Newspapers / The Coastland Times (Manteo, … / Jan. 30, 1959, edition 1 / Page 4
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
PAGE FOUR THE COASTLAND TIMES Published Continuously it Mantoo, N. C„ Sineo July 4, 1935 THK WEEKLY JOURNAL OF THE WALTER RALEIGH COASTLAND OF NORTH CAROLINA. FOREMOST REGION OF RECREATION H " FUL LIVING AND HISTORICAL INTEREST ON THE ATLANTIC SEABOARD Entered as Second Class Matter at the Postoffice in Manteo. N. C. Subscription Rates: Yearly $3.00; Sis Months. $1.75; 3 Months. SI.OO PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY BY TIMES PRINTING CO.. l INC. AT meekins Editor CATHERINE D. MEEKINS SECRETARY.TREASURER FRANCIS W. MEEKINS Advertising Manager It May Result in Needless Delay if Communications To This Newspaper Are Addressed to Individuals. Please Xvoid Addressing to Any Person. VOL. XXIV MANTEO. N. C., FRIDAY. JANUARY 30, 1959 NO. 31 THIS IS OUR HOME; WE MUST MAKE THE BEST OF IT. The year 1959 is rolling along, and we have seen one twelfth of it wiped out, whether we have made the best of it or the most of it. There are eleven other months left, and like most other years, we have made a slow start, but the remainder should witness more momentum as the sap begins to rise and energy develops. If we are to get the utmost enjoyment and profit out of the remainder of 1959 we have got to get on the ball, to put our shoulder to the wheel as it were. What is done for us must be done by ourselves, and we have to do it right here. We see all about us many inspiring examples of neigh bors who are making progress. We see enterprise and in vestment working together to bring more business and more prosperity to the coastland. The labors and investments oi our neighbors will indirectly bring profit to all of us. Idle dreaming and wishful thinking will not bring us prosperity The benefits we seek will be more helful and en joyable if we bring them about through our own efforts. We must remember that when investors come here from afar, they will expect from the investment of their own capital to reap all the profits. Those of us who are employed by them will never enjoy more than is the reward of the mere labor er. But what we create ourselves will carry a premium value in enjoyment, satisfaction and the rich rewards of personal achievement. This is our home. It is the land that destiny has given us. We must take it as it is, and by our own efforts seek to make it better. It has been left us by our ancestors. Perhaps they did their best to leave us something worth while. Per haps they might have done better. Surely it is a challenge to all of us that we strive to make of it something that we will not be ashamed to leave on being called suddenly away. Wouldn’t it be nice, if future generations could look back upon us with tremendous respect, appreciation and pride, for the kind of land we have left them for their heritage. To repeat. It is of no use to engage in wishing. We must go ahead to do great things ourselves. We must wake up to the knowledge that nothing great will ever be done by a peo ple who sit around and hope for hand-outs; that nothing to be proud of will come to folks who believe either the world or the government owes them a living. The world owes no man anything, but each man owes it to the world to make his own mark, to show his own colors, to carry the banner of the cause he espouses. Every man owes it to himself to work for his own support; his pride should demand that he do nothing less than his duty and support his own family. He should not demand that a neighbor deny his family the fruits of his unremitting toil and divide it with the drones and the deadbeats. ALTON BAUM, TEACHER, MASONIC LEADER, DIES Alton E. Baum, 55, farmer and Masonic leader of Engelhard, died in Beaufort County Hospital Sat urday morning. He resided near Engelhard. He had been principal of schools at Hatteras, Kitty Hawk, and other communities. Born in Fairfield, he had been married to the former Elizabeth Watson Gibbs who preceded him in death. He was a member of St. George Episcopal Church of Lake Landing, member of Fairfield Ma sonic Lodge No. 520, past master of the lodge, member of York and Scottish Rites bodies, Sudan Tem ple of the Shrine, was grand high priest of Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, makeup artist for Sudan Temple of the Shrine and a member of Allied Masonic De grees. He had served as principal of Old Ford Elementary Schools for several years. Surviving are one son, Walter Gibbs of Engelhard; one daugh ter, Nancy Swindell Baum of En gelhard; two brothers, Leland of Wake Forest and Robert Glenn of Swan Quarter; one sister, Mrs. Frank Midyette of Fairfield. Fu neral services were held at the St. George Episcopal Chuich Sunday at 3 p.m. by the Rev. George H. Harris, rector, assisted by the Rev. A. C. D. Noe. Burial was in Fair field Cemetery. SURVEY (Continued from Page One) want another, which the experts say would cost $16,150,000. They say the toll to be expected would 'n't pay operating expenses. They also talked about a tunnel cost ing $24,650,000. The State Highway Commission Chairman in a letter to Dare County this week says it is going to give further consideration to the bridge question. A muskrat trapper could give some good advice, along these lines: There is not going to be count of traffic as it exists which-will stack up to tlie cost of building a bridge 'vhere there isn’t one. The State should go ahead and build its bridges where needed. The traffic will develop. Sections which have no bridges ought to have first consideration. These projects are long overdue. The people have been forced to wait. Political influence is low in this area; what there is is not active enough in behalf of the people. Our people have been forced to wait a long time while tunnels and super-highways at tremendous cost have been built in the power- ful Piedmont and in the moun tains. The only way to get a bridge is to build it, just as has | been done before. Quit all the hoodoo and baloney, forget about I humbugging the people in this j small northeastern area about I tolls. They don’t make people pay ’em anywhere else in the state. Why discriminate against us, dis courage our development, and handicap our economy through unfair and dishonest subterfuges, as some officials would willingly employ? GULROCK PERSONALS Mr. and Mrs. Ebb Leary of Elizabeth City spent the week end here with her sisters, Miss lone O’Neal and Mrs. Alfred Pugh. Mr. and Mrs. James Pugh of Norfolk visited his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Pugh. Roscoe Mason is home from Norfolk on sick leave. Mr. and Mrs. Warren Payne are being visited by their son, Com mander Alton Payne, U. S. Navy, Washington, D. C. Mrs. Elvin Payne and Judith of Asheville are there also. Mr. and Mrs. William Powell were there Sunday. Mrs. Linwood Gibbs, Kathy and Lin, Jr. were in Washington Tues day. IV a really very simple to Get in and out of Modern Low Automobiles % ■ Fate away from ear ... Sit down ... Pivot to right. As simple as A-B-C « .. Jean Richert who stands 5 ft. 9 inches has no trouble in gracefully getting into her 1959 Chevrolet Impala Sport Sedan which measures 56 inches from ground to rooftop. “No one,” says Jean, “wiM have any difficulty getting .' ' ‘ MEN -AMTHe SEA A, TRUE STORIES OF /: BRAVE OLD DAYS WRECK OF SCHOONER CHARLES S. HIRSCH October 29, 1908 The Charles S. Hirsch was a four-master schooner of 520 tons burden, owned by the Hirsch Lumber Company of New York. She left Brunswick, Ga. on the morning of October 18, 1908, bound for Baltimore, Md. with a cargo of 318 Georgia pine piling, consigned to the Hodgkins Lum ber Company. She was wrecked near Paul Gamiels Hill. On this trip she carried a crew of eight men, including the Cap tain, as follows: Frank Wall Hunt er, Master, Charles O. Olson, mate, Fred L. Hollses, engineer; Edward J. Christiansen, Albin Julgen, Torres Gunderson, Ludvig Helgesen, seaman, and the cook. Helgesen and the cook lost their lives in the disaster here described. No one of the crew interrogated by the officer who investigated the disaster could give the name of the cook. All that could be learn ed about the cook was. that he was an Englishman and that he had shipped at Brunswick, the port from which the schooner had sailed. The Captain stated that his name was on the ship’s papers which were lost with the vessel. The piling the schooner carried consisted of sticks from 80 to 90 feet long and measuring from 18 to 20 inches through their largest ends. They were stowed heads and butts. The deck load of 116 tim bers filled up all the space amid ships, being stacked well up under the main and mizzen masts, leav ing free only the space forward occupied by the forecastel and that aft taken up by the cabin and quarterdeck. The piling was se curely lashed by wire and chains. Eight Knots in 24 Hours According to the testimony of Captain Hunter, the schooner had fair weather until October 20, when she encountered a