Cape Hattaras Lighthouse Bank

Cape Hatteras – can you survive?

For many miles off the coast of North Carolina, two opposing currents flow; close to shore the cold-water Virginia Coastal Drift flows south, and farther offshore the warm-water Gulf Stream flows north. At Cape Hatteras, the Gulf Stream veers into the Coastal Drift, forcing vessels into the dangerous waters around Diamond Shoals. Over two thousand ships have foundered and sunk in that treacherous stretch of water, known as “The Graveyard of the Atlantic.”  

The first shipwreck recorded was in 1526. First lighthouse was completed in October 1803. It wasn’t a good one. The inadequacy of the lighthouse was noted the following year: “There is perhaps no light on the entire coast of the United States of greater value to the commerce and navigation of the country than this”  The Lighthouse Board, formed in 1852, had the tower raised to more than 150 feet and installed a first-order Fresnel lens in 1853. The bottom twenty feet of the heightened tower were painted grey.

Our artist uses a ceramic lighthouse and makes it resemble the Cape Hattaras lighthouse as much as possible. This lighthouse has survived a lot of bad weather and saved a lot of shipwrecks; perhaps, this bank will help you too.