Graveyard of the Atlantic
Graveyard of the Atlantic is a name given to the treacherous waters in the Atlantic Ocean along the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the Virginia coastline south of the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay at Cape Henry. In this area of the ocean, the cold waters of the Labrador Current, which originates around the coast of Norway, collide with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.
The hazards of severe weather, strong currents, and navigational challenges combined to cause the loss of thousands of ships and an unknown number of human lives. More than 2,000 ships have sunk in these waters since people began keeping records in 1526.
Among the better known shipwrecks was the USS Monitor, a participant in the famous Battle of Hampton Roads during the American Civil War. The Monitor foundered and sank on December 31, 1862 off Cape Hatteras. Survivors of a much earlier shipwreck created the lost town of Wash Woods, Virginia using lumber which washed ashore. However, the extreme weather eventually claimed the town as well.
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