northeast gale, which lasted until the 22nd. After that she had variable winds and calms, there being days when she would not log more than eight knots in the whole twenty-four hours. There was a nasty sea all this time, says the master, and the conditions seemed to indicate | that a storm was brewing. About I 2:30 a.m. of October 29, when the i vessel was doubtless somewhere | off the Kill Devil Hills life-saving j station, she lay becalmed. The I Captain had not been able to take an observation for thirty-eight hours, and did not know more than approximately where he was. The crew had been taking soundings since 8:00 of the preceeding morn ing, and at the time stated, 2:30 a.m., the lead showed 16 vfathoms. About 3:15 a light wind sprang up from the northward, which, within an hour, freshened to 3 or 4 knots. At this time the schooner was bearing north-northwest in 15 fathoms. The Captain was on deck all the while assisting in taking soundings. Asked if he saw any lights at any time, he replied that somewhere between 12:00 and 2:30 a.m. of the 29th he picked up two on the starboard bow, which he at first took to be shore lights, but on looking at them through his glasses he found they were steam ers. At 4:00 the port watch came on deck to relieve the Captain, who was keeping the starboard watch, but the latter still remained on deck to look after the soundings. For some time after 4:00 the ves sel ran along in 12 and 13 fathoms, j When she made 13 fathoms the captain told the mate that they 1 would soon wear ship, meaning into the low-designed cars if they follow these three easy steps . . . first, face away front the car ... second, sit down, then pivot to the right lifting legs up under the wheel ... to get out : easily just reverse the procedure.” THE COASTLAND TIMES, MANTEO, N.;C. that they would swing the schoon er clear around to port, making a loop, as it were, and head out sea ward on the port tack almost at right angles to the direction in which they were going. This ma neuver was necessary in order to get out far enough to go again on the starboard tack for Cape Henry, inside of which the Cap tain says he wanted to make ref uge. Just before the necessary orders were given for bringing the vessel around, a sounding was taken which showed 11 fathoms. The cap tain states that he had then no idea that he would go on the beach. He simply thought that they were getting as close in shore as was prudent and that the time had arrived to get off in order to come up again on the starboard tack. The necessity for wearing ship, he explains, was the direction of the winds, which was blowing from the northeast. In the opinion of some of the life-saver’s, if the wind had been a point far ther eastward, it would not have been necessary to wear the schoon er around, and she would undoubt edly have reached without accident the haven she had in view. It was while executing the maneuver mentioned that she got into trouble. When Captain Hunter found his vessel in 11 fathoms, he took the wheel and told the mate to slack away the spanker topsail and stand by. The slackening of this sail, he stated, was to throw the wind pressure more on the forward sails, thereby helping to swing the schooner around more quickly. While the mate was slackening the sail, the captain rolled the wheel hard up and fastened it with the becket. Telling of what next oc curred, he says: “The schooner paid off north west, but seemed to hang, and as I did not want to lose too much ground or strain my steering gear, I next called to the mate to slack the spanker peak. As she still did not pay off, I then told him to lower the spanker away. I, at the same time, ran to leeward and let go the mizzen sheet. As the vessel still did not answer her helm, I began to suspect that something was wrong with her steering gear, and was doing everything possible to bring her around.” By this time the wind was fresh ened up to 20 knots and it had begun to drizzle making a mist over the water. Day was breaking, however, and through the occasion al rifts in the scurrying fog, the sailors could see to windward, long lines of foam crested seas, which warned them of their proximity to the shore. Up to this moment, it seems, the captain had not been apprehensive that he was danger ously near the beach, and he had scarcely time to realize what was in store for his vessel before she fetched up in the breakers. She struck about 150 yards off shore, nose first, then swung around port side to the beach, headed