02/08/2023
On this day in 1837 during a thick fog, the brig Carroll, from New Orleans to Baltimore, ran aground on a sandbar off Cape Lookout. The ship eventually floated again only to hit another bar and come to a halt. The waves of a strong southeast wind pummeled the ship, destroying it and the cargo of cotton, pork, hides, lard, castor oil and madder (a natural red dye for fabric). The crew launched a boat which was quickly flipped and smashed by the waves. They tried to get a line to the beach, but had no luck.
The following morning a group of good Samaritans assembled on the beach to assist the crew and passengers of the wrecked Carroll. A light freezing rain switched to snow as several attempts to get a line to the boat failed. Finally a crew member on-board the ship was elected to swim a line to the beach. The daring feat in the freezing conditions would allow the shipwrecked to be pulled to safety. The crew member, named Pillow, was the ship's mascot, a dog who would forever be a hero to the survivors of the Carroll.
The story of the wreck of the Carroll was published in David Stick's, Graveyard of the Atlantic, Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast.
