State

_ eel. History _ By Billie Jean C. Muling Lost Shell Castle Island The liny narrow island in Ocracokc Inlet, which is now visible only ai low title, once figured prominently in maritime trade. All ili.u remains of i Ik* hisloiy o! Shell Castle Island arc ( lumps of rocks and bleached oyster shells. Six great Hap¬ ping brown pelicans glide ovei the relics as they are drawn magnetically to a lost home and perhaps a former rookery. Shell Castle founder John W.dl.K e lies sleeping in his grace on Portsmouth Island under a marker which reads prophetically: ~Mniun Shell Castle, Mourn, Thy Ptidc Is in die Dust.” What would he think if at high tide he saw only swirls where his warehouses once stood? < hire prominent in coin- men e. alive with ships lightn¬ ing (the loading and unloading ol ships) and shipping, hut now- claimed l>\ the seas and storms. Shell Castle is buried and sink¬ ing below, chained to its past. Shell Castle has fallen away, piecemeal, into the mighty waters offshore from Ocracokc. Today, both Portsmouth "warehouses and otliei < onveiiieuces . . . for the reception and safekeeping of commodities.” It was intended that the warehouses would afloid control over illegal trading and pirating. At that time lightering over unstable inlet waters was Lightering was a vital part of com¬ merce in the young country, so that products could Ik- transported into the intrrior through risers and sounds and. more importantly, that the pioducis of the interior could be exported. Products produced in the interior such as flax, turpentine, lumber, shingles, cured poi к and dried Ix-rf found a ready mar¬ ket elsewhere. To encourage settlement of Portsmouth Island, whose inhabitants would furnish assistance to commercial vessels, lots could he acquit eel for 20 shillings by anyone willing to reside in the town ol Portsmouth. The only requirement was that they build a "sub¬ stantial habitable framed brick house or Sea gulls are all the life you V find on Shell Castle Island today. Island and the remnants of Shell Castle- Island lie within the domain of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. Both fig- med prominently in the commercial his¬ tory ol Not tli Caiolina dining the late Colonial period and the infancy of the l 'niied States. I hev were closely aligned during the period of their greatest activ¬ ity. Tliei e are no inhabitants at Portsmouth Island now (the last two leaving hi 1071), but the town of Portsmouth is carefully preserved by the National Park Service. The intention ol an Act of the Colo¬ nial Assemble in 1 755 was to ensure that a town Ik- laid out on Core Banks near Ocracokc Inlet in Carteret County. The establishment of a town was intended to encourage the building of a lengths and costly process. Changes in the shifting of channels brought about the establishment of the town of Portsmouth and ultimately commercial activities on Shell Castle Island, There is evidence that in 1754 a pilot was appointed for lightering, a practice that was necessary since at Ocracokc (often referred to as “Ocracock” or "Ore acock” on old navigational maps) there was only a depth of 16 feet at high tide. In sonic areas only eight or nine feet of water was noted where the swath or loose sand often shifted. No vessel could pass through such waters until the ship’s crew discharged some of the cargo and relumed it half-loaded, send¬ ing the rest of the cargo in lighters, sloops oi piraguas. a good substauii.il warehouse, of not less dimension than 20 feel in length and 1 6 feet wide." Failure to meet these specifi¬ cations within 18 months would result in default of the agreement. Homes and warehouses were built, and the town of Portsmouth began to assume its intended position in North Carolina commercial activities. As time passed, storms and shifting channels liegan to change the course of history, and Shell Castle Island became an important site of coininercial activi¬ ty. At the end of the 18th and the begin¬ ning of the 19th centuries, for approxi¬ mately 20 seats. Shell Castle Island was an important port of call on the Fast Coast. This tins , narrow island was com¬ posed of sand and oyster shells. It was The Siair/March 1994 54