north ward. The seas were running high when she took bottom, and they now broke over her decks and the houses fore and aft, the spray fly ing high up in the rigging. The captain, a young man just turned 30, and who appears to have acted with great courage and presence of mind through the terrible scenes that ensued, and to have manifested the greatest concern for the safety of his crew—order ed all hands on deck. Two or three of the men were forward and the rest aft. After calling the men up, the captain, the mate and two sea * men undertook to lower the sails, “So that there would not be so much gear swinging around.” The water was coming aboard in much volume, however, that they were unable to finish their work, having to take refuge on the quarterdeck, where they were shortly jointed by the men from forward. The captain next thought to go down into the cabin to secure the ship’s papers and some personal belongings. On descending he found the cabin awash and the furnishings thrashing around so violently as to threaten the safety of anyone entering. He succeeded however, in getting hold of his watch and pocketbook, but did not dare remain long enough to get the papers, which were in a draw er of the desk. While he was below, the cook appeared at an inner door of the cabin and when he went back on deck, followed him out. All the ship’s crew with whom the investigating officer talked agreed that the cook was so badly frightened as to be incapable of intelligent action. In fact, both of the men who were lost were prac tically helpless through fear. Their shipmates were of the opinion that had they been more courageous they might have been saved. The captain stated that the rest of the crew never showed the “white feather” but they even joked with each other when it seemed certain they would all perish. When the cook came up on the quarterdeck, the captain, apprecia ting his condition, assisted him into the yawl, which hung from the davits over the stern. There he remained until the crew, some time later, attempted to launch this boat, when he got out of it and tried to take a hand in the launching, but a sea came along and swept both him and the boat overboard. Some twenty minutes after the schooner fetched up, the deck load began to work loose, and soon the piles stacked under the starboard side were chafing the rigging as they rose and fell with the seas, tearing it asunder. Freed from their fastenings to windward, the masts could not withstand the terrible pounding and the pressure of the piles on the leeward rig ging and three of them, the main mast, mizzenmast and spanker mast snapped off simultaneously, the last two going overboard and the mainmast swinging around against the foremast, where it hung suspended by the rigging. The first man to sight the schooner from the shore was Surf man Andrew Scarborough No. 1 man at Paul Gamiels Hills Life saving station. He was at the time standing the 2:30 to 6:00 a.m. beach watch near the station. About 5:30, as it was coming day break, he saw her off to the eart south-east. He watched her for a few moments, and then set a stake in the sand near the watch house and took a range to deter mine in which direction she was moving. He saw that she was falling off toward the beach. Scarborough says that he wasn’t sure she would come ashore, but that he knew she was where she should not be in weather such as prevailed at that time. While he was watching the vessel, Surfman Paul D. Beals, the No. 3 man at the same station came in from the south patrol, and at Scarborough’s request kept an eye on the ship while Scarborough went to the station some 200 yai-ds away to inform the keeper of his discovery. Keeper Thomas Harris and crew of Paul Gamiels Hill Station were soon on their way to the vessel with the Beach apparatus, hauled by the station team, arriving abreast of her even before she struck. Before setting out he had telephoned to Captain Tillett of the Kitty Hawk Station, six miles South, to come with his men, and to Captain Snow of the Cassey’s Inlet Station, six miles north, to hold himself and his crew in readi ness for a call. Both keepers came with their crews before the work of rescue was concluded and ren dered valuable service. When Keeper Harris and his crew arrived abreast of the schooner the wind was blowing strong from the northeast and K was raining. The vessel lay broad side to the bench and was pound ing heavily, with the seas almost hiding her from view. Within fif teen minutes the Lyle gun