May 11, 2010
We went to Ockracoke today with Agnes and Gerry. I have only been coming to Hatteras for 20 years?? Don’t know why we have never taken the time to do this before. We caught the 9:00am ferry and toured the little island for most of the afternoon.
We stopped and checked out the wild ponies which there are many theories about how they arrived on the island. I agree with the whole ship wreck idea. They have very distinct characteristics. They have a unique shape & posture. We also did a short hike (Bill saw the snake this time). We checked out a few of the shops and art galleries. We visited the 2nd oldest lighthouse in the nation (1823) and it is still in operation and its beam can be seen 14 miles out to see. I enjoy reading about blackbeard the pirate who was captured near Ocracoke in 1718.
We visited the British Cemetery and had an interesting experience there. On May 11, 1942….40 miles south of Ocracoke a German submarine torpedoed and sank the British vessel HMS Bedforshire. The 170 foot ship was one of 24 antisubmarine ships loaned to the United States by Winston Churchill. The entire crew of four officers and 33 crewmen drowned. US Coast Guard officers found four of the bodies washed ashore three days later. The soliders were buried here and the Coast Guard still maintains the grave sites and flies a British flag over the graves . Agnes and I thought it was special that we visited the gravesite on the Anniversary..