Caribsea Moves to OPS Museum

Sundae Horn
Temporarily placed here for photo-op.
Temporarily placed here for photo-op.

The nameplate from the Caribsea is a treasured piece of Ocracoke's history.

It commemorates the victims of German U-boat activity off these shores, and also honors the very personal grieving of a small island for one of its own lost at sea.

The Caribsea, a merchant ship, was torpedoed on March 11, 1942 fourteen miles east of Cape Lookout on its way north from Cuba. Only 7 of the 28 crew members survived. A young Ocracoke native, James Baum Gaskill, was the engineer aboard the vessel, and did not make it home.

A few days after the sinking, Jim Baum's framed engineer's license washed ashore on Ocracoke and was discovered by his cousin. Soon after that, the nameplate of the Caribsea and other debris from the ship washed up to his own family's dock, foretelling islanders of the sad news that would follow: Jim Baum was lost.

The nameplate has been on display on Ocracoke since 1979 when it was donated to the National Park Service's collection.

A few weeks ago, NPS dismantled most of the interpretive displays at their Ocracoke Visitor Center. NPS is getting rid of the trailers behind the Visitor Center; the ORV permit office moved from a trailer into the Visitor Center, displacing the exhibits.

NPS interpretive sign with photo of Jim Baum.
NPS interpretive sign with photo of Jim Baum.

The Visitor Center's loss is Ocracoke Preservation Society's gain. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore interpretive staff gave most of the display pieces to Amy Howard, OPS administrator, to use where she could and as she wanted. She just had to haul it all away before the demolition.

The Caribsea nameplate was not so casually handed over. Because it is an actual historic artifact, its possession falls under the auspices of the NPS Cultural Resources department. 

"We decided to offer it up for loan to Ocracoke," said Jami Lanier at the Seashore's headquarters. "It's part of our mission to make our exhibits available, and it's more appropriate to have them on display where the American people can see them, instead of stuck inside a vault somewhere."

Jami told me that the Park Service acquired the nameplate by way of the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, VA, which got it from one C.K. Sibly, a former Portsmouth Island resident. I will let the Current's readers enlighten us as to who C.K. was and how he got the nameplate – please share in the comments if you know!

Loans from NPS typically last three years. After that, OPS can make a request to extend it for another three years, and so on, and so on.

The cross on the altar of Ocracoke United Methodist Church was hand carved from debris from the Caribsea.
The cross on the altar of Ocracoke United Methodist Church was hand carved from debris from the Caribsea.

The OPS Museum will open in mid-March; Amy and her staff will have figured out how to hang the nameplate (which seems way bigger at OPS than it did at the Visitor Center) by then.

The cross was made by Homer Howard, and painted gold by his wife, Aliph. It's the only other known remnant of the Caribsea, and is displayed in memory of James Baum Gaskill.
The cross was made by Homer Howard, and painted gold by his wife, Aliph. It's the only other known remnant of the Caribsea, and is displayed in memory of James Baum Gaskill.

 

"I am thrilled to have the Caribsea nameplate at the museum," Amy said, who plans to feature it in the Maritime Room.

"I'm thrilled that it's going to stay on Ocracoke where it has a strong connection to the community," Jami said. "It's beneficial to us and to OPS – it lets the story be told."

 

Comments powered by Disqus