was fired with 5 ounces of power, lay ing a No. 9 line across the vessel just forward of her spanker mast. After the sailors had taken refuge on the quarterd jck, six of them, it appears, climbed into the spanker rigging. When the line fell they all came down and, together with the master, who had remained on top of the cabin, got hold of it and began to haul in. They hauled the tail block on board and secured it to the spanker mast, but in spite of the efforts of the life savers to keep the two parts of the whip separate the tremendous current that swept down the beach twisted the line so that it would not run through the block when they tried to haul off the hawser. The twist extended the entire dis tance from the ship to shore, and nothing could be done from either end toward getting it straightened out. Seeing it would be impossible to untangle the whip, Captain Harris signaled to the sailors to cut the tackle loose, but they fail ed to understand what he wanted them to do, and did nothing. The keeper now sent two of his men back to the station for an- other whip line, and while waiting for it the life-savers carried the shore end of the twisted line down the beach so that it would be clear of wreckage and staked it fast that it might later be recovered. When the sailors found that the line would not work, all hands, ex cept the cook, who was still in the yawl boat, went aloft, the captain taking refuge on the spanker gaff and the others m their former position. By this time the deck load had tom away the rigging to windward, so that the piles on the side, aided by the rolling of the schooner, were pushing over to windward the three masts prev iously mentioned. This meant that these masts would soon go by the board. Perceiving the danger that threatened, Captain Hunter from his position on the spanker gaff, called to hjs men to come down, himself suiting the action to the word by descending to the star board quarterdeck to windward of all wreckage that would fall. The sailors did not hear him at first owing to the confusion. Had they done so, what followed might not have resulted fatally to one of their number. Shortly, the main mast cracked and the sailors then started down. They were not quick enough, however, for the three masts went over while two of the men, Julgen and Helgesen, were still aloft, and these two went along overboard, neither man was apparently injured by the fall. Helgesen succeeded in crawling up on some wreckage hanging over the side of the schooner and get ting hold of the fly-rail. Here he held for a while only to be swept back atid to disappear in the threshing debris alongside. The other sailor, Julgen, was more for tunate. He managed to get astride a spar in the water, where he re mained for fifteen or twenty min utes, and then climbed back on board with the help of a shot line that had fallen near him. After the masts went over his crew tried to launch the yawl boat, making the cook get out of it. It filled, however, as soon as it struck the water, and turned over, and a sea bore it away as prev iously stated. It was afterward found down the beach, badly dam aged as was also the schooner’s dinghy, which has been washed from the top of the cabin soon after the vessel fetched up. The sea that took the yawl boat away was the same one that carried off the cook and broke Helgesen’s hold on the flyrail. The engineer says in his testimony that he saw the cook after he went overboard, crawl up on the end of a pile, hold on for a moment and then go under as the timber rolled. The bodies were not afterward recover ed, and it was the general opinion of those who witnessed the rescue operations that they were ground to pieces among the piles along side the vessel. When the masts came down Keeper Harris sent Surfman Scar borough to the station with 5 men for the surfboat, that they might have it at hand ready for an at tempt to get to the schooner in case the breeches buoy shbuld fail him. Meantime, the extra whip line had come, and he fired an other shot with 4 ounces of pow der, laying a No. 9 line where the first one fell-just forward of the stump of the spanker mast around which the sailors were huddled. The ship’s crew tried to haul off the whip, in which effort they fail ed, owing to the fact that the shot line had fouled the wreckage. Al though this, line could not be used as intended, it at least served the good purpose, as was already shown, of helping Julgen get back on the ship. Keeper Harris stated that he tried