Newspapers / The Coastland Times (Manteo, … / June 18, 1954, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Coastland Times (Manteo, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
DLUME XIX NO. 51 ANOTHER LIFE SAVED BY FAST . HELICOPT’R WORK Helicopter Transports Soldier With Broken Neck To Hospital BUXTON ON CAPE HAT TERAS, June 17. Old hands among Coast Guardsmen thought back to the days of the redoubtable Capt. Pat Etheridge one night this week when a heli copter from the big Coast Guard Air Base at Elizabeth City came churning through midnight darkness to rescue a young sol dier who had broken his neck when he dived into shallow wa ter off the docks at Hatteras vil lage. Helicopters are not, accord ing to previous theory, designed for night flying. But when BMlc Edison Mid gett, acting for the Group Com mander iin his absence, reported to Capt. Donald McDairmid that an emergency existed, and that a soldier’s life was in the balance, the helicopter took off, through an overcast night and in the face of winds that had run small craft into harbor and within five hours the young soldier was in the Naval Hospital at Ports mduth, where a hastily summon ed specialist awaited him, and a new first was chalked up beside Captain Etheridge’s “the regula tions don’t say a damned word about coming back—they say you go.” Today young Corp. Caleb Stowe, U. S. Army, stationed at Camp Lucas, Michigan became able to wiggle his toes after total paralysis and his doctors say he will recover. And they add that getting him to the hospital in good time did more toward sav ing him than all thrfir skill. The young corporal regained his speech Monday and his faculties are slowly returning to normal, though his neck will be encased in a cast for some months. With young Bos’n Mate Mid gette on the telephone co-ordi nating thing the plan of opera tion began to tick at 9:24 when the helicopter took off for the ‘■vo hour flight down the Outer ■ks, its crusing speed reduced •'pt 4 * ess than 50 miles by head ,ds. Lieut- Commander John .x. Weber, piloting the big Sikor sky, had the light house to aim at for the last fifty miles and upon arrival the ground crew, led by ENlc Vance Midgett, had flares ready and the landing site marked off with lights. The ■flight and the landing were un eventful, even if epoch-making. Stowe had been brought to the infirmary here by Dr. Donald Tharpe within a half hour after he was lifted, limp and uncon scious, from the water at Hat teras. Dr. Tharpe turned his patient over to Chief Hospital Corpsman Patrick W. Jackson, an old hand at rescue work along the Outer Banks, who made the flight in lieu of the Base physi cian who was on leave. The re turn flight began almost on the stroke of midnight and at 2:14 a.m. Commander Weber set the helicopter down on the ball dia mond adiacent to the hospital in Portsmouth. Stowe was turned over to the waiting specialists, one of them sent down from a nearby Army base. Members of both the helicop ter crew and the crew of the life boat Station on Cape Hatteras were warmly commended by Capt. McDairmid for their fine Capt. Etheridge, were awarded ness. Dr. Tharpe, who reported the emergency to young Midgett, who is a great grand-son of Cant. Beniamin Dailey, who, with Cant. Etheridge, were awarded the Congressional Medal < 1 years ago for heroism, said that Stowe would have died without prompt medical and surgical help, of the sort that he got as soon as he was landed at Ports mouth. ** Besides Midgett and Midgett, others in the ground crew were Seaman Gray, Hendley, and Poling. AD2 G. H. Hallen was mechanic to the helicopter for the flight. < ) ISBURY ANGLER HAS GOOD FISHING Kill Devil Hills. Lawrence Owens, Salisbury angler, a guest at Townley’s Motor Court here during the first two weeks of June found the fishing in fresh and salt waters exceptionally good. His scoret for the two weeks, as reported by C. J. Townley, follows: Twenty eight large mouth bass, 90 blue fish, 15 trout, 65 flounder and 43 sea perch He caught the fish trolling, bait cast ing or casting from the surf. THE COASTLAND TIMES PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE INTEREST OF THE WALTER RALEIGH COASTLAND OF NORTH CAROLINA FAMOUS COAST GUARD STATION GOES THIS WEEK I MIRLO' rescue I 1a German submarine! Jj » i I sank the British tanker I J™ 111 I I "Mirlooff coast realty. I / ,X , £ Aug. 16. $lB. Coast Gaaro. I led by J A. Midyett ■ saved most of the crew. JI I* ; oWIiMI CHICAMICOMICO Coast Guard Station at Rodanthe, shown in tht background of this picture by Aycock Brown, went out of service this week, along with Little Kinnakeet Station, which also was famed ir olden days for the rescues made by the man who manned it. There art only two of the once ten stations on Hatteras Island now remaining ir active service, plus the crew from Hatteras Inlet Station on Ocracoke Island, who have been moved across the inlet to the Gooseville Gur Club building, because the ocean was taking their old station. In the foreground of this pic ture is shown Arthur V. Midgett of Waves, a retired Coast Guards man who is one of the two remain ing six men under Capt. John Al len Midgett who won medals from the King of England for their res cue of the Mirlo crew, victims of a German U-Boat in World War 11. Leßoy Midgett of Wanchese is the other survivor of this crew. Standing with Mr. Midgett, is Ellery Clark Midgett, a grandson of Capt. John Allen, who has been attached to this station. Monday was the day this station and Little Kinnekeet went out of service. The other stations which have been decommissioned through the years since World War I are Pea Island, New Inlet, Gull Shoal, Big Kinnekeet, Creeds Hill and Dur ants. The Coast Guard service no longer considers life-boat stations, as they are now called, of the value in which they were held in the old days of sailing ships. So, through recent years, it has done away with most of them. Fred Gray, Jr., recently in com mand of Chicamicomico, has been transferred to Caffeys Inlet, and the other members of his crew as signed as follows: Selby Gaskins, Curtis E. Scarborough, Bill O’Neal and Robert Rollinson to Oregon Inlet, and Ellery Midgett to Cape Hatteras. Victor Williams who was in command of Little Kinnekeet has been transferred to Cape Hat teras. PARK SERVICE DIRECTOR VISITOR IN *RE COUNTY Conrad L. Wirth. Director of the National Park Service, with Mrs. Wirth and their son Peter, have been spending several days at the Cavalier Motor Court at Kill Devil Hills, and left Thurs day for a visit to the Williams burg area on their way back to Washington. Mr. Wirth paid a visit Tuesday to the Cape Hatteras area, and looked over the Fort Raleigh and Kill Devil Hills area. He has spent a lot of time in behalf of the Cape Hatteras Seashore pro ject, and has manifested great in terest in it. GENERAL ROGER WICKS AND FAMILY, VISITORS Brig. Gen. Roger Manning Wicks, USA, retired, of Southern Pines, N. C., visited Cape Hat teras Tuesday with Mrs. Wicks. The Wicks party, consisting of daughters and grandchildren, are stopping at Townleys Motor Court at Kill Devil Hills. Mrs. Wicks is the former Johnna Ir gens. General Wicks has had a distinguished military career. He was promoted through the grades from a Second Lieutenant in World War I, and served in Europe in World War 11. He is a native of New York SOUTH BOSTON ANGLERS CATCH BIG AMBERJACK Eleven amberjack, some weighing up to 35 pounds each were landed by four South Bos ton, Va„ anglers fishing in th? Gulf Stream here on the week end. They were fishing with Capt. Clarence Holmes aboard the cruiser Secotan and in addi tion to amberjack they brought in one king mackerel, two bonita and two false albacore. The party making the catch includes C. A. Penick, Jrl, R. O. Harrell, J. M. Irby, and John I. Crews. HONOR GRADUATE a K I H J . .. f JKXy LEIGH HASSELL. JR., of Man teo, who graduated with honors last week at N. C. State College in Raleigh with a degree in mechanical engineering, and who left last week end for New York, where he is employed by the Worthington Corporation. FIRST SAILFISH TAKEN OFF OREGON INLET LAST WEEK Nags Head.