The Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals: The Story and What Is True

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The Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals is a story told about Diamond Shoals off Cape Hatteras; Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, Hatteras, Dare County. Vote believe it or no way, then see what 3 named sources say is documented.

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Oct 27Checked, 2026

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Local legend. Not confirmed. Just for fun.

No. 14 of 16

The Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals

On the morning of January 31, 1921, a five-masted schooner was spotted stuck on Diamond Shoals with her sails set and no one on deck. When people finally boarded, they say a meal was laid out and the crew was gone, and no one has ever said for certain where they went.

What The Sources Document

The National Park Service (Cape Hatteras National Seashore, read October 27, 2026) says the schooner was built in 1919 in Bath, Maine, was returning from Barbados to Hampton Roads, Virginia, and was last reported on January 30, 1921. A Coast Guard crew saw her aground on January 31 with sails set and lifeboats missing, and salvagers boarded on February 4, finding food laid out and personal belongings, key navigation equipment, papers and anchors missing. The hull was towed away and dynamited in March 1921. The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources blog (dated January 31, 2016, read October 27, 2026) tells the same outline, lists the pirate, mutiny and Bermuda Triangle theories, and states the cause of the wreck and the crew's fate are unknown. NPS notes a May 1921 federal inquiry, a visit by an FBI agent to Dare County in July 1921, and a bottled note claiming pirate capture that federal experts judged a hoax. The ship's log and the crew were never found, so every explanation is a theory, not a finding.

Sources: The Ghost Ship of the Outer Banks, National Park Service, Cape Hatteras National Seashore; Carroll Deering ghost ship, N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources blog (January 31, 2016); Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, Plan Your Visit, N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

A Note

The crew were real people and their fate is unknown. The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum is a state site in Hatteras Village; check its official page for current hours before you go, because its homepage notice gave no year. The museum pages we read do not mention this ship.

Its home: Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, Hatteras Village. Official page.

On this site: Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks.

Looked for and Not Found

The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum pages we read do not mention the Carroll A. Deering.
Sources disagree on the voyage: NPS says Barbados to Hampton Roads; the state blog says Brazil to Newport News. Give the route as differing by source or leave it out.

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Where do these facts come from?

From the named sources listed on this page: The Ghost Ship of the Outer Banks, National Park Service, Cape Hatteras National Seashore; Carroll Deering ghost ship, N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources blog (January 31, 2016); Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, Plan Your Visit, N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Sources

Read on October 27, 2026. Stories are for fun; the facts come from these sources. How we check: editorial standards; spot a mistake? tell us.

Cite this page: It's North Carolina, “The Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals”, itsnorthcarolina.com/legends/ghost-ship-carroll-a-deering/ (updated 2026-10-27). By the It's North Carolina editorial team. Free to quote with attribution and a link to this page; data and tables are licensed CC BY 4.0.