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Ocracoke hardly had an auspicious beginning; it was put on the map after an English sailing ship was wrecked on the shoal-ridden inlet in 1585. But its eventual useful role as a waterway access to various inland ports pales in comparison to the high drama played out in its waters. True, the gifted and dashing Sir Walter Raleigh landed on Ocracoke at least once during his explorations of the new world, but the real excitement came from another reckless Englishman—Edward Teach, better knows as Blackbeard, the most ruthless and dreaded of pirates.

By 1718, Blackbeard had come to regard Ocracoke as his favorite anchorage. He even reportedly had a house on the island, which he intended to use as a sort of pirate haven. The coastal citizens, understandably unenthusiastic about the prospect, bypassed their useless Governor Eden and appealed instead to Governor Spotswood of Virginia. Help came in the doughty figure of Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal navy, who brought with him two small sloops. Conflicting reports survive as to the beginning of the battle; some say Blackbeard fired on the two small boats Maynard sent to scout out his quarry. A more intriguing, though probably less reliable, legend claims that Blackbeard, knowing the sloops were nearby and eager to engage them in battle, spent the night before the fight impatiently crying out “O crow, cock! O crow, cock!” from where the inlet got its name.

At any rate, all stories agree on the outcome of the battle. One of Maynard’s sloops ran aground, and Blackbeard gained on the Ranger, the sloop Maynard was aboard. Under heavy fire and unable to either return fire or escape, Maynard ordered his troops below deck. In a move worthy of a TV movie of the week, Blackbeard personally led the charge aboard what appeared to be a foundering and deserted ship, only to meet Maynard and his pistol face to face. Blackbeard attacked, but not before being grazed by the pistol and suffering a deep wound to his neck. The fight raged, with Blackbeard suffering more than thirty major wounds. Finally, Maynard prevailed, and as Blackbeard fell dead at his feet, the Royal Navy Lieutenant cut off the pirate’s head and fixed it on the bowsprit. Blackbeard’s headless body was flung overboard, where it reportedly swam around the Ranger three times before sinking to its doom.

Aerial view of Ocracoke Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

After the pirating subsided, trade increased. As inland ports such as New Bern, Elizabeth City, and Edenton grew, the need for a lighthouse to help mariners navigate the passage between Ocracoke and Portsmouth Islands to these towns grew accordingly. In 1798, a wooden pyramid-shaped tower was completed on Shell Castle Island. However, the light was inadequate, and the sand bars changed so much that by 1818 the lighthouse was a mile away from the inlet. In a rather dramatic ending, both the lighthouse and the keeper’s cottage were struck by lightening and destroyed completely.

In 1822, the federal government purchased two acres on Ocracoke Island and commissioned Noah Porter to build a new lighthouse and keeper’s cottage. The lighthouse was to be coated with an unlikely formula of lime, salt, ground rice, whiting, and clear glue, which was mixed with boiling water and applied to the bricks while hot. Porter completed the project the next year, for $11,359, considerably less than the $20,000 the government had budgeted. Such happy efficiency turned out to be indicative of the useful, relatively uneventful life of Ocracoke Lighthouse.

The lighthouse survived the Civil War with minimal damage; Confederate troops dismantled the fourth-order Fresnel lens early on, but in 1864 Union forces re-installed it. In the early 1900’s it was electrified, and today the lighthouse casts a stationary beam visible for fourteen miles. In 1897, a second story was added to the original keeper’s quarters. Because the lighthouse and keeper’s cottage are built on higher ground, they have served as a refuge for local residents during hurricanes.

As the second oldest operating lighthouse in the North Carolina, Ocracoke Lighthouse is of historical interest, and the grounds around it and the keeper’s cottage are open to the public. Although the days of piracy, exploration, and heavy trade in the Ocracoke Inlet are over, the islanders’ distinctive accent is one of the most well-preserved of early-American speech, and gives visitors a taste of how the language of Sir Walter Raleigh and Blackbeard would have sounded.

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References

1. Ocracoke-nc.com.
2. Cape Hatteras National Seashore website.

The base of the tower is occasionally open to the public, and the keeper's dwelling is used by the National Park Service for housing. There is a boardwalk that runs along one side of the lighthouse property from which good views are possible.