Exposed wreck believed to be remains of Civil War steamer

By Michelle Wagner | Outer Banks Voice on February 13, 2015

Heavy surf has once again uncovered the remains of a shipwreck near Whalehead that many local residents believe to be part of the 19th century ship called the Metropolis.

The portion of the wreck discovered on Thursday near the Albecore off-road vehicle ramp gave onlookers one of the best viewings of the buried wreck since it was first stumbled upon in 1997. The ocean has routinely exposed the wreckage to varying degrees since.

“It is definitely more exposed than it has been in the past,” said Dr. Nathan Richard, head of UNC’s Coastal Studies Institute’s Maritime Heritage program. “It’s a big ship and is easily identifiable because there is so much of it still intact. It’s sitting on its keel, and there is a good view of the portside.”

The wreck has been identified as the “O’Keefe” wreck by the state’s Underwater Archaeology branch, named after Charles O’Keefe, who first reported the it back in the late 1990s.

While the exposed portion has long been believed to be part of the Metropolis shipwreck, Richards said the remains have never been compared against historical records, so it cannot be said for certain what wreck it belongs to.

“Until someone does that, the state will keep calling it the O’Keefe,” he added.

The expensive process of excavating the wreckage or diagnostically proving its origin makes it difficult to investigate any further, Richards said. “It will likely just fill in again,” he said,

Everything from just the backbone of the wreck to the frames of the ship have broken through the sand over the years, giving onlookers a glimpse of the past.

While it is not likely to wash away due to its size, Richards said various parts of the wreckage have been tagged in order to track it if it dislodges or drifts.

“No one really knows what wreck it is from,” he said, but added that if it is truly the Metropolis, the ship is a significant piece of North Carolina maritime history.

An early American steamer, the Metropolis was built in Mystic, Conn. In 1861 and was originally called the USS Stars & Stripes, according to navsource.org, a website dedicated to preserving naval history.

The steamer was assigned to the Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Hatteras Inlet during the Civil War and was part of the attacks at Roanoke Island and New Bern in 1862. It was sold commercially after the war and renamed the Metropolis in 1871. It wrecked off the coast of Currituck beach in January of 1878.

According to reports, the O’Keefe wreck’s stern is still intact and it includes some buried rigging elements.