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Deering was an American five-masted commercial schooner launched in 1919 and found run aground without its crew off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, in January 1921.

Deering was built in Bath, Maine, in 1919 by the G.G. One of the last large commercial sailing vessels, the ship was designed to carry cargo and had been in service for a year when it began its final voyage to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Deering sailed from Puerto Rico, and arrived at Newport News to pick up a cargo of coal for delivery to Rio de Janeiro. Merritt, a hero of World War I who had been cited for bravery under fire for saving his entire crew when his previous command, the Deering-built five-masted schooner Dorothy B. Deering cleared the Virginia Capes bound for Brazil, but Captain Merritt soon fell seriously ill and the schooner turned back and put into the port of Lewes, Delaware to drop off Merritt and his son. Deering, with Wormell in command, set sail for Rio de Janeiro on September 8, 1920, arriving there and delivering its cargo without incident. Deering left Rio de Janeiro on December 2, 1920, and stopped for supplies at Barbados. Later, Captain Norton, his first mate, and another captain were in the Continental Café and heard McLellan say, "I'll get the captain before we get to Norfolk, I will." McLellan was arrested in a drunken state, but on January 9 Wormell forgave him, bailed him out of jail, and set sail for Hampton Roads. The ship was next sighted by the Cape Lookout lightship off North Carolina on January 28, 1921, when the Carroll A. They, however, saw no one on the ship's decks and did not attempt to hail the vessel, assuming her crew would spot the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse or the Diamond Shoals Lightship and change course to avoid wrecking on the shoals.

The handwriting in the letter was identified as that of the ship's engineer, Henry Bates, by the widow of Captain Wormell, and the bottle was proven to have been manufactured in Brazil. This, along with a sighting of a "mysterious" steamer that arrived at the Cape Lookout lightship in the wake of Carroll A. The captain of the lightship had attempted to hail the steamer to get its crew to relay the message from the Carroll A.

The U.S. government launched an extensive investigation into the disappearance of the crew of the Carroll A. Although most of these vessels were later revealed to have been sailing in the vicinity of a series of particularly powerful hurricanes, the Hewitt and Carroll A. Deering were proven to have been sailing away from the area of the storm at the time. When an Italian inquiry into the disappearance of the vessel Monte San Michele confirmed that there had been strong hurricanes in the vicinity, mutiny was then accepted as the explanation for the Carroll A.

Deering was large enough, according to Richard Winer's Ghost Ships, to carry roughly a million dollars' worth of liquor in her hold. Captain Jacobson at Cape Lookout certainly thought it odd; the man who hailed his vessel was definitely not Captain Wormell, and he was not an officer by all accounts.

No official explanation for the disappearance of the crew of the Carroll A. Deering was moved about 9 miles (14 km) by Hurricane Ione, from Ocracoke Island to Hatteras. Deering, for whom the ship was named, died in March 1967, aged 84. Deering were on display at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras.

"Piracy Suspected In Disappearance Of 3 American Ships," New York Times, June 21, 1921. "Bath Owners Skeptical," New York Times, June 22, 1921. "Deering Skipper's Wife Caused Investigation," New York Times, June 22, 1921. "More Ships Added To Mystery List," New York Times, June 22, 1921. Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals, The Mystery of the Carroll A.

Quick Facts

• The ship was next sighted by the Cape Lookout lightship off North Carolina on January 28, 1921, when the Carroll A.
• "Deering Skipper's Wife Caused Investigation," New York Times, June 22, 1921.
• Deering, with Wormell in command, set sail for Rio de Janeiro on September 8, 1920, arriving there and delivering its cargo without incident.
• Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals, The Mystery of the Carroll A.
• Deering sailed from Puerto Rico, and arrived at Newport News to pick up a cargo of coal for delivery to Rio de Janeiro.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Carroll A. Deering". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.