The following general historical background is taken in large part from Dr. Wilson Angley's 1982 study entitled An Historical Overview of the Beaufort Inlet - Cape Lookout Area of North Carolina.

Prior to modern times, by far the greatest volume of maritime traffic along the coast of North Carolina was comprised of small vessels engaged in the coastal trade. Also passing along the coast, however, were numerous large vessels, bound to and from South American, West Indian, and Gulf coast ports, and, more surprisingly, vessels of many nationalities engaged in transoceanic trade. Though arguably less hazardous to shipping than Cape Hatteras some seventy miles to the north, Cape Lookout, with its extensive shoals, has been dreaded and feared by mariners since the earliest voyages along the North Carolina coast.

Ironically, Cape Lookout has also served as a haven or harbor of refuge to storm-tossed mariners since at least the first half of the eighteenth century. Threatened or partially disabled vessels have often found welcome protection in the lee or bight of the Cape, especially against storms blowing out of the north or east, the directions from which most storms come along this section of coast.¹

The first European to sail along the Outer Banks of North Carolina may well have been the Florentine explorer, Giovanni da Verrazzano, in 1524. Throughout much of the subsequent sixteenth century, Spanish mariners passed along the Outer Banks on their voyages from the West Indies and Central America to Europe, their vessels heavily laden with treasure.² During the seventeenth century, the ships of several nations plied the waters off the coast of North Carolina, while English colonies were planted up and down the Atlantic seaboard, populations grew, and trading patterns were established.

The Coree Indians inhabited the area prior to and during the early stages of white settlement in the vicinity of Cape Lookout and present-day Beaufort. In 1713 acting Governor Thomas Pollock found it necessary to station a garrison of militiaman in the Core Sound area "to guard the people there from some few of the Cores that lurk thereabout." During the course of the bloody Tuscarora Wars, both the Machapungos and the Corees came very near to extinction.³ The few remaining Corees appear to have had little or no impact on the subsequent history and development of the area, but they lent their names permanently to Core Banks and Core Sound.

Although the Beaufort Inlet, Cape Lookout, and future Beaufort areas had long been known to seafaring men, permanent white settlement did not get underway until the early years of the eighteenth century. Among the earliest residents were whalers, who established camps and rudimentary shelters on Shackleford Banks and Cape Lookout. As early as 1681 the Lords Proprietors of Carolina had attempted to encourage whaling activity along the coast by relinquishing the exclusive rights to whales, which had been granted them under the Fundamental Constitutions. However, Carolinians apparently took little advantage of this concession other than process the giant mammals which chanced to wash ashore.⁴

In the 1720's, however, New England immigrants to the Beaufort area began to engage regularly in whaling activities. When Governor Arthur Dobbs visited Cape Lookout in 1755, he noted that "whale fishers from the Northward" were using Cape Lookout Bight as a base of operations, and that they perennially carried on there "a considerable fishery from Christmas to April."⁵

During the first quarter of the eighteenth century, Beaufort was described as a "poor little Village at the upper End of the Harbor". ⁶ Though initially laid out in 1713, the town was stillborn. It was not formally incorporated until 1723, and even then it attracted few residents. From the beginning it was clear that the development of the town would be contingent upon its success as a center of trade, and upon the volume of maritime traffic entering and clearing through Topsail Inlet (present Beaufort Inlet). Although many inlets existed at various times along the coast of colonial North Carolina, Topsail Inlet was one of only three which achieved long-term commercial importance, the other two being the mouth of the Cape Fear (not, technically, an inlet) to the south and Ocracoke Inlet to the north.⁷ Topsail Inlet, historically the most stable of all the inlets on the northern banks of North Carolina, was open and relatively safe and deep when the first settlers arrived; and it has remained so to the present.⁸

