‘Graveyard of the Atlantic’ claims its latest victim off Outer Banks. Four rescued

The infamous “Graveyard of the Atlantic” off North Carolina’s Outer Banks claimed its latest victim Friday on the shoals off Cape Lookout National Seashore.

National Park Service officials posted photos Saturday of the fishing trawler Tamara Alane sitting “high and dry” on the beach after a dramatic rescue before dawn Friday.

Four crew members were lifted off the 78-foot fishing vessel as it was being dangerously tossed back and forth by waves, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release.

The Tamara Alane joins more than 2,000 vessels wrecked off the Outer Banks, where warm northbound Gulf Stream water collides with the cold Arctic current, according to NCPedia.org. Many of the ships vanished forever, while others are monitored as historic landmarks and treasure sites.

“With the engines not working, they tried to set the anchor, but it wouldn’t hold and they ended up on the beach,” Cape Lookout National Seashore posted Saturday on Facebook.

“Today, with calm winds and surf, the owners of the trawler, park rangers, the USCG and a marine salvage company are out surveying the damage and working on safely removing the vessel from the beach.”

The Coast Guard said the crew sent a distress call at about 3:30 a.m. Friday, reporting “they had become disabled due to fuel issues, then ran aground and began taking on water.”

“The fishermen did the right thing by calling us as soon as possible,” Chief Warrant Officer Kristen Auer said in the news release. “With the deteriorating weather conditions, the situation could have gone from bad to worse.”

In worst-case scenarios, the waves and wind break vessels apart after they run aground. That’s what happened to the trawler Big John on Feb. 4, 2019, at Cape Hatteras, the Charlotte Observer reported last year.

The crew of three survived the sinking, but pieces of the boat were spread along the beach at the national park and created a danger to tourists. A salvage crew later cut the wreckage apart and dragged it away, the park service told McClatchy News.