to send this second shot within reach of Julgen, so that in case the men on the schooner did not succeed in getting it, he (Julgen) would be able to lay hold of it, and the life-savers could then haul him ashore. The line doubtless saved the sailor’s life, although not in the manner the keeper had considered possible. Failing the second time in their efforts to get' the appartus in operation, the sailors returned to the stump of the spanker mast, around which they clung, some of them lashing themselves fast. Sev eral of the life-savers who were present on the beach testified that while the sailors were in this posi tion the seas repeatedly buried _schenleq Golden m AGig rfgf|L . ’2- JlisJ? M PINT ' ft W 'Srh' SJgf u 5>J? e oZeii W * ’Oil P-9 4/s of. JM if- I Sdwntay fHttlHon Co. DbMllod Ory Ota. horn 100% Grata Neutral Spirits. 40 Proof. I . . FRIDAY, JANUARY 30. 1959 MOTOR MAIDS Safety Device Is Good Driver By Martha Johnson, Dodge Safety Consultant SAFETY- seat belts, padded instrument panels and safety latch doors are just a few of the devices that have made the mod em car the safest ever built. But the finest safety device is still a careful driver, according to Paul Jones of the National Safety Council. The only safe driver, he points out, is the one who wants to drive safely. “You can’t keep a driver from having an accident if he doesn't really want to keep out of one,” Jones told me. “A driver can have split-second reflexes, 20-20 vision, the IQ of a genius, and the skill of a race driver, but he’s still a menace on the highway if he doesn’t want to drive safely.” 1 Jones advocates continuous campaigns by women’s groups, civic organizations and local safety clubs, aimed at muking drivers more safety-conscious. “Pounding safety into the driver,” lie says, “is the big rea son why traffic tolls have been decreasing during the past few years. “This is not to minimize the importance of extra safety de vices on your car,” Jones em phasizes: “Every safety expert recommends and urges the use of seat belts, safety-rim wheels, tubeless tires, power accessories and other ‘built-in’ safety fea tures. “But remember, to be safe, you have to obey highway signs, drive carefully, be courteous and constantly think ‘safe’.” SLADESVILLE PERSONALS Mr. and Mrs. Harold Spencer, Hope, and Mrs. Blanche Spencer were in Washington Tuesday. Mrs. Ethel Gibbs visited Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Windley and the Brin- 1 , sons in Belhaven Tuesday. W. O. Howerin is spending a few days at home. Gus Blake returned to his boat Tuesday. Arthur Jennette is visiting his sisters, Mrs. Lloyd and Odia Wil- , liams. Mr. and Mrs. Johnie Sadler and John Stanton Sadler and other relatives attended the funeral here Tuesday of their mother. Pell Midyette, Sammie Cuthrell, Travis Flowers, Harold Spencer, attended a rally at Rocky Hock Baptist Church. Sammie Cuthrell and David j Midyette were in Washington Tuesday. Mrs. Lemon Sawyer is visiting Mr. and Mrs. Troy Sawyer in Belhaven. Mrs. Troy Sawyer and Mrs. Charles Edwards of Belhaven vis ited Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Flowers and Mrs. Lemon Sawyer. Mr. and Mrs. Travis Flowers and Sandra were dinner guests of Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Flowers. Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Jones of Belhaven visited S. S. Jennette and Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Ayres; them out of sight. That they man aged to hold on was a matter of astounding surprise to the veteran surf fighters. A third line—also a No. 9, pro- • jected by 4 ounces of power, and sent across, the schooner in the same place that the two others fell—changed the fortunes of the ship-wrecked men. They had some trouble in getting the whip on board, due to the wreckage and current, but they at last succeeded in fastening both whip and hawser • to the spanker stump, securing the hawser some two feet above the tail block. After this the rescue work Was only a matter of min utes. Six men in all were brought to shore, the captain being the last to leave the ship. The rescued men, bearing slight bruises, were in good shape. They * were wrapped in blankets as they landed, and when the work of the rescue was' completed, were hur ried ,to the Paul Gamiels Hill Sta tion where they were given restor ative and dry clothing.
The Coastland Times (Manteo, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 30, 1959, edition 1
4
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75