Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals: The Mystery of the Carroll A. Deering

by Bland Simpson

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.


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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.

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Genres: History, Book Club

Hardcover

First published October 14, 2002

About the author

Bland Simpson's many books include "Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals: The Mystery of the Carroll A. Deering" and "Into the Sound Country: A Carolinian's Coastal Plain" (both from the University of North Carolina Press). A member of the Tony Award-winning Red Clay Ramblers, Simpson has collaborated on such musicals as "King Mackerel & The Blues Are Running", "Kudzu", and the Broadway hit "Fool Moon". He teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was the 2005 Fine Arts recipient of the North Carolina Award, the state's highest civilian honor."

Reviews

[Abby · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get past the first couple of pages. The writing was so flowery it made poetry look almost normal. Which is too bad because skipping around a bit it seems more like bits and pieces from actual letters, records, and newspapers. And who isn't intrigued by a ghost ship whose last journey is shrouded in mystery? On the other hand, it was hard to tell if the bits and pieces were word for word or summaries of the originals - not a good thing, so say a librarian/archivist.

[Jon Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased my copy of this book in trade paperback at the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" museum in Hatteras, NC while visiting the area in November 2021. I only spent a couple of days on the Outer Banks on that visit but I was impressed by the area and purchased quite a few books about various local historic events and happenings. This book tells about the aftermath of an incident involving a sailing ship that washed up on Diamond Shoals in 1921 while under full sail, apparently abandoned by its crew before the ship grounded. What is known about the ship and its final voyage is recounted, but most of the book covers the actions of the captain's daughter to prod various branches of the US government and the military into launching investigations into the disappearance of the captain and crew. The mystery surrounding the fate of the ship's crew is deepened when a literal message in a bottle, purported to have been written by the ship's engineer and telling of the crew's capture, is discovered washed up on the Outer Banks. The daughter meets with no less a personage than Herbert Hoover, then the Secretary of Commerce, and convinces him to launch an inquiry. Various leads are followed, and there is much speculation in the press about a possible band of pirates raiding commercial ships along the eastern seaboard. In the end it all comes to naught: the finder of the message in a bottle admits it to be a fake, no trace of the crew is ever found, and no convincing theory as to their fate ever develops. This book is classified by the author as a "nonfiction novel". There is a great amount of factual information gleaned from newspapers and various investigative reports. What the author appears to have invented is passages by the captain's daughter, and the editorial musings of an Outer Banks newspaper publisher. Overall the subject matter just doesn't seem that mysterious or that compelling, and while reading it was not such a chore, the payoff didn't justify the time spent in the reading. Three out of five stars.

[Stephen A. Roddewig · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very unique book written in the parlance of those who experienced the wreck of the Carroll A. Deering and those surrounding the mystery. Thus, it takes a bit to adjust to the speech of 1921 America, but once you do, it's a great and immersive examination of the mystery. Told both through original documents of the time, photos, and a bit of narrative embellishment to keep the reader in the moment. Anyone from Eastern Carolina will enjoy this look back at North Carolina's past and the examination of seamanship at a time when submarines existed with schooners and steamships still had not fully replaced sailing vessels.

And, yes, some others have criticized the fact that the fate of the crew still remains a mystery at the end of the book, but I hardly fault the author for that. He does his best to shed light on multiple theories and rewards us with a rich look back into local history. I recommend to anyone looking for a unique examination of a contemporary mystery written in the style of that time.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this book while at Ocracoke Island for the weekend this past fall. It is an interesting blend of fiction and nonfiction with several possibilities proposed as to what actually happened to the Carroll A. Deering. Unfortunately at the end we still don't know any more real details about what may have happened than we did at the start. Not a bad book, just didn't have any resolution.

[Theodore Kinni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took a bit to get into the author’s groove, but well worth a little patience. A creative mix of fiction and nonfiction that relates the story of the schooner Deering, which ran aground on the shoals off Hatteras with sails set and crew missing in 1921

[Donna]

Heavy with lingo and without resolution to the mysterious disappearance of the crew, I’m not sure how I managed to finish this book or why I bothered.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like a book that proves to be a challenge! This one had great depth of history without feeling like a cut and dry textbook. I like that Simpson took the people that were part of this mystery and told the story through short letters/notes/reports/meetings with government and media sources, and personal interactions. Loved the photos and other pieces gave me a sense of how this piece of history played out. It was extra interesting because we just went to Corolla on vacation and many of the places mentioned were nearby or right there. I love North Carolina history and have always been fascinated with the graveyard of the Atlantic, the Lost Colony, and the outer banks in general. This book was also eye opening in that I had no idea that there was such a fear of the Russians in the 1920's right after WWI. I mean I guess I knew it existed, but this author did a great job of tying current events in 1921 to give you a sense of what all was going on in the world, especially America, at the time of the Deering's disappearance. And I really didn't realize what a buzz the public had and how they it pervaded their culture at the time. I still don't know what to think about what happened or where the Deering crew went. It is a fascinating mystery!

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

The mystery of the ship Carroll A. Deering is an enchanting one, to be sure, and worth reading up on for fans of ghost ships and also those interested in this era of American history (a lot of aspects of the investigation are worthwhile to scholars of period political history). However, this book is poor-written in a style that is at once poetic, over-reaching, difficult, unprofessional, and in the end not capable of treating its topic with the weight the topic deserves. If the author had wished to write a novel based on the disaster, he ought to have done so, I've written an academic thesis myself for a history-related field and I know writing about history—especially an uncommon or minority area thereof—is tough: you have to tell the reader things you as a scholar/fanboy already know at heart and you have to be careful also to not repeat yourself. observations need to be supported and facts are key. This author is a bit all over the place with the topic, alas, and the primary rules of historiography are oft ignored.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book because the Carroll A. Deering story is so mysterious. As some other readers have noted, it is written in a flowery, overblown way. This was the first thing that annoyed me. Only because I was really interested in the case did I stick with it. The second thing that annoyed me was that there were no footnotes or endnotes, just a list of acknowledgements at the end. People, cite your sources! Some of us really are interested to know what can be documented. Disappointing all around.

[Kathryn Bundy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book keeps haunting me, not because of the Ghost Ship aspect, but the whole atmosphere of the narrative. I have a particular interest because I've lived in NC for so long. This retelling of the story was particularly interesting to me bacause of the larger context that was provided. It brought in politics, rivalries, prohibition, media, and the shipbuilding industry along with the story of the Carroll A. Deering.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not read so much purple prose.