Carroll A. Deering was an American five-masted commercial schooner built in 1919. It was discovered run aground without any crew members near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, in January 1921.
Overview
The Carroll A. Deering was built in Bath, Maine, in 1919 by the G.G. Deering Company for business purposes. The company’s owner named the ship after his son. This was one of the last large sailing ships used for business. The ship was built to transport goods and had been in use for one year when it began its last trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Carroll A. Deering's last voyage
On July 19, 1920, the Carroll A. Deering departed from Puerto Rico and arrived at Newport News to collect a shipment of coal for delivery to Rio de Janeiro. The ship was commanded by William H. Merritt, a World War I hero who had been honored for saving his entire crew when his previous ship, the five-masted schooner Dorothy B. Barrett, was destroyed by the German submarine U-117 near Cape May, New Jersey, in 1918. Merritt’s son, Sewall, served as the ship’s first mate, and the crew consisted of ten Scandinavian men, mostly Danes. On August 26, 1920, the Carroll A. Deering left the Virginia Capes heading for Brazil. However, Captain Merritt became seriously ill, and the ship returned to Lewes, Delaware, to drop off Merritt and his son. The Deering Company then hired Captain Willis B. Wormell, a 66-year-old retired sea captain, to lead the voyage to Brazil. Charles B. McLellan was appointed as the first mate.
On September 8, 1920, the Carroll A. Deering, now under Wormell’s command, departed for Rio de Janeiro. The ship arrived safely and delivered its coal without incident. Wormell granted his crew time off and met with Captain Goodwin, a friend who commanded another ship in the port. Wormell expressed distrust of his crew, though he said he trusted the engineer, Herbert Bates, who was also known to Goodwin. The Carroll A. Deering left Rio de Janeiro on December 2, 1920, and stopped at Barbados for supplies. First Mate McLellan became very drunk in town and told Captain Hugh Norton of the Snow that he could not manage the crew without Wormell interfering. He also said he had to handle all navigation because Wormell had poor eyesight. Later, Norton, his first mate, and another captain heard McLellan say, “I’ll get the captain before we get to Norfolk, I will.” McLellan was arrested for being drunk, but on January 9, 1921, Wormell paid his bail and continued the voyage to Hampton Roads.
The Carroll A. Deering was next seen by the Cape Lookout lightship off North Carolina on January 28, 1921. The ship contacted the lightship, and its keeper, Captain Jacobson, spoke to a tall, thin man with reddish hair and a foreign accent who said the vessel had lost its anchors in a storm near Cape Fear. The man asked Jacobson to notify the G.G. Deering Company. Jacobson recorded the message but could not send it because his radio was not working. He also noticed the crew moving around on the quarterdeck, an area where they were usually not allowed. The next day, another ship’s crew saw the Carroll A. Deering sailing toward Diamond Shoals. However, they saw no one on the ship’s decks and assumed the crew would see the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse or the Diamond Shoals Lightship and change course to avoid running aground.
The wreck
On January 31, 1921, the ship Carroll A. Deering was seen at sunrise by surfman C. P. Brady, who was on duty at the United States Coast Guard station at Cape Hatteras. The vessel was stuck on the ocean floor near Diamond Shoals, with all its sails still up. Diamond Shoals, located off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, are famous for being a dangerous place where many ships have wrecked over the centuries. These shoals are called the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." Rescue ships could not reach the Deering because of bad weather. The ship was not inspected until February 4, after being hit by waves for several days. At that time, it was clear that the ship had been completely left behind. The ship’s steering system was broken, with the wheel broken, the box holding the compass destroyed, and the rudder separated from its base. The ship’s logbook and navigation tools were missing, along with the crew’s personal items and the ship’s two lifeboats. In the ship’s kitchen, it seemed that food was being prepared for the next day’s meal when the crew abandoned the ship. The Coast Guard ship USCGC Manning tried to recover the Deering, but this was not possible. The ship was declared a danger to other vessels and was destroyed with dynamite on March 4 to prevent it from harming other ships.
Later, part of the Deering’s front section floated to Ocracoke Island. Wooden pieces from the wreck also washed up on Hatteras Island, where local people used them to build homes.
On April 11, 1921, a local fisherman said he found a bottle with a message floating near Buxton, North Carolina. He gave it to the authorities. The message read:
"DEERING CAPTURED BY OIL BURNING BOAT SOMETHING LIKE CHASER. TAKING OFF EVERYTHING HANDCUFFING CREW. CREW HIDING ALL OVER SHIP NO CHANCE TO MAKE ESCAPE. FINDER PLEASE NOTIFY HEADQUARTERS DEERING."
Experts identified the handwriting as belonging to the ship’s engineer, Henry Bates, based on the wife of the ship’s captain. The bottle was confirmed to have been made in Brazil. This, along with a report of a "mysterious" ship arriving near the Cape Lookout lightship after the Deering passed, suggested that the Deering might have been attacked. The lightship’s captain tried to signal the unknown ship to ask it to deliver the Deering’s message but received no response. The ship’s name could not be seen because the crew had covered it with a canvas.
The message raised questions. If a crew member had access to paper, a pen, and a bottle to write the message, why would they ask for the company to be notified instead of the police or Coast Guard? Later, handwriting experts determined the message was fake. After being questioned by federal agents, the fisherman admitted he had created the note. He hoped that the attention from finding the bottle would help him get a job at the Cape Hatteras light station.
Investigation
The U.S. government began a thorough investigation into the disappearance of the crew of the Carroll A. Deering. Five government departments — Commerce, Treasury, Justice, Navy, and State — studied the case. Herbert Hoover, who was then the Secretary of Commerce, noted that several other ships, including the sulfur freighter Hewitt, had also vanished in the same area. Most of these ships were later found to have been near powerful hurricanes, but the Hewitt and the Carroll A. Deering were confirmed to have been sailing away from the storm area at the time. Hoover’s assistant, Lawrence Ritchey, was assigned to lead the investigation. Ritchey tried to determine what happened to the ship between its last sighting at Cape Lookout and its wrecking on Diamond Shoals by reviewing the logs of Coast Guard lightships stationed in those areas.
An Italian investigation into the disappearance of the Monte San Michele confirmed that strong hurricanes had occurred nearby. This led officials to consider mutiny as the reason for the Carroll A. Deering incident. The investigation ended in late 1922 without a clear conclusion.
The following theories were considered by the U.S. government in its investigation:
Aftermath
No official explanation has ever been given for why the crew of the Carroll A. Deering disappeared. In September 1955, the remaining hull of the Carroll A. Deering was moved about 9 miles (14 km) by Hurricane Ione from Ocracoke Island to Hatteras. Carroll A. Deering, after whom the ship was named, died in March 1967 at the age of 84. As of April 2016, the ship's bell and capstan were on display at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras.