1837 — Oct 9, sidewheel steamer Home grounds, Racer’s hurricane, Ocracoke Isl., NC–90-100

-105 Rappaport and Fernandez-Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1994. 1995. –
–100 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 395.
–100 Hause. Shipwrecks: Graveyard of the Atlantic, NC Coast. (Webpage)
–100 Putnam, G. P. (Ed.). The World’s Progress: A Dictionary of Dates. 1851, p. 602.
–100 Simonds. The American Date Book. 1902, p. 97.
— 96 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 124.
— 96 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 679.
— 95 Gentile. Shipwrecks of North Carolina – from Hatteras Inlet South. 1992, p. 95.
— 95 Howland. Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents in the United States. 1843, p. 13.
— 90 Barnes, Jay. Florida’s Hurricane History. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1998, p. 90.
— 90 Douglas, Hurricane, 1958, p. 203.
— 90 Dunn and Miller. Atlantic Hurricanes (Revised Edition). 1964, p. 311.
— 90 Ellms. The Tragedy of the Seas…, 1841, p. 59.
— 90 Hudgins. Tropical Cyclones Affecting North Carolina Since 1586. 2000.
— 90 Hughes. “Hurricanes Haunt Our History.” Weatherwise, Vol. 40, No. 3, 1987, 134-140.
— 90 Stick. Graveyard of the Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. 1952, p. 23.

Narrative Information

Douglas on the Hurricane: Named for the British ship HMS Racer which encountered the storm in the Northwest Caribbean on September 28th. “It is remembered as one of the most destructive storms of the 19th century due to its extreme duration and 2000 mile long path of destruction.” (Roth, NWS Lake Charles, LA)

Douglas on the Home: Douglas on fate of the Home, October 9: “…Home was coming south on her third trip from New York to Charleston, crowded with more than ninety passengers. Water was already sloshing from the roughening sea in her hold. She was bucking tremendous waves off Hatteras the morning of the ninth, rolling and pitching so desperately the paddle wheels thrashed out of water. All the crew worked the pump, all the passengers bailed. Sea water put out the fires. She groped under sail. The captain thought he had passed Cape Hatteras and headed her west. At 10 P.M. she struck on the beach six miles from Ocracoke. There were only two life preservers. Almost all the women and children, herded together on the forecastle, drowned when the vessel began to break up. Only forth people from the ship survived.” (Douglas, Hurricane, 1958, p. 203)

Ellms: “On Saturday, the 7th October, 1837, at four o’clock, P. M., the steam-packet Home, commanded by Captain White, left New York for Charleston, S. C. Her company con¬sisted of between eighty and ninety passengers, and forty- three of the boat’s crew, including the officers; making in all about one hundred and thirty persons. The weather was fine, with a light breeze from the south-west. To shorten the distance, a skillful pilot took her through the Buttermilk Channel, and left her after passing Governor’s Island. “Captain White says….

…were abreast of Barnegat light on Sunday, between four and five o’clock, A. M. We con¬tinued with fine weather until towards noon, when the wind hauled north-east, with indications of a storm. In the after part of the day, the wind increased, occasioning a heavy sea. Between seven and eight o’clock, P. M., Mr. Hunt, the chief engineer, informed me that the feeder-pipe of the forward boiler had opened at the joint, so that it forced more of the water into the hold than into the boiler; con¬sequently there was not a supply for that boiler: we then run with one boiler, and set the square-sail. I inquired if he could repair the pipe at sea; to which he answered that it was possible, if we kept the vessel off before the wind and sea. I accordingly put her before the wind, which both eased the vessel and enabled me to near the mouth of Ches¬apeake Bay, in case it should become necessary to make a harbor.

About midnight, the chief engineer reported to me that he had succeeded in repairing the feeder-pipe; and then we again put both boilers in operation, and resumed our course for Charleston, continuing, occasionally, to heave the lead, shoaling the water gradually, from twenty to eleven fathoms. When we got into eleven fathoms, at four o’clock, A. M., the mate and his watch were called; we took in the square-sail, and hauled her course to south-south-east, this being the course along the land; we continued this course until seven o’clock, at which time it lighted up a little, and we saw the land about fifty miles to the northward of Hat¬teras. The gale continuing to increase, I ordered the second mate, Mr. White, to reef the jib and foresail, to have them ready for use if we should want them. At about nine o’clock, A. M., on Monday, the second engineer, Mr. Conro, came to me at the wheel-house, and reported that the boilers had given out and said, We can do nothing more for you with steam.

The land being then in sight, I ordered the jib and fore¬sail set, and headed the vessel in for shore, with the inten¬tion of beaching her. I ordered the reef turned out of the foresail, and then went down to the chief engineer, Mr. Hunt, in the engine-room, and asked him whether the boilers had indeed given out; he replied, No, it is the feeder-pipe, which had again started; and that the report of the second engineer arose from a mistake of the fireman. Mr. Hunt having ‘welded’ the joint again, I asked him whether it would stand to work the boat off shore; he answered, yes, that he thought it would. I then ordered him to fire up, and to get more steam on, to force her off shore; I then returned to the wheel-house, and ordered the foresail taken in, and again hauled the vessel off shore to resume our former course. Before we got to the Wimble Shoals, when I was at the wheel-house, I observed Mr. Lovegreen very busy about the small boat on the after upper deck. I went aft to see what he was doing; he told me he ‘was getting the boats ready for launching, in case we should want them, and was fixing life-lines and lashing the oars in the boat.’ I said, ‘Very well, sir, but cast off none of the lashings.’

In consequence of running in, for the purpose of beach¬ing her, as above stated, we were brought within the Wim¬ble Shoals. In passing these shoals, we received the shock of three heavy rollers on our larboard beam, which stove in our after gangway, several of the larboard state-room windows, and one of the dining-room windows. Mr. Matthews, about this time, remarked, ‘We are through this.’ I answered, Yes, we are over that part of it,’ meaning the passing of the shoals. Captain Hill, a pas¬senger, came to the forward deck and hailed me, to know whether we had not better knock away the forward bul-warks, that the sea might have a fair breach over her, as he was afraid that we might ship some of those seas and fill the deck and cabin. I told him there was no necessity for it, as some of the boards had already been burst off; however, I had no objection to his knocking off some more, if he chose to do it; he did knock off some of the boards, and with the assistance of the steward, Mr. Milne, un¬shipped the starboard gangway.

During this time our course was south-south-east to south¬east; and finding the vessel pressed too much to leeward, I ordered the jib to be taken in. About this period Captain Salter, of Portsmouth, N. H., a passenger, came on the for¬ward deck and hailed me, I being at the wheel-house on the upper deck, and said, ‘Captain White, had not some of us better look out for some place to beach her?’ I answered, ‘No, Captain Salter, I do not intend to beach her yet, nor as long as I can keep off shore.’ He expressed his sur¬prise, and replied, No! Do you think you can work her off?’ I answered, ‘Yes.’

Between two and three o’clock, P. M., Mr. Hunt, the engineer, sent to the wheel-house for me; I went to the engine-room ; he told me that the boat ‘had commenced leaking badly.’ I asked if it were not possible to keep her free with the engine-pumps. He said, ‘You had better send men to the hand-pumps, and perhaps we may then keep her free.’ I ordered the mate to send men to the pumps, which was immediately done. I then returned to the wheel-house.

About this time Captains Salter and Hill came on the forward deck, and asked me if I would not get a light, and go down with them and try to find the leak. I ordered a lantern and marlinspike, which were brought. I then went down into the forward cabin with them, took up the floor scuttles, went down into the hold, found no water over the platform, broke some holes in the platform with the marlin-spike, and then found no water. Whilst in the fore-hold, Captain Salter remarked that the boat ‘was ceiled with nothing but thin, common pine plank, whereas she should have been ceiled throughout with seven inch oak timber…

We then returned to the deck, and went to the after cabin, where they proceeded to open the scuttle, and I returned to the wheel-house. I now ordered the mates to set the crew to bailing from the engine-room. The passengers now scuttled the after cabin floor, and commenced taking out the coal for the purpose of bail¬ing, as they had previously found water aft. At this time the water was gaining on the pumps; some of the pas¬sengers and waiters went on to bailing from the after cabin. The water, in front of the furnaces, having risen several inches in depth, washed the coals about, by the rolling of the vessel, rendering it impracticable to feed the fires with coal. I therefore directed the mate to have wood passed along, as we would keep steam up altogether with wood, which we continued to burn until the water quenched the fires in the furnaces. About three o’clock, P. M., Captain Salter again came to the forward deck, and said, ‘Captain White, we had better go around Hatteras Shoals, and not attempt to go through inside.’

Whilst the passengers and crew were at work with the pumps and buckets, I frequently went down to see that they continued at work. In passing the engine-room I remarked to Mr. Hunt, ‘If we can keep the water down, so as not to reach the furnaces, I think we will go round the shoals; as the risk would be greater in going inside.’ My reason for this conclusion was, that if, in an attempt to pass inside, with such a heavy sea and thick weather, the vessel should strike, probably every life would be lost. I again went up to the wheel-house, and Mr. Matthews asked me, ‘if I was going round the shoals.’ I answered in the affirmative. Captain Salter now came forward and said, it was the best way to track the shoals around by the lead.’ We had all along been occasionally heaving the lead, and had from nine to eleven fathoms water. I continued to run so as to pass the outer shoal, until I deepened the water from eleven to twenty fathoms, and hauling up her course gradually to the south-west, until we judged ourselves round the shoals; then hauled up by degrees until we brought her up to a north-north-west course, for the purpose of getting under the lee of the shoals, believing that, as we got into smooth water, the leak would decrease, and that we should be enabled to run up under the lee of Cape Hatteras.

The leak con¬tinued to gain upon us, and I soon after altered our course to north-west, and ordered the jib to be set. After heading her for the land, at the solicitation of Mr. Matthews, I left him in charge, and went to my room to get some rest. I examined one of my charts, threw off my wet coat, sat down on my trunk, and leaned my head against the berth; but after remaining some time, found it impossible to get any rest. I went on deck and proceeded aft, where I found the water was fast gaining on us. I then went to the wheel¬house and took my trumpet; the crew and passengers being still occupied in bailing and pumping, and the engine-pumps working, although these often had to be cleared of the shavings, &c., which the suction drew in; but we had to depend mostly upon the hand-pumps and bailing. About eight o’clock, P. M., Mr. Hunt came to me at the wheel¬house, and told me that the furnace fires were out.

All hope was now abandoned of making a harbor under the lee of Hatteras; and our only alternative was to run her on shore, for the purpose of saving our lives. I then directed the mate to have the square-sail set, to press her in to the land. In a few minutes the lee leach of the square-sail split from foot to head, and it was lowered down. The vessel being water-logged, we consequently made but slow progress towards the shore. The weather became more moderate. Shortly after, I went below to my room and put on my pea jacket; went aft, and saw them bailing and pumping. Whilst passing among the passen¬gers, some of them asked me if there was a probability of their being saved. I replied that I feared the chance was but small; as the boats would be of no service, and that there must be a heavy surf running on the beach which we were approaching. I then walked to the after starboard quarter-deck, and hove the lead, and found nine fathoms water; I laid the lead in, and remained by the rail, thinking of our condition, and calculating our chances for our lives. I now went forward, and in passing the dining-room (which was on deck and over the after cabin) door, saw the ladies and many of the gentlemen sitting in there, and in great distress and anxiety. This was the last time I went aft on the lower deck. I then passed on by the entrance to the after cabin; I found the stairway completely occupied with men in passing up water. I then passed forward, and went up to the wheel-house: by this time we were not far from the shore.

“About ten o’clock Mr. Matthews, then standing on the lower deck, asked me if I meant to put her head on; I answered, Yes, certainly.’ Someone now ran forward, and called out that the water was over the cabin floor. Captain Salter cried out, ‘Bail away, bail away, boys.’ Captain Salter also asked Mr. Matthews if the boats were all clear, that they might be all lowered away without con¬fusion, after she struck. Mr. Matthews said, ‘The boats are all ready.’ We now made the breakers on the star¬board bow and ahead. Mr. Matthews was standing for¬ward, and said, ‘Off the starboard bow it looks like a good place to beach her.’ I ordered Trost, the man at the helm, to port his helm; and said to him, ‘Mind yourself; stand clear of that wheel when she strikes, or she will be breaking your bones; ‘ he answered, Yes, sir, I’ll keep clear.’

The boat immediately struck on the outer reef, shied her head to the northward; the square-sail caught aback; she heeled off shore, exposing the deck and upper houses to the full force of the sea. The square-sail halyards were let go, but the sail would not come down, as it was hard aback against the mast and rigging; it had previously been split, and was now blown to ribbons. The passengers, ladies and gentlemen, placed themselves along the in-shore side of the boat, seeking protection from the breaking of the sea. At this time Mr. Matthews came up to me, on the upper deck, and asked me if I was going in the boats; I replied, ‘No; I think there is no possibility of any person being saved in them, but you had better go aft and see to the launching them.’ He went aft on the upper deck, and I saw them launching the large boat off of it. The larboard quarter boat having been lowered before and upset, they succeeded in getting the large boat alongside; many of the passengers, and both mates, got into her, several others clinging to her gunwales; she upset before she had gone ten yards from the vessel. The starboard quarter-boat had been previously stove, as well as the houses and bulwarks on that side. I went forward, pulled off my pea jacket, vest, and boots, and threw them into the door of the wheel-house; then went a few feet aft, unshipped a small ladder, found a strand of rope lying on the deck, made one end of it fast around the middle step, took the other end around my hand, then placed myself on the forward part of the upper deck, took hold of a chimney-brace with the other hand, awaiting the event of the breaking up of the vessel.

