Shipwreck · Currituck Beach, North Carolina
Metropolis
A steamer bound for Brazil with 248 people that struck the outer bar near Currituck Beach in a gale on 31 January 1878; 85 died in the surf. Coming weeks after the Huron disaster, the loss drove the expansion of the US Life-Saving Service along the Outer Banks. The remains lie buried in the surf zone south of Corolla and are occasionally uncovered by storms. No official document prints a position. NC DNCR describes the boiler and hull in fifteen feet of water a hundred feet offshore, three miles south of Currituck Lighthouse; an ECU thesis (Pawelski 2023) places the offshore site CKB0021 about a hundred yards off the O’Keefe beach site at 36.3295 N 75.8106 W.
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Quick facts
| Type | Shipwreck, steamer |
|---|---|
| Lost | 31 January 1878 |
| Charted depth | 3 m (10 ft) below MLLW |
| Position | 36.3295°N, 75.8106°W (approximate, ±500 m) |
| From Currituck Beach | 5.5 km (3.4 mi), bearing 161° SSE |
| Source | Curated (NOAA AWOIS / NC DMF / NPS) |
How to see it
Underwater, so there is nothing to see from the shore. From Currituck Beach, 5.5 km (3.4 mi) away, CoastFinder draws it below the horizon at its bearing and distance, with its charted depth.
Point your phone at the real thing. The CoastFinder app draws this shipwreck over your live camera view from any beach, pier or boat near Currituck Beach, with its distance and depth, and it works with no signal.
Nearby
- Mossey IslandsIsland · 3.0 km
- Currituck Beach LighthouseLighthouse · 49 m · 5.5 km
- Duck Research PierPier · 17 km
- Teens TowShipwreck · 20.1 m · 20 km
- KimberleyShipwreck · 0.6 m · 22 km
- William H. MacyShipwreck · 0.6 m · 24 km
Not for navigation. Positions and depths come from public charts and records, with their sources named above; they are for looking, not for piloting a boat.