—Charles T. Fleear of 9604 Granby Street, Norfolk trolling from aboard Capt. Omie Tillett’s cruiser “Jerry Jr.” on Sunday landed first sailfish of season to be taken off Oregon Inlet this summer. It was the third sailfish of the 1954 season for the Dare Coast, two being caught earlier this year by ang lers operating off Hatteras. Fleear’s sail measured five foot and 10 inches from tip to tip, and weighed 22 pounds. Fleear was fishing with Joe Simmons, Jesse Capps and Bob Lawson, also of Norfolk and in addition to the sailfish they boated 16 dolphin, up to 18 pounds each and one small tuna. MANTEO RHYTHM BAND MAJORETTES BIG SMILES shew how proud these six-year-old first-graders of Manteo school were to be chosen as ma jorettes in -the rhythm band of the Manteo primary school, with Miss Holland Westcott as director. The tots are, left to right: Edna Earl Watts, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Watts; Stormy Gale Brown, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Aycock Brown; and Shirley Frances White, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Erwin White. MANTEO, N. C., FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1954 NEW FERRY, THE LINDSAY WARREN, DUE NEXT WEEK Boat for Oregon Inlet Named For Outer Banks’ Best Friend Some slight recognition for the man who has been the best friend of the Outer Banks of North Carolina during his long public career will be manifest next week, when the new con verted 22-car ferry, the Lindsay C. Warren will go into service across Oregon Inlet. The boat was expected to go in service Saturday, the 19th, but additional painting may re- , quire a few more days, so that the boat will be here late next week. A second boat of this type is expected to be completed for this run by July 25th, and will be named the Conrad L. Wirth in honor of the Director of the National Park Service. The conversion of this ferry from a Navy LCT is being done at the Dunn Marine Railway in West Norfolk, Va. The project has taken two months. The boats are being named for two good friends of the Carolina coast. These two boats were ob tained for this run by the in terior Department, and leased to the State Highway and Public Works Commission for $1 per year each. BIGGEST EVENT ON JULY 3RD AT OCRACOKE ISLE Parades, Ponies, Pretty Girls To Be Featured in Celebration Ocracoke, June 14—Ocracoke Community will put on its sec ond big parade on Saturday, lJuly 3rd, celebrating the July 1 4th holiday, which this year falls on Sunday. Marvin Howard, chairman of the parade com mittee, is already at work with plans for the annual pony pen ning, the patriotic service and flag raising at the "schoolhouse, and the afternoon parade. By request some of last year’s parti cipants will take similar parts but for the most part a good many new, and at present se cret, ideas for costumes and characterizations are cropping up here and there. When you see Mr. Marvin galloping around on one of the famous Island ponies, you can be sure another July 4th idea is in the making. Prizes totalling in value be tween SIOO and $l5O will be awared to winners in various categories: first, second, and third grand prizes to the “most cutstanding individual” or group; first and second prizes for decorated floats, trucks, cars or other vehicles-a prize for the “prettiest”, a prize for the “most comical”, a prize for the “most unusual”, a prize for the “most realistic looking,” and a prize for the “best use of local materials.” Drivers of the winning vehicles will be given a box of 12 gauge shotgun shells, for their part in l making the parade a success. See EVENT, Page Eight LANDS BIG TARPON AT CAPE HATTERAS V W - vs, v wi- V I t t t 'A i ’ I ' 'X- I • r ® I X 1 '■*>W HE JL CHARLES WILLIAMS, JR., owner of Cape Hatteras Hotel and the new Seashore Cottage Court at Avon displays a 61 pound tarpon he caugh in the surf at Cape Hatteras a few days ago. It was the second time that a tarpon had ever been landed from the surf there. Williams was using a Hopkins lure and actually fishing for blues and Spanish mackerel when the big fish struck and was reeled to the beach. (DCTB Photo) TOURIST BUREAU DIRECTORS MEET NEXT WEDNESDAY Summer meeting of the Board of Directors of Dare County Tourist Bureau, will be held in the Community Building, Man teo, next Wednesday. June 24, at 