About the time I went aft, as above stated, the mast had gone about twenty feet from the head. The boat was now fast breaking to pieces—the dining-cabin gone — the star¬board state-rooms all stove in — upper deck breaking up. Whilst standing with the ladder in my hand, Mr. Hunt came up to me. I said, ‘Mr. Hunt, we little thought this would be our fate when we left New York.’ I shook hands with him, and added, I hope we may all be saved.’ He turned and went to the gallows frame, where there were many others collected with him. The forward smoke chim¬ney fell in shore, across the side houses on the upper deck, close by where I was standing. Mr. Holmes, a passenger saved, was standing by me with a piece of board and rope, prepared to jump. The most of the passengers, who had placed themselves along the guards, had, by this time, been washed off; their shrieks and cries, during this time, were appalling and heart-rending beyond description. The deck, on which Mr. Holmes and myself were standing, was breaking up; we threw away our ladder and board simul¬taneously, and jumped off the deck, and made for the top¬gallant forecastle, which appeared to be our best place for safety. In running forward I stepped into the fore-hatch, which was open, and fell in, but caught by the remnants of the sail which were hanging down the hatch, and which saved me from falling quite down. I got up, by the aid of the sail, on to the deck, and made for the forecastle, which I gained, where I found a number of persons had already placed themselves….

I lashed myself to the next stanchion: this deck now began to work loose from the main part of the boat; the deck settling, the starboard bow heaving up. I remarked, ‘I don’t like this being tied fast to stanchions; for if the bow falls over on to us, we have no means to clear us from being crushed by it.’ I pro¬posed casting ourselves loose from the stanchions; we did so; and then I took a piece of small rope, passed it round a small cleat, and held one end in my hand. At this time Captain Salter was washed off from the forecastle, but suc¬ceeded in regaining it, and was a second time washed off, when one of the men, named Jackson, caught him and assisted him to get on the forecastle. I then handed the other end of the rope, which I had fastened to the cleat, to Salter. he sea which had washed Salter off broke off the stanchions to which we had first been lashed. All this time a Mr. Lovegreen was on the gallows frame, tolling the bell.

The forecastle deck now broke loose and floated towards the shore, with the six persons besides myself. Very soon one man jumped off and gained the beach; we all followed. washed ashore with only shirt, pantaloons, stockings, and hat. We proceeded along the beach towards the light. We soon found another survivor; afterwards we met Mr. Lovegreen. We continued our steps towards the lighthouse; next found Captain Hill, apparently very much exhausted; asked for assistance to help him along, as he could not pro¬ceed without. Finding the lighthouse at a greater distance than was at first believed, I persuaded one of the crew to remain with me to go along the surf, in order to give assist¬ance to those who might be washed ashore; whilst the other above-mentioned persons continued their course to the light¬house.

”We have now given Captain White’s minute detail of his proceedings on board of this ill-fated bark, from his first leaving the Wharf, at New York, until he reached the shore of Ocracoke Island in safety….

“The cause of this terrible disaster was the unseaworthi¬ness of the vessel. However well she might have performed her accustomed trips on a calm river, she never should have ventured outside of Sandy Hook; being totally unfit for ocean navigation, so unfaithfully was she built. A gentle¬man who was on board of the Home in September, during a conversation with Mr. Hunt, the chief engineer, no¬ticing the peculiar form of the deck, which was serpentine, drooping very much at the bows and stern, asked what was her original shape. Hunt said she was originally straight, but said that in her first trip they had put a large quantity of ballast too far forward, and under her forward cabin floor, and that in consequence two of her fore and aft stay-rods had broken before she arrived in Charleston, and that in con¬sequence the boat had strained and dropped at the bows. He also said that after they had taken the ballast out, and repaired the stay-rods, the boat had come back considerably to her place.

“As the gale increased, the awful and portentous insuffi¬ciency of the frail bark began to be developed. The hull bent and twisted, when struck by a sea, as if the next would rend it asunder; the panels of the ceiling were dropping from their places; and the hull, as if united by hinges, was bending against the feet of the braces. After she struck, her destruction was as rapid as that of the unfortunate crew. She went to pieces in less than an hour; and all agree that the speed of her dissolution indicated a weakness and rot¬tenness of constitution entirely unfit for the service on which she had been sent.

“In this case we see and feel how many human beings were led to destruction, by the criminal neglect of those who had assumed the responsibility, and therefore lay under the most imperative obligations to protect their lives by all the means which human prudence could provide. On the contrary, it appears that a reckless indifference to these responsibilities, and a total disregard of the solemn trusts they had assumed, did characterize the conduct of the own-ers of this ill-fated vessel. It matters little whether they did or did not know that they were inviting their fellow- creatures to their destruction. It is plain that the owners ought to have known it, and that their ignorance, if it did exist, was owing to a gross and palpable neglect of duty, amounting to a high crime against morality and humanity.” (Ellms. The Tragedy of the Seas, 1843, pp. 58-83.)

South Carolina was the home of at least 20 of the fatalities. (Ellms 1843, pp. 38-59 and 84.)

Gentile: “Built: 1837
Sunk: October 9, 1837….
Gross tonnage: 550
Type of vessel: Wooden-hulled side-wheel steamer…
Builder: Brown & Bell, New York, NY
Owner: Southern Steam Packet Company…
Port of registry: New York
Cause of sinking: Disabled engine, then run ashore
Location” Six and a half miles northeast of Ocracoke lighthouse.

“The Home was built at a time when confidence in steamboats was on shaky ground at best. In the early days of industrialization people maintained an unreasoned distrust for all things mechanical. Where ships and trains were concerned, however, sometimes such fears were well founded. Locomotive and ship boilers had a nasty habit of exploding if the pressure got too high; steam vessel expansion and metal stress engineering was in its infancy.

“Yet the Home was a staunchly built paddle-wheeler that received praise from contemporary mariners. Her machinery was designed by the respected James Allaire, and constructed at his Iron Works in New York City. Brown & Bell added their expertise to hull configuration….

“A contemporary account stated that “she was calculated to accommodate one hundred and twenty persons with berths or state rooms. In her appointments and finish, she ranked with the `floating palaces’ for which our American waters are famed, and in speed, another characteristic of American ship building, she was unsurpassed.”

“That summer found the Home on passenger service between New York and Charleston. (Remember that this was a time when the only other mode of commercial transportation was stagecoach.)….

“She left her wharf at the foot of Market Street at 4:00 p.m., October 7, 1837. On board were approximately ninety passengers and some forty-five crew; last minute arrivals add uncertainty to the exact numbers. Between thirty and forty of these people were women, and several were children.

“After noon the next day the wind picked up and the seas grew heavy— nothing that the Home could not handle. The roll of the ship was little more than a mild discomfort for the passengers.

“Around 7:30 that evening Chief Engineer Hunt reported that “the feeder-pipe of the forward boiler had opened at the joint, so that it forced more of the water into the hold than into the boiler, consequently, there was not a supply for that boiler.” Captain White steered the Home before the wind on one boiler and the squaresail, and angled toward the Chesapeake Bay as a possible refuge, while Hunt effected repairs. This was accomplished by midnight. With a full head of steam under both boilers the Home continued south-southeast, “this being the course along the land.” By heaving the lead, Captain White kept well informed of the depth of water under his keel.

“The sails were reefed as the weather worsened. The morning of the ninth found the Home steaming into a gale off Hatteras Island. At 9:00 a.m. a leak was found in the machinery spaces. Some later said that the ship’s hull was strained when she ran aground on Romer Shoal, and that the sea squeezed in between warped timbers, but Captain White stated that the feeder-pipe had broken again.

“With only one boiler providing steam for the engine, the Home began to wallow at the whim of the waves. A goodly spread of canvas soon got her under control. Captain White spotted Wimble Shoals in the distance and, fearing that the ship would founder, steered for the beach. Again the engineer “woulded” the pipe, as the captain put it. With full steam restored the Home was turned for deeper water.

“Because of the proximity of Wimble Shoals, waves of monstrous proportions assailed the ship. “In passing these shoals we received the shock of three heavy rollers on our larboard beam, which stove in our after gangway, several of the larboard state-room windows, and one of the

dining-room windows.” Yet the Home survived the onslaught of the sea, and continued away from shore.

“By now some of the passengers were offering advice and helping in any way they could. Captain John Salter and Captain Alfred Hill knocked away the forward bulwarks “that the sea might have a fair breach over her” because they were afraid that the Home “might ship some of those seas and fill the deck and cabin.” Mr. Lovegreen prepared the lifeboats for launching.

“By two o’clock in the afternoon the ship was in serious trouble. Whether the hull had sprung was not explicitly stated. The engineer was quoted as saying only that “the boat had commenced leaking badly.” When Captain White asked him if the engine pumps could expel the water, Hunt said, “You had better send men to the hand pumps, and perhaps we may then keep her free.”

“Captain White complied. All hands were called out to save not just the ship, but their very lives. Under urging from Captains Salter and Hill, Captain White went looking for leaks in the hull. “I then went down into the forward cabin with the said captains, took up the floor scuttles, went down into the hold, found no water over the platform, broke some holes in the platform with the marlinspike, and then found no water.”

“But water was coming into the after hold. Because the crew was busy bailing the engine room, it was a work party of passengers and waiters who pulled up the scuttles in the after hold and begin passing out the coal that was stored inside, so they could commence bailing.

“The Home passed around the Diamond Shoals and took a more westerly tack. Now there was several inches of water sloshing across the deck in front of the furnaces, soaking the coal and washing it back and forth as the ship rolled with the seas. The firemen stoked the furnaces with wood. The engine pumps became clogged with coal dust and shavings; only the hand pumps remained free and unobstructed. The men worked in rotation.

“At first the pumps were adequate for the task, but all too quickly the leak increased to the point that, according to Captain White, “it gained very fast on us.” Men and women worked side by side with buckets, pails, pans, and kettles: anything that held water. To no avail. At 8:00 p.m. the furnace fires were doused by the incoming flood, and “we were obliged to run under sails only.”

“The wind whistled through the rigging with thunderous fury. With land in sight Captain White steered the ship for shore. The sailors who clambered up the ratlines must have had ice for blood and steel for nerves. The masts swayed sickeningly in the face of the gale. No sooner had the men set the squaresail than it split “from head to foot,” and they were forced to take it back down….

“Captain White was then accosted by Captain Salter, who accused him of being drunk and who tried to relieve him of command of the ship. An argument ensued. At the end of it Captain Salter stalked off the bridge muttering under his breath. Captain White then checked on the passengers bailing the after hold and prepared them for what was to come. He was truthful, and told them that there was little chance that the ship would survive. “I soon returned to go forward, and in passing the dining room door, saw the ladies and many of the gentlemen sitting in there, apparently in great distress and anxiety.”

“The sea moderated somewhat in the lee of the Hatteras Shoals. The Home moved sluggishly because of the weight of water in her holds. Even though the sails were torn and tattered, Captain White had them raised once again in order to keep the ship’s head toward the beach. There was a heavy surf running. It was going to be a difficult landing.

“Captain Salter, still trying to take command of the situation, said to the mate, “Mr. Mathews, you had better look out for a smooth place for beaching.” Mathews made no comment. Then, someone dashed up on the bridge and said that the water was over the cabin floors. “Bail away,” yelled Captain Salter. “Bail away, boys.”

“The boats are all ready,” said Mr. Mathews to Captain White. “Off the starboard bow it looks like a good place.”

“Captain Salter paced the wheelhouse with Captain White. “That’s as good a place as any.”

“Captain White ordered the helm put to port.

“In his anxiety Captain Salter kept shouting, “Port! Port!” Said Captain White calmly to the helmsman, “Mind yourself, stand clear of that wheel when she strikes, or she will be breaking your bones.”

“According to Captain White, because the Home sat so low in the water she “immediately struck on the outer reef, slewed her head to the northward, the square sail caught aback, she heeled off shore, exposing the deck and upper houses to the full force of the sea. The squaresail halyards were let go, but the sail would not come down, as it was hard aback against the mast and rigging; it had previously been split, and was now blown to ribbons.”

“The Home grounded to a halt a hundred yards from shore. The beach was only dimly lit by the nighttime sky; it must have seemed a million miles away.

“Captain Salter was still trying to take command. He shouted, “The ladies had all better come forward.” He went to join them along the inshore side of the ship, where the upper deck offered some protection from the crashing waves….

“Captain White gave no order to abandon ship because he thought there was no possibility of anyone making land alive in the lifeboat. One boat was already stove in, and another filled with water. But he told Mr. Mathews to muster the crew and get the remaining boat launched, and to help aboard all those who wanted to take their chances in it. The captain elected to remain with his ship.

“The crew managed to pull the boat alongside in the lee provided by the hull. In moments it was loaded with frightened passengers and crew men. It got no farther than thirty feet from the Home when it capsized, plunging the people into the surf.

Already, the Home was coming apart. Each mountainous wave tore off pieces of the wooden superstructure, and parted planks and timbers. The mainmast snapped like a toothpick; down came the spars, tattered canvas, and a massive web of rigging. The noise was deafening.

“A giant comber brought down one of the smokestacks, which crushed a mother with an infant in her arms; another stove in the starboard staterooms, yet another dashed the dining cabin to pieces. The upper deck separated from the hull. People were swept off the ship into the sea like bugs being washed down a drain. The screams of the women were pitiful.

