. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. I On the night of Dec. 30, 1812, a small boat sailed out of the harbor at Georgetown, Aboard was Theodosia Burr Alston, the young wife of Gov. Joseph Alston. She was going to New York to visit her father, the notorious Aaron Burr. The onetime vice president of the United States had been the victor in a fatal duel with Alexander Hamilton, his political enemy. Following the duel, Burr was arrested and tried for treason. He was acquitted, but feelings ran so high against him that he moved to France for f
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. I On the night of Dec. 30, 1812, a small boat sailed out of the harbor at Georgetown, Aboard was Theodosia Burr Alston, the young wife of Gov. Joseph Alston. She was going to New York to visit her father, the notorious Aaron Burr. The onetime vice president of the United States had been the victor in a fatal duel with Alexander Hamilton, his political enemy. Following the duel, Burr was arrested and tried for treason. He was acquitted, but feelings ran so high against him that he moved to France for four years. In 1812, his daughter convinced him to return. He waited anxiously for her ship to meet him, but it never arrived. Many years later, two criminals awaiting execution in Norfolk, Va., swore they'd been among a pirate crew that had captured the boat and forced everyone aboard to walk the plank. Another crew member later claimed to have been haunted for years by the memory of a beautiful young woman who pleaded for her life so that she could visit her father in New York. Some think that Theodosia was taken ashore by pirates at Smith Island (now Bald Head), where she drowned after dashing into the ocean. The guards were said to have been hanged for her escape, and their ghosts are seen at midnight on the island searching for their captive. During World War II, two Coast Guardsmen were patrolling the Bald Head beaches when they saw a woman in a long flowing dress disappear into thin air. She reappeared several nights later, and a guardsman fired his gun. The bullet seemed to pass right through her. An old fisher told the guardsmen who she was. At the beginning of the war, he had seen her crying and pointing to the sea. The next morning, they found a wrecked tanker that had been hit by an enemy torpedo. The fisher believed Theodosia was giving a warning, perhaps in an effort to prove that Burr family members were patriots and not traitors. Such stories of Theodosia have pe
Size: 903px × 2767px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
