Hello All,

Thank you for reading this.

My name is Brandon Manning. I'm a single father to an awesome first mate, Atlas (6). We're sailors, our dream is to circumnavigate, departing when he is 10, to explore the world and all of her beauty, while experiencing an education that far surpasses any offered within a classroom.

We have lived aboard vessel(s) for over four years now. We moved from Nashville, TN to New Bern, North Carolina just over a year ago and have spent our time here becoming one within the community. A community that we have come to love and be proud to call home.

The day of her grounding.

04/19/2025.

We had set sail from New Bern, NC for Ocracoke, a 58.5 NM passage. One I've made in the past without issue. We departed at 0200 hours. We were due to arrive in Silver Lake, Ocracoke, NC at 1:33 PM. Roughly 3.2 NM from the anchorage we were broadsided in 30 mph winds and knocked from the channel and onto a sandbar just to my Port beam. We made a heavy impact and we're lodged into the sand beneath us. We tried effortlessly to break her free from her threshold, with no avail.

Her diesel engine did all she could do to hold her bow in, which only softened her repeated impact slightly.

With no sign of progress and steadily deteriorating conditions, I hailed the Coast Guard station Hatteras, Pan Pan, Pan Pan. They responded and deployed a team, ETA, 45 minutes. A bird was deployed also and the Cedar Island ferry was delayed, in the event we capsized and required immediate assistance.

We fought the incoming swells, occasionally getting broadsided, heeling over a substantial 35°-40°. When the coast guard arrived on scene, that was exactly what they observed. What could have potentially been a towing recovery quickly turned into a rescue. We were pulled off the vessel and taken to Cape Hatteras station.

Easter Sunday 04/20/2025

We finally made it back to New Bern around 1 AM, to wake up at 8 AM and begin making preparations to get to Ocracoke with a recovery game plan.

We arrived in Ocracoke at 6:30ish and met the tow and salvage Captain, who explained we would depart at first light to attempt a recovery.

Monday 04/21/2025

We depart the dock at 6 AM sharp and head to her. The goal was to access her, and get her ready to tow off her sandy threshold at 2 PM, which was high tide. When we boarded, there was water aboard from bow to stern roughly 18-24 in. We began pumping her out to inspect more thoroughly. After pumping her, I observed that she had a crack at the bottom of her mast, where her mast is bolted to her keel, and had a water intake of roughly a gallon every 2 min.

After 4 hours aboard, the Pamlico Sound had transformed into a washing machine, picking her up and continuing to slam her down onto the ocean floor. From the cockpit you could hear the crack expanding, causing her water influx to steadily become more rapid. At around 11 AM I placed the call to the tow and salvage Captain, reporting that her keel is now flexing from Port to Starboard and can easily be observed from within the hull. In other words, she's going to lose her keel and ultimately succumb to the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Any applied force from an attempted tow would only speed up the process. She was left to the sea, to become one of the countless shipwrecks within our beautiful crystal coast.

Thankfully, I was given the opportunity to get a lot of necessary items from her watery grave to safety. The last few days have been some of the hardest I've ever endured, we have lost a lot, but my faith will not waiver.

In this time of tragedy, firstly I ask that you will please keep us in your prayers.

Secondly, if you could find it in your heart and in your budget to give anything at all; a quarter, a dollar, literally anything, my son and I would forever be grateful.

Thank you, God bless, and fair winds.

Atlas and I are forever grateful for the innumerable prayers and blessings that we have been fortunate enough to receive.

We have located our next vessel. I offered the current owner what funds I have available, he however, declined my offer. He did, in return, provide me a price in which he will accept.

We are only $1800 from obtaining our new vessel and home.

Even just sharing this post is helpful. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. God bless.