“Captain White jumped down from the bridge deck and worked his way forward over the collapsed rigging. He misstepped and fell into the hatch, but was saved by a shred of canvas. He used the remnants of the sails for handholds and managed to gain the relative protection of the forecastle, where he found several people hanging onto ropes. One of them was Captain Salter.

“Captain White, my dear fellow, I am glad to see you here,” said Captain Salter. “Come forward here, take the other end of this rope, it is long enough for both of us. I picked out this place for myself, long before the boat went ashore.” The Home’s captain gratefully took the proffered rope and lashed himself to a stanchion. Then, thinking better of it, said, “I don’t like this being tied fast to stanchions, for if the bow falls over on to us we have no means to clear us from being crushed by it.” Captain Salter agreed. Subsequently, he was twice knocked off his perch by nearly solid walls of water; both times, by superhuman effort, he made it back to the ship.

“Meanwhile, people were drowning one by one.

“A scant twenty-five minutes after stranding, the Home went to pieces. The forecastle deck broke loose and floated towards shore along with an odd-lot collection of timbers and scantling. Through the raging surf went the makeshift raft. One man jumped off when it grounded, and gained the beach. The rest followed. Captain White crawled up onto the sand wearing only a shirt, pantaloons, stockings, and hat. The other six people with him on the forecastle all survived the last few feet, including the sometimes irascible Captain Salter.

“This ragtag lot saw no one else around, so they headed towards the only sign of human habitation in sight: the glow of Ocracoke light. It was six or seven miles away. They had not gone far when they came upon several passengers who had miraculously survived the swim through the surf….Captain Hill “was very much exhausted and asked for assistance to help him along, as he could not proceed without.” He and his wife had clung to a spar, but when they reached the last wave hitting the beach it tumbled them over and tore loose his wife’s grip, so that she drowned.

“The party split up, some continuing on toward the lighthouse for relief, others, including Captain White, searching the shore for survivors in need of help. Those who remained pulled bodies out of the surf, and dragged up onto high ground any flotsam that might prove of value….

“Mr. B.B. Hussey floated in on a spar. Mrs. Lacoste was practically insensate, and not certain how she made it to shore, but believes she was lashed to a settee that rode the waves to the beach. She was nearly seventy years of age, and described as “very fleshy, and almost helpless,” and as “quite large. … When on shore she walks about with considerable difficulty.”

“Due to the crosswise current some people came ashore as far as a mile and a half from the wreck. The survivors were “nearly naked, and famished and exhausted.” The only child to live through the ordeal was a twelve year old lad. The body of one infant was recovered….

“Throughout the night those who were able catered to those who needed sustenance. Apples and pears that had washed up from the wreck were the only source of food and drink. When the relief party reached Ocracoke the town’s folk were called into action. Soon a group of rescuers took off on horseback for the wreck site to care for the survivors. They took cloaks and blankets and what foodstuff was available.

“The sun rose that day above a scene of horrible tragedy, for everywhere along the beach were littered the remains of the Home and the bodies of the dead. The living were cared for at once, and were carried back to town where the few residents put them up in their houses. There were no hotels on Ocracoke in 1837. Boats eventually came to take the survivors back to civilization. Captain White stayed on in order to oversee “burying the dead and taking care of the property of the passengers, crew, owners, and underwriters.” He was there until November 22.

“Meanwhile, Captain Salter published “calumnious charges” against Captain White, accusing him of intoxication and otherwise impugning his character and stating that he—Salter—was forced to take command of the Home prior to her loss. Several other passengers added their opinions against the captain of the Home, as did the ship’s barber, Hiram Force. This is unfortunately a common response to situations of stress in which people have lost friends, relatives, loved ones, and physical possessions. It is the desire to lash out, to blame someone—anyone—for circumstances beyond an individual’s control; to sooth the traumatic sting resulting from a person’s perceived sense of helplessness and victimization. Today, this overreactive emotional response forms the basis for many lawsuits involving injury and the death of family members that can best be described as “an act of God.” But God does not pay big awards or punitive damages, so it is the bystanders who are made to suffer for the grief of the survivors.

“In order to defend himself, Captain White solicited affidavits from those surviving crew members in agreement with his cause, as well as residents of Ocracoke with whom he worked during the aftermath of the wreck, including two Justices of the Peace. These people refuted the allegations of Captain Salter and his followers. Investigation revealed that some of Captain Salter’s allies merely signed petitions written by Salter. Others made their allegations upon hearsay—that is, they heard from someone else that the captain was drunk—and upon more intelligent reflection retracted their derogatory statements.

