![]() The lighthouse survived the Civil War with minimal damage Confederate troops dismantled the fourth-order Fresnel lens in 1862, but Union forces re-installed it the following year. The characteristic of the light was changed to fixed white in 1854 through the installation of a fourth-order Fresnel lens. The apparatus revolved every two minutes to produce a flashing light. In 1849, the lighthouse was equipped with a new lantern room and lighting apparatus, which consisted of ten brass lamps and twenty-one-inch reflectors instead of the fifteen that had been used before. Such happy efficiency turned out to be indicative of the useful, relatively uneventful life of Ocracoke Lighthouse. Porter completed the project the next year, for $11,359, considerably less than the sum the government had budgeted. The lighthouse was to be coated with an unlikely formula of lime, salt, ground rice, whiting, and clear glue, which was mixed with boiling water and applied to the bricks while hot. On May 7, 1822, Congress set aside $20,000 for a lighthouse on Ocracoke Island, and the federal government shortly thereafter purchased two acres and commissioned Noah Porter of Massachusetts to build a tower and keeper’s cottage. In a rather dramatic ending, both the lighthouse and the keeper’s cottage were consumed in 1818 by a fire started by a lightning strike. However, the light was inadequate, and the sand bars changed so much that by 1818 the lighthouse was a mile away from the inlet. In 1798, a wooden pyramid-shaped tower was completed on Shell Castle Island, situated in the middle of the passage. As inland ports such as New Bern, Elizabeth City, and Edenton grew, the need for a lighthouse to help mariners navigate the passage between Ocracoke and Portsmouth Islands that led to these towns grew accordingly. Blackbeard’s headless body was flung overboard, where it reportedly swam around the Ranger three times before sinking to its doom.Īfter the pirating subsided, trade increased. Finally, Maynard prevailed, and as Blackbeard fell dead at his feet, the Royal Navy Lieutenant cut off the pirate’s head and fixed it on the bowsprit. The fight raged, with Blackbeard suffering more than thirty major wounds. Blackbeard attacked, but not before being grazed by the pistol and suffering a deep wound to his neck. In a move worthy of a TV movie of the week, Blackbeard personally led the charge aboard what appeared to be a foundering and deserted ship, only to meet Maynard and his pistol face to face. Under heavy fire and unable to either return fire or escape, Maynard ordered his troops below deck. One of Maynard’s sloops ran aground, and Blackbeard gained on the Ranger, the sloop Maynard was aboard. ![]() Though accounts vary as to how the battle started, all agree on its outcome. An intriguing, though probably unreliable, legend claims that Blackbeard, knowing the sloops were nearby and eager to engage them in battle, spent the night before the fight impatiently crying out “O crow, cock! O crow, cock!,” which is how the inlet got its name. ![]() Help came in the doughty figure of Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy, who brought with him two small sloops. The coastal citizens, understandably unenthusiastic about the prospect, bypassed their useless Governor Eden and appealed instead to Governor Spotswood of Virginia. He even reportedly had a house on the island, which he intended to use as a sort of pirate haven. True, the gifted and dashing Sir Walter Raleigh landed on Ocracoke at least once during his explorations of the new world, but the real excitement came from another reckless Englishman - Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, the most ruthless and dreaded of pirates.īy 1718, Blackbeard had come to regard Ocracoke as his favorite anchorage. But its eventual useful role as a waterway access to various inland ports pales in comparison to the high drama played out in its waters. Ocracoke hardly had an auspicious beginning it was put on the map after an English sailing ship was wrecked on the shoal-ridden inlet in 1585. The calm waterway that today carries pleasure boats and small fishing craft witnessed its share of treachery, heroism, and adventure long before the lighthouse stood sentinel over the inlet. Ocracoke Lighthouse’s modest height (seventy-five feet), subdued color scheme (solid white), and tranquil setting (a small island on the east side of Ocracoke Inlet) belie the dramatic history of its surrounding area.
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