Sixteen Bodies, an Abandoned Brig, and an 1825 Mystery Along the North Carolina Coast
This story doesn’t begin with a family tree. Instead, it starts off with a newspaper clipping I found on social media.
According to the article, sixteen bodies had washed ashore between Cape Henry and Cape Hatteras sometime in 1825.
Another body was later found near New Inlet. And at nearly the same time, an abandoned merchant brig carrying pork, flour, tobacco, and cotton had been towed into Beaufort, North Carolina.
The newspaper reached on conclusion…pirates.
At first glance, this sounds like the beginning of a classic maritime mystery.
But the longer I studied the article, the more I realized something wasn’t adding up.
Historical research is about asking better questions, not accepting the ones we find first. And in this case, pirates leaving behind cargo seemed odd.
If pirates attacked this vessel, why was that cargo still on board? Pork, flour, tobacco, and cotton. All left on board.
Doubting that information, brought up several new questions for me:
Can I identify this brig?
Who owned this brig?
How many people typically serve aboard a vessel like this?
Were the seventeen bodies actually connected to the abandoned ship?
Or was the newspaper simply reporting the best theory available at the time?
Those questions transformed a single newspaper article into an active historical investigation.
Why I Didn’t Wait for the Answers
Normally, I research a story from the begging to end before recording and episode of Legacy Lore: True Crime + Ancestral Secrets. This time I wanted to do something different.
I decided to invite listeners into the investigation while it was happening.
That’s how Into the Record was born.
Each month, over on Patreon, we’re examining original records, historical newspapers, maps, and contemporary sources together. Rather than simply finishing the story, listeners get to experience the research process itself.
What We’ve Learned So Far
The investigation has already challenged one of the newspaper’s biggest assumptions. Because piracy was certainly active in part of the Caribbean during the early 1820s, the evidence connecting this specific tragedy to pirates is surprisingly thin.
One of the most valuable lessons genealogy and historical research teach us is the importance of separating documented facts from contemporary interpretation.
Sometimes those are the same….sometimes they aren’t.
The Next Step
Part 1 of this investigation was released to the public in May.
Part 2 continues July 7 over on Patreon inside The Inner Circle.
The next steps in the investigation will be reconstruct the final voyage of the mysterious brig.
If we can identify the vessel, we may be able to identify:
its captain
its owners
its crew
its intended destination
and eventually, perhaps even the identities of the people whose story has remained untold for nearly two centuries
I’d love for you to join in on the investigation. Listen to Part 1 for free to get the run down of what we are looking at and how to pull questions from this article. We are working together over on Patreon. Sharing sources and collaborating together with members over there.
Don’t Forget About Beyond the Names
My Beyond the Names Free Guide is available for download today! The guide walks you through the Storytelling Framework so you can take the first steps in telling your ancestors story.