“One of the men who laid charges against Captain White was the ship’s barber. In his story to the newspapers he concocted the deceit that he was a passenger who had boarded the Home at the last moment, going to Charleston “on a kind of an excursion.” During the interview he forgot to mention that he had been arrested by Captain White and Captain Pike, the Commissioner of Wrecks, “for robbing the dead body of a lady of a gold watch, and for rifling a trunk of its contents, a suit of clothes having been found upon and taken from him.” He subsequently denied the statements he had made against the good captain.

“Captain White’s reputation was eventually saved, but at great cost to his peace of mind. If he felt in his heart the calamity of the Home’s final moments, he must have known intellectually that those who died were in reality victims of the sea.

“The Home holds the dubious distinction of being the first major steamship to wreck off the coast of North Carolina….” (Gentile, Gary. Shipwrecks of North Carolina – from Hatteras Inlet South. 1992, pp. 88.96.)

Hause: Steamship Home shipwrecks at Ocracoke Island NC, during storm. “The lack of life preservers on board led to the loss of 100 people–many of them recognized figures of the day. As a result, Congress passed the Steamboat Act, which required coastal vessels to carry life preservers for every passenger.” (Hause, Shipwrecks: Graveyard of the Atlantic, NC Coast)

Howland: “….That she was not the kind of vessel to withstand the tempestuous gales of the Atlantic, has proved fearfully true. We have no evidence that in her model or timbers any reference was had to a capacity for encountering the perils of the ocean; but candor compels us to say that her model, the time of her lying unemployed, and other circumstances, induce the conviction that she never was intended for a sea boat. If she was so intended, then those who had charge of her construction should never again attempt to plan a vessel. In the minor points of elegance and convenience – minor compared with the great consideration of safety – the Home was all that could have been wished, and would have made an elegant and safe steamer for the river, or the summer navigation of the Sound. She was calculated to accommodate one hundred and twenty persons with berths or state rooms. In her appointments and finish, she ranked with the ‘floating palaces’ for which our American waters are famed, and in speed, another characteristic of American ship building, she was unsurpassed.” [pp. 14-15.]

“Owing to the speed of the Home, her very excellent accommodations, and the high character of Capt. White as a commander, the number of passengers who started in her on this, her last and ill-fated voyage, was very great. In addition to those whose names we have been able to collect, there were we understand a number who went on board, only a very short time before she started, — also several deck, or forward passengers, whose names, we have been unable to obtain.

“On the seventh of October the Home left New York, upon her third trip. She had on board, as near as can be gathered from her berth book , and judged from the numbers who took passage at the last moment without previously securing berths, ninety passengers. Her crew, including officers and servants, male and female, numbered forty-five; in all, about one hundred and thirty-five souls. Among them were between thirty and forty females….” [p. 16.]

“On the night on the ninth instant she went to pieces, about six miles north of Oglethorpe Light and as presenting the principal circumstances of the disaster, we publish the following letter, written on the 10th instant, by Capt. White, to Hon. James P. Allaire, the owner of the vessel:

Ocracoke, N.C., Oct. 10, 1837.
Mr. James P. Allaire, New York,

Dear Sir: I have the painful duty of informing you of the total loss of the steam packet Home, and the lives of most of the passengers and crew:

The following passengers are saved: [we omit listing of 20 named individuals]

Twenty passengers saved, is all we can find.

The following persons of the crew [names or provides the position of 20 crew including himself]

20 passengers, 19 hands, 1 captain, — 40 souls saved….” [pp. 18-19.]

(Howland, Southworth Allen. Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents in the United States (Revised and Improved). Worcester: Warren Lazell. 1843.)

Hughes writes that this storm first hit Galveston Texas in early October [5th] and cites an eye witness: “…every house, camp, sod house, and inhabited structure was swept away, except the Old Mexican custom-house…” Hughes states that “Only one of thirty vessels in Galveston Harbor held to its mooring; the rest were driven aground or blown out to sea. ‘Men, women, and children were seen floating upon boards, logs, and small boats, for days and nights, in every part of the island. Miraculously, only one life was lost.’ Unfortunately, the hurricane was far from finished.

“Eight days later, the brand new paddle-wheel steamer, Home, was beached and demolished just south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, by the same storm: There were only two life preservers on the ship. Forty of her 130 passengers struggled ashore to safety; the rest, mostly women and children, were drowned. Because of this disaster, Congress passed a law requiring all American vessels to carry a life preserver for each passenger – a law that has since saved many Americans from a watery grave.” (Hughes, “Hurricanes Haunt Our History.” Weatherwise, V.40, N3, 1987.)

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