10 a.m., it was announced to day by Lawrence Swain, chair man of the board. “This is an important meeting, and one which will map the fu ture operations of the Tourist Bureau after the present fiscal year, to a certain extent,” said Swain. In addition to the Board of Directors, members of the Board of County Commissioners were also extended an invitation to attend the forthcoming meeting, it was stated. A luncheon prepared by Mrs. Raymond Wescott, will be serv ed the group at noon on the day of the meeting, said Swain. OSPREYS BUILD NEW HOME i A pair of osprey built their nest at the top of an old dead tree between Manteo and Wan chese, near the state highway. After completing the nest and all set for their brooding season, ,the ospreys’ new home was des troyed one stormy night. The j birds immediately began re building and this time luck has jbeen with the birds. They have started their family of baby ospreys. PULP COMPANY EMPLOYEE KILLED BY DYNAMITE BLAST IN EAST LAKE WOODS TUES. "Hooker” Crees Dies Instantly While Engag ed Alone in Dangerous Task of Blasting Stumps On Road Project; Formerly Was Captain of Alligator River Ferry. A dynamite blast suddenly killed Lonnie Bland Crees, 52, while he was working in the woods for the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company on their road project in the East Lake Section about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. The explosion tore his face bad ly. He was working without ade quate attendance, blasting stumps ahead of the drag line operating on this project, wihle a working crew was clearing ground some distance ahead. It was not known by other work men he was dead until his body was discovered floating in a ca nal, and was taken out when the crew was called to the scene. Mr. Crees, was a friendly, likeable man, highly popular with those who knew him, a hard worker and a good neigh bor. He was a native of East Lake, and until about a year ago, was employed for several years by the State Highway Commission as Captain of the Alligator River ferry. He lived at Manns Harbor, and was mar ried, but had no children. His wife is Mrs. Mary Crees. He also is survived by three stepsons. He was the son of Mrs. Caddie Sawyer Crees of Manteo, and the late John Sanders Crees. Five brothers and five sisters survive him. They are Harry and Ray Crees of Norfolk; Bruce Crees of East Lake; Carson D. Crees of Manteo, and J. M. Crees of Manns Harbor; Mrs. Alonzo Hol mes and Mrs. Vernon Alexander of Elizabeth City, Mrs. John Basnight of Norfolk, and Mrs. Sherwood Jones, and Mrs. Rob ert Gwynn of Manteo. The funeral was conducted Thursday afternoon, and burial was at Manns Harbor. Rev. A. L. G. Stephenson, the Methodist Pastor, assisted by Rev. E. Hooper, Holiness preach er, conducted the services. Burial was in the Twiford Ceme tery. NORFOLK DENTIST LANDS 442 POUND MARLIN Hatteras. Dr. J. C. Overbey, the Norfolk dentist who landed the world record blue marlin for 1953, boated another big fish of the same spcies off Hatteras Saturday, June 12, while trolling with skipped bait from aboard his private cruiser Snapper 11. Last year, on September 19, fishing from aboard the same boat and in approximately the locality near the western edge of the Gulf Stream Dr. Overbey landed a 570%-pound blue mar lin, largest entered in National competition in the world last year. His latest blue marlin meas ured 10 feet and 10 inches from tip to tip, its girth measurement was 61 inches and the tailspread was 49 inches. He was suing a whole mackerel for bait when the big fish struck. In length, his blue marlin of last Saturday was two feet short er than the 1053 fish, but his .latest catch, a definite record for I the American coast so far this ! season was not as streamlined. Capt. Wheeler Ballance of Hatteras was skipper of the i Snapper II when the catch was made. He was also skipper when I the big world record (for 1953) fish was taken last year. AMBERJACK REPORTED OFF OREGON INLET Gulf stream fishermen trolling in waters off Oregon Inlet and Hatteras who have already land ed sailfish, a blue or white mar lin, red snaopers, king mackerel, dolphin, school