THE CATASTROPHE THAT SHOOK AMERICA
AND LED TO ESTABLISHMENT OF ALL-Y EAR
BEACH PATROL BY' OUR COAST GUARD
Hi/ BILL SHARPE
The "Metropolis
a picture from the Mariner's Museum, Newport News, Va.
The Wreck ol the Metropolis
Nothing good could conic out of
such a ghastly, pitiful wreck as that
of the Metropolis, it seemed. The
steamship came ashore in a heavy sea
below Whalcshcad (Currituck) Light
January 31, 1878, and 102 lives were
miserably lost.
Everything about the tragedy was
shameful. The owners were charged
with concealing defects in the ship,
inspectors with collusion, the charter¬
ing company was accused of overload¬
ing her. the captain was accused of
imprudent handling of his ship. The
Life-Saving crew reached the wreck
late, and then without sufficient equip¬
ment.
Worst of all, natives of the Bank
as well as passengers were accused of
inhospitably and looting. Coming on
the heels of the scandalous wreck of
the warship Huron in 1877 off Kitty
Hawk, the disaster threw the country
into an uproar. The New York Trib¬
une carried columns of the story on
its front pages, and even months later,
reverberations, in the form of charges,
counter-charges, investigations and re¬
ports, were being heard.
Brought Remedy
It is not unlikely that this wreck and
that of the ill-fated Huron , the two of
them remarkably similar, started the
GARDENERS
Bulb, plant, seed bargains. See
classified, page 10.
legend that North Carolina bankers
preyed up castaways. Almost cer¬
tainly, the two wrecks hastened, if they
did not indeed prompt, the creation
of our modern Coast Guard, with its
ycar-around vigil and modern equip¬
ment. So even this black cloud had its
silver lining.
The Metropolis had a sad sailing
from Philadelphia. She was loaded
with 500 tons of rails and machinery
and 200 tons of stores, destined for
the Madeira and Mamore Railway,
then building in the jungles of Brazil.
Also aboard were some 215 passen¬
gers — laborers and foremen recruited
to work on the railroad. These were
mostly simple people, unaccustomed to
travel, and it is easy to imagine the
scenes on the dock as mothers, wives
THE STATE, Vol. XIX; No. 23, Entered a» *econd-cla« matter, June I, ISJJ, at the PottoflUcc at Raleigh, North Carolina, under the act of
March 3. 1171. Published by Sharpe Publishing Co., lac., Lawyers Bldg., Raleigh, N. C.
