplace of a book is the unusual accomplishment of David Stick, young fisherman, Marine Corps combat correspondent, real estate dealer, house builder, crafts shop promoter—and now author. Having roamed the Carolina and Virginia beaches since he was 10 years old, Stick has always been familiar with the term “graveyard of the Atlantic,” but it took imagi nation to make the old wreecked ships, around whose hulls he used to fish, the heros of his book “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” which will be published this week by the University of North Carolina Press. Six hundred vessels.are wrecked in Stick’s “graveyard,” dating as far back as a Spanish brigantine lost in 1526 and as recently as a Panamanian freighter in 1952. There is the story of the Tiger, flagship of Sir Richard Grenville, stranded in Ocracoke Inlet while trying to reach Roanoke Island with Sir Walter Raleigh colonists. And there is the story of the Patroit, with the disappearance of Theodosia Burr Alston and the discovery of a mysterious portrait years later at Nags Head. Stick’s own favorite wreck is the Pulaski, a steam packet from Charleston which had its starboard boiler explode in 1838 with the subsequent loss of 100 lives. Stick recreates the whole story, tracing the activities of all the passengers and crew members until they fi nally reached shore or were drowned. He even discovers a ro mance between a young Mr. Ridge from New Orleans and a Miss On slow, who met on a rest improvised from a couple of settees and a large cask, became engaged while they drifted, and were married aft er the rescue. “Only then,” says Stick, “did Ridge learn that his bride was heiress to an estate valued at $200,000.” Records and Files Getting all the material he needed for his book was no easy task. Stick started out by going through the annual reports of the United States Life Saving Service from 1876 to 1915. Then he checked reports of the Coast Guard after it was established in 1915. Data on wrecks during the two World Wars he collected from the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Hydrographic Office and the National Archives. Civil War information came |rom the official records of the Uhion and Confederate navies. Old newspaper files were <|are fully checked in Norfolk and Ra leigh. Stick and his pretty wife estimate that they well over 10,000 daily and weekly news paper issues, column by column and page by page. The Mariner’s Museum at Newport News was an other source of records; and Colo nial and State Records and Hak luyt’s Voyage produced some of the earlier facta. Ship logs and personal interviews with survivors added much local color. t Among the fascinating stories See STICK, Page Eight Single Copy 7< REHEARSALS FOR 1912 PAGEANT NOW UNDERWAY New Scene Added to Lost Colony's Second Act Shows Indian Attack On Fort By AYCOCK BROWN Rehearsals for the 1952 season of Paul Green’s symphonic drama The Lost Colony got underway in Waterside Theatre at Fort Raleigh Tuesday night with all actors present to practice the roles they will play during the show’s 12th season. More than half of the actors this year are natives of Roanoke Island. There have been few changes made in the assignment of roles to native actors, but there will be several new faces in the cast of off-island principals. Notable changes in the cast of principals will be the appearance of Frederick Young of Carolina Playmakers who will play the corni-tragic role of Tom Harris, the beggar man. Young is the first non-equity actor to play this im portant role. Mrs. Lillian Prince who has played Queen Elizabeth for the past several seasons will have that role again this year. Sir Walter Raleigh will be played again by Andrew Griffith. Barbara Edwards Griffith is again cast as Eleanor Dare, the female lead of the show and Ala bama born Bob Armstrong plays the male lead of John Borden. Victor Michalek of Duke Uni versity will be the drama's his torian this year succeeding Frank Groseclose who had that part for the past three years. i Roanoke Island principals in clude Louise Wescott as Manteo’s wife; Buddy Flowers, as Wano, Manteo’s son; Robert Midgett and Edgar Midgett as first and second soldiers, Natalie Etheridge as the spinner in the fish net scene, Ruth Flowers as the meal grinder, Mar jalene Thomas as Margaret Lawr ence, Wade Nixon as a Courier, Roy Gray, Jr., as the messenger and Edwin Midgett as George Howe; Johnny Booth, formerly Manteo’s son, will be George Howe, Jr., this year, and Billftr Brown will be Thomas Archard. Grace Davis is again cast as Agona, consort of Old Tom, and Wally McCown, a local attorney, will be the Landlord and Mark Bennett. Already preparations are being made for the exciting Indian attack scene for Act 11. This will add See REHEARSAL, Page Eight GOVERNOR SCOTT WILL FISH GULF STREAM AGAIN Governors of Georgia, Vir ginia and Tennessee May Be Guests Governor W. Kerr Scott of North Carolina who ran into foul weather and poor fishing during the Spring Channel Bass run at Oregon Inlet is coming back to try his hand at Gulf Stream fishing off the coast of Dare County. Captains Sam and Omie Tillett, Nags Head fishing guides, have extended the invitation to the chief executive for this second angling trip of the season to the coast of Dare. Governor Sid Me Math of Ar kansas was the fishing companion of Governor Scott on his channel bass junket earlier this year. They trolled the fish-famous waters of Oregon Inlet most of one day with out getting a strike. One conso lation for the gubernatorial party on that day, however, was the fact that no one else caught any fish. When the Tilletts extended their invitation to Governor Scott to come back and try his luck again, they suggested that he bring any other governors of any other states with whom he may want to challenge in the sport that Isaak Walton originally made famous. They also suggested that plans be made to come back when Gulf Stream fishing was good. “I feel that we might be able to invite Governor Battle of Vir ginia, Browning of Tennessee or Talmadge of Georgia to ‘wet a hook’ with us," said Governor Scott. “Why not invite them all to come along,” replied Sam Tillett, father of young Capt. Omie Tillett who guided Scott and McMath and who is one of the better Gulf Stream guides along the North Carolina coast. So now, Governor Scott is await ing word from Tillett as to the best imet to come down for the “hook wetting” and judging from recent catches made in Blue Water off Dare, that time is now ap proaching.