'Torpedo Alley' and the 'Graveyard of the Atlantic'

Pine trees, sand dunes, water towers and churches - that appears to be the essence of this part of the east coast. During World War II, German U-Boats prowled the shallow waters along the coast for tonnage prey. But even long before that time, many ships went down in these treacherous waters of shifting sandbars, strong currents and shallow shoals. Captain Blackbeard's Queen Ann's Revenge ran aground here, as did countless schooners, barges and freighters, from past centuries. I followed the coastline northward along the Outer Banks, a chain of sandy barrier islands that stretch for 200 miles and separate Albermarle Sound from the swells of the Atlantic Ocean.





The countless wrecks that litter the mostly featureless expanses of sandy seafloor attract all kinds of marine life - first, sessile organisms such as sponges, algae and sea anemones begin to colonize the submerged structure, in turn attracting larger invertebrates (e.g. crustaceans and mollusks) and fish. The first thing that comes into view when slowly descending on one of North Carolina's shipwrecks are the vast schools of baitfish enshrouding the structure like an ever-moving veil, hiding most of the wreck's details from view.