Notwithstanding the relative safety, stability, and depth of Topsail Inlet, the capriciousness of Beaufort Harbor, and its close proximity to the open sea, Beaufort's growth as a port town was severely hampered by its lack of adequate water or overland connections with the interior. To reduce the remoteness of Beaufort and thereby spur its development, a plan was conceived, even before the Revolution, to construct a north-south canal through Clubfoot and Harlows creeks, in order to open an artery for water-borne commerce between Beaufort and New Bern. Unfortunately the long-proposed canal was not finally constructed until the nineteenth century, and even then it did not prove profitable.⁹ Well before active consideration was given to the abortive canal scheme, the more favorably situated New Bern had begun the process of eclipsing Beaufort--increasingly so in the 1760's. Lying in the fork of the Trent and Neuse Rivers, and on the major colonial highway running from north to south, New Bern enjoyed tremendous advantages over Beaufort as a center of trade. The selection of New Bern as North Carolina's capital in 1766 and the subsequent construction of Tryon's Palace, further accelerated the growth and prominence of New Bern and consigned Beaufort clearly to subordinance.

The principal exports of Port Beaufort, like those of the other NorthCarolina ports during the colonial period, consisted overwhelmingly of naval stores (tar, pitch, and turpentine), sawn lumber, shingles, staves, and provisions, especially corn. Vessels entering Port Beaufort and the other ports of colonial North Carolina came primarily from the northern colonies, the West Indies, and, to a lesser extent, directly from the British Isles¹⁰. Many vessels trading with North Carolina were involved in a triangular pattern of commerce, sailing from a northern port to North Carolina, thence to the West Indies, and from there back again to their place of origin.¹¹

Imports from Great Britain consisted mainly of manufactured goods, including large quantities of cloth. Also imported from Great Britain in considerable quantities were wide varieties of hardware items, household goods, and similar articles, ranging from scythes and saddles to looking glasses and playing cards. Imports from the West Indies were mainly rum, molasses, brown sugar, and salt, the last commodity coming almost entirely from Turks Island. Other goods from the West Indies included coffee, cocoa, citrus fruits, cotton, and pimento. Coming from other American colonies was a wide variety of miscellaneous goods and foodstuffs, including large quantities of West Indian and New England rum, molasses, sugar, and salt. A large portion of the goods brought to North Carolina from the northern colonies had first been obtained from the West Indies or Great Britain.¹²

In the 1740's Beaufort's normal maritime activity was interrupted or threatened on several occasions by the presence of Spanish privateers, whose vessels rendezvoused in the large natural harbor provided by Cape Lookout Bight. Their use of the bight and their associated activities apparently established a precedent for future generations of mariners and brought about continual agitation for an adequate fortification at Cape Lookout. From their anchorage in Cape Lookout Bight, this band of Spanish privateers made their presence felt with keenness in the Beaufort area. On at least three occasions between June and September of 1747, it was necessary to muster local troops to resist the intruders. Several vessels were taken in the harbor at Beaufort; and on 26 August the privateers put a landing party ashore and actually took possession of the town. A force of local militiamen soon repulsed the privateers and shortly after they left the area.¹³

Perhaps the first to do so, the Spanish privateers had taken full advantage of the natural harbor within Cape Lookout Bight. Here they could anchor in protected waters, heave down their vessels for cleaning, obtain water and wood from the surrounding area, and maintain a constant watch for vessels sailing along the coast or passing through Topsail Inlet. Strategic interest in the Beaufort area and the use of Cape Lookout as a staging area continued during the Revolutionary War and, to a lesser degree, the War of 1812. Based in Cape Lookout Harbor, naval forces could disrupt shipping both in and out of Beaufort and along the coast. The importance of the protected harbor at Cape Lookout continued to be realized throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly when storms approached. During both World War I and World War II Cape Lookout Bay also served as a gathering place and staging area for convoys bound for Europe with men and supplies. To increase security during the latter conflict, stretching a submarine net across its entrance and placing mines at strategic points enhanced the naturally protected anchorage.¹⁴

Throughout the historical period, the Beaufort-Cape Lookout area has been the scene of severe storms. Hurricanes during the late summer months and northeasters occurring in the spring posed a great hazard to seafaring and caused many losses of vessels and lives. One of the worst of these storms was a hurricane that struck the area in 1815. The storm, later described as "being one of the most violent and disastrous ever known upon the coast," brought about significant changes to the bar at Beaufort.¹⁵ The bar was said to be "injured so that but 12 feet could be brought over it at low water." Fortunately the channel eventually recovered from the storm's damage and by 1830 depth on the bar had increased to eighteen feet at mean low water.¹⁶

In the years that followed the Revolution, North Carolina, as a whole, experienced a marked increase in the volume of its maritime trade. Some changes also occurred in the relative importance of trading routes and in the cargoes that entered and cleared through North Carolina's ports. In general, North Carolina saw an increase in trade with the West Indies (especially the non-British islands) and with her sister states, while the amount of trade with Great Britain declined. Naval stores continued to be the major export, with a dramatic increase in the shipment of tobacco. The nature of merchandise being imported was essentially the same as in earlier years, although the points of origin had shifted with the change in trade routes.¹⁷

Despite overall increases in maritime commerce, Beaufort remained what it had already become in the late colonial period--a small and relatively unimportant port town, progressively eclipsed by New Bern, Wilmington, and Edenton. Beginning in the 1850s, and continuing intermittently to the present day, the citizens, mariners, and businessmen of Beaufort have been witness to the growth of nearby Morehead City as a rival port town. The development of Morehead City, just across the mouth of the Newport River from Beaufort, came under the guidance and inspiration of John Motley Morehead, governor of North Carolina from 1841 to 1845. According to Morehead's vision, Morehead City was to serve as a major port facility at the eastern terminus of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, which, with other lines, would stretch across North Carolina from the Atlantic into Tennessee.

By March of 1859 Morehead's vision of a major rail and port facility was rapidly becoming a reality. However, its development was soon disrupted by the Civil War, especially by actions relating to nearby Fort Macon, just across Bogue Sound, on the west side of Beaufort Inlet. In March and April of 1862 Union forces under the command of Ambrose E. Burnside took Morehead City, Beaufort, and, finally, Fort Macon itself. The fall of Fort Macon, together with the previous Union victories at Hatteras Inlet, Roanoke Island, Elizabeth City, New Bern, and Washington, resulted in a firm hold on the central and northern portions of the North Carolina coast. Moreover, the occupation of Fort Macon and surrounding area gave to the Union forces a fine deep-water port and place of rendezvous throughout the remainder of the war. In December of 1864 and January of 1865 Beaufort Harbor served as an important staging area for the fleets of Admiral David Porter, as they prepared to move southward for assaults on Fort Fisher, principal guardian of Wilmington. This successful campaign effectively closed the last southern port to shipping, a crippling blow that soon led to the war’s conclusion.

After the Civil War, the Beaufort area saw a brief resurgence of whaling activities with the establishment of two sizable communities on Shackleford Banks known as Diamond City and Wades Hammock or Wades Shore. During the late 1890's several storms caused severe damage to these communities and began an exodus of residents, mostly across Core Sound to Harkers Island, which was complete by 1902. Despite the loss of Diamond City and the disappearance of whaling, there remained extensive and varied fishing activity in the Beaufort-Cape Lookout area. Fishing for mullet and menhaden became mainstays of the local economy. By the turn of the century several menhaden plants were in operation at Beaufort and various points on Bogue and Core sounds.¹⁸

Neither Beaufort nor Morehead City experienced much growth as a port or trading center during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Both ports continued to serve as centers of local trade and maritime activities, with the vast majority of vessels being fishing boats and small, shallow draft cargo vessels. However, the federal government began to play a role in the improvement of Beaufort Inlet in the early 1880s, an involvement that continues today. At that time the controlling depth over the bar was found to be just over fifteen feet, but it was deteriorating rapidly due to widening. By 1889 a series of jetties had brought the erosion under control.¹⁹ Between 1905 and 1907 the channel across Beaufort Inlet bar was dredged to a depth of twenty feet at mean low water, through use of the suction dredge Cape Fear. Through the years, further improvements in the bar channel have increased its depth to forty-two feet at mean low water. The inlet now provides access to large, deep draft cargo vessels arriving and departing from the terminal facilities at the North Carolina State Ports Authority, Morehead City.

