Friday, July 14, 2017

Vendue

The following notice about a vendue (public auction to sell wreckage and cargo salvaged from a wrecked ship) on Hatteras Island was published January 4, 1812, in The North Carolinian Republican.


"Notice Is hereby given to all persons, that there will be sold on the 7th day of January, 1812, on the Sea Beach, on Keneceate, near Ezekiel Hooper’s, 8 miles North of Cape Hatteras Light-house, the Wreck of the Schooner THETIS of Fairfield, all her tackel and apparel, and what of her Cargo that has been saved; consisting of 14 Hogsheads of RUM, some APPLE BRANDY, WINE, CIDER, BUTTER, CHEESE, TEA, POWDER, DRY GOODS, and many other small articles, which will be sold for Dollars and Cents, or New-York Bills. The sale will commence at 12 o;clock, by order of William Pike, and sold by JOSEPH FARROW, Commissioner of Wrecks. Dec. 26, 1811”

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a recording of Rex O'Neal telling about the time he fell overboard when he was gigging for flounder. The story was recorded for Coastal Voices, an oral history project about the maritime heritage of the Outer Banks and Down East region of coastal North Carolina. Click here to listen to Rex telling his story: https://carolinacoastalvoices.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/rex-oneal-gigging-flounders-2/.   
 

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous10:16 AM

    From Kevin D.: Dare Co. Commissioner of Wrecks Joseph Farrow was also Principal Keeper of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. In 1817, Farrow was accused of assisting Hatteras Island wreckers by extinguishing the lighthouse in the middle of the night during storms. The charges were never proven but Farrow was eventually fired for other problems. Nevertheless, a lighthouse keeper who moonlighted as a wreck commissioner was akin to a physician working weekends as an undertaker.

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