In the misty dawn of January 31, 1921, a Coast Guardsman on watch at the
Cape Hatteras Life-Saving Station sighted a mighty five-masted schooner,
all sails set, wrecked on the treacherous Diamond Shoals. Rescuers
rushed to the ship, but when they arrived they found the Carroll A.
Deering deserted, with no trace of the captain, Willis B. Wormell, or
the crew. When, several months later, a bottle was found on a nearby
beach, purportedly containing a note from a crew member who ascribed the
schooner's fate to its capture by pirates, a sensational panic in
international shipping ensued. The captain's daughter successfully
lobbied for a federal investigation, but months of inquiry failed to
turn up either the missing crew or a reason for the ship's demise. To
this day, the fate of the Deering has remained one of the greatest
mysteries of maritime history.
Bland Simpson assembles the known facts into a compelling reconstruction
of the Carroll A. Deering's final voyage and its baffling aftermath.
Using contemporary sources including newspapers, FBI reports, ship's
logs, and personal and official correspondence, he weaves together
historical narrative with the voices of key participants in the drama.
Simpson's haunting chronicle keeps the story of the Deering alive, an
apt memorial to the ghost ship and its lost crew.
The extraordinary wreck of a majestic ship, a mysteriously missing crew,
a message in a bottle, the lost captain's determined daughter--these are
all elements of a great sea yarn, and one that happens to be true. Bland
Simpson weaves them together in this compelling nonfiction novel, his
reconstruction of a ghost ship's final voyage in 1921 and its baffling
aftermath. To this day, the fate of the Carroll A. Deering has
remained one of the great mysteries of maritime history. Simpson's
haunting chronicle keeps the story alive, an apt memorial to the ghost
ship and its lost crew.