tuna, albacore and false albacore and some kingsize Spanish mackerel and bluefish so far this season were bringing in big catches of am berjack during the past week. Biggest catch by one party dur ing the week was 36 ‘jacks land ed by H. W. Sowers and party of Richmond last Sunday. They were trolling from aboard Capt. Emal Foster's cruiser the Alba tross I of Hatteras. Later during the week Gulf Stream fishing parties on cruisers operating out of Manteo and Oregon Inlet were hitting See AMBERJACK, Page Eight Single Copy A NEW CHANNEL FOR COAST GUARD AT HATTERAS Six Foot Depth Into Former Gooseville Gun Club; Old Stations Closed Hatteras, June 17.—Dredging began this week on a six-foot channel leading from the dock of what was until two months ago the last of the once numerous gun clubs along the Outer Banks, now the property of the National Park Service and exchanged to the U. S. Coast Guard for it proper ties at Chicamicomico and Little Kinnakeet Lifeboat stations. The club house will become a Coast Guard station and the two stations abandoned this week will become Park property. Before the end of summer the converted club house will replace the lifeboat station on the Ocra coke side of Hatteras Inlet though no definite date has been fixed for the abandonment of the Hat teras Inlet station. It is being re tained through the summer sea son on a stand-by status and the need of it when the inlet is crowd ed every day by sports fishermen many of them with their own boats and pilots not too familiar with local waters. Elimination of the station on the south side of the Inlet has been necessitated by the unstable I conditions of the beach at that point. The boat dock at the station has been sanded up for many months and even shallow water is about a mile away and the watch tower which tumbled down before the gnaw of the tide has been re placed. In order to reach the sta tion from deep water a mile in a skiff and another mile in a jeep is necessary. Plans for the replacement of the station are not new. Several years back lands were surveyed and op tions taken for a modern station in Hatteras village but the coming of the park to the area and the opening of until now closed lands made the move to the club house practicable and cheaper. A chan nel will be dredged that will eventually accommodate larger boats and the site is well away from present trends of erosion. Little work, relatively, will need to be done to the main building to make it a lifeboat station. Noon Monday saw the final elimination of the stations at Ro danthe and Avon, and the Chica micomico station was placed again in charge of BMC Levene W. Midgett, third and last regularly assigned officer in charge there since it was built in 1882. The first was Bannister L. Midgett, the sec ond John Allen Midgett, Capt. Levene Midgett retired early this year and the temporary officer in charge has been BMlc Fred Gray, Jr., who has returned to his regu lar duty at Cassey’s Inlet. Midgett was retained in a temporary capacity as caretaker until the Park Service formulates plans for its utilization. Personnel of the two abandoned stations were sent temporarily to Cape Hatteras and Oregon Inlet stations where full crews will now be maintained. FOUR CASES DISPOSED OF BY DARE RECORDER TUE. Four cases were disposed of Tuesday bv Recorder W. F. Baum in Dare County. Jimmy Trafton Dowdy of Grandy, pleaded guilty to speeding at 90 miles per hour on the beach ’ highway, and was fined SSO and costs. D. A. Rogers Jr., pleaded guilty to fighting and disturbing the peace at Manns Recreation Center, Nags Head, and was sen tenced to 30 davs in jail, sus pended on condition he pay fine of $lO and costs and stay away . from the Recreation Center for a period of 12 months. George A. McCleese, colored, for assaulting Sybil Mac Key, pleaded guilty; sentenced to 30 days in jail, suspended on con dition he pay a fine of $25 and costs. For failing to observe a stop sign, Shelton Umplett submitted and paid a fine of $5 and costs. ' ■■ -id -
The Coastland Times (Manteo, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 18, 1954, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75