Governor Ames
Five-Masted Schooner · Lost 1909 · The Outer Banks
A five-masted schooner lost at Wimble Shoals carrying railroad ties after a far-ranging trading career.
Become Captain of Record
The Vessel and Her Loss
Governor Ames was completed in Maine in 1888 as a five-masted schooner designed for coal carriage. Its long trading career included lumber voyages on the Pacific coast and journeys overseas. On December 13, 1909, it struck Wimble Shoals carrying railroad ties from Brunswick to New York. NOAA describes one surviving sailor, but does not provide a complete casualty total.
Full Record
Governor Ames was completed in Maine in 1888 as a five-masted schooner designed for coal carriage. Its long trading career included lumber voyages on the Pacific coast and journeys overseas. On December 13, 1909, it struck Wimble Shoals carrying railroad ties from Brunswick to New York. NOAA describes one surviving sailor, but does not provide a complete casualty total. NOAA describes the railroad ties breaking free, crushing the lifeboat and striking crew members. The captain’s wife and another sailor died when the mast to which she was lashed broke; seas swept the remaining sailors overboard. One sailor survived by clinging to wreckage. The reviewed passage supplies no complete casualty total.
Vessel
- 1888
- Not established
- Maine
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Sail
- Not established
Loss
- December 13, 1909
- Storm
- Wimble Shoals, North Carolina
- Atlantic Ocean
- Brunswick, Georgia → New York
- Railroad ties
- Not established
- NOAA describes one surviving sailor and multiple deaths, including the captain’s wife, without supplying a complete casualty total.
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Hatteras Island, North Carolina
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (87/100)
Exact wreck coordinates, dimensions, builder and complete casualty total are not established in the reviewed NOAA account.
NOAA Ocean Exploration — Wimble Shoals Shipwrecks
Construction year and place, vessel configuration, trading career, dated final voyage, cargo, weather and loss narrative; survivor detail and uncertainty retained as stated.