The waters in the Beaufort Inlet-Cape Lookout area still hold their perils for unwary mariners; but these remaining perils seem to differ in both degree and kind from those which faced seafaring men before the advent of modern technology. Steel has replaced wood in the hulls of their ships, and the mysteries and hunches of navigation and weather prediction have been reduced to scientific precision. Never again will men and their vessels be so completely subject to the caprice of Nature as they deliver their passengers and cargoes along the North Carolina coast. This cannot be regretted from the point of view of either commercial or humane considerations, yet, as David Stick pointed out more than four decades ago, some intangible things of great value have been lost as a result of modern improvements and greater safety: [See Cape Lookout Shipwrecks]

There still is an occasional shipwreck along our coast; several ships have been lost since the end of World War II….

There undoubtedly will be other shipwrecks in the years to come, but the glamour has gone out of it—the glamour and the romance, and most of the mystery and suspense.²⁰

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FOOTNOTES

¹F. Ross Holland, Jr., A Survey History of Cape Lookout National Seashore (Washington: United States Department of the Interior, 1968), 5-6. Hereinafter cited as Holland, Cape Lookout National Seashore.

²Stick, Outer Banks, 12.

³Stick, Outer Banks, 26-27 and 308; and Charles L. Paul, "Colonial Beaufort,"

North Carolina Historical Review (1965), 143.

⁴Robert J. Cain, editor, North Carolina Higher Court Minutes, 1724-1730, volume VI in The Colonial Records of North Carolina /Second Series/ (Raleigh: North Carolina Office of Archives and History, 1981), xxi; and William L. Saunders, editor, Colonial Records of North Carolina, 10 vols. (Raleigh: State of North Carolina, 1886-1890, I, 338.

⁵Holland, Cape Lookout National Seashore, 11; and Colonial Records of N.C., V, 346.

⁶Johnson /Defoe/, A General History of the Pyrates, 97.

⁷Charles Christopher Crittenden, The Commerce of North Carolina, 1763-1789 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1936), 3-4.

⁸Stick, Outer Banks, 312.

⁹Crittenden, Commerce of North Carolina, 7; and Margaret E. Herrman, "Beaufort, North Carolina, 1800-1830" (Masters thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1970), 65.

¹⁰Crittenden, Commerce of North Carolina, 77-78.

¹¹Crittenden, Commerce of North Carolina, 79 and 79, n.4.

¹²Crittenden, Commerce of North Carolina, 80-83; and "Imports into the Port of Beaufort from the 5^th of January 1768 to the 5^th of January 1769." Xerox copy of in British Records, Admiralty, Class 7, vol. 592, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.

¹³Paul, "Beaufort, North Carolina," 380-381.

¹⁴Holland, Cape Lookout National Seashore, 6 and 6, n.3; and Stick, Graveyard of the Atlantic, 237-238.

¹⁵United States Congress, 33^rd Congress, 1^st Session. Senate Executive Document, No. 78, pp. 3-4. According to this document, "the site of old Fort Hampton was entirely destroyed" by the storm of 1815. Another source, however, states that Fort Hampton Fell into ruins between 1819 and 1824, and was later engulfed by the southward drift of Beaufort Inlet. See Herrman, "Beaufort, North Carolina," 82.

¹⁶United States Congress, 33^rd Congress 1^st Session. Senate Executive Document, No. 78, pp. 3-4.

¹⁷Crittenden, Commerce of North Carolina, 158-162.

¹⁸Hill, Historic Carteret County, 16-18.

¹⁹Stick, Outer Banks, 312.

²⁰Stick, Graveyard of the Atlantic, 242.