Riding on the wings of a strong northwest gale accompanied by the swift running tide, tragedy took toll of human life at Coinjock Bridge, which crosses the Inland Waterway some 40 miles east of here by highway, Friday night at 11:15 o’clock when the tramp freighter Rebecca crashed into the bridge while the draw was being opened, and crushed to death a member of the crew in the wreckage of its pilot house.
Questioned by long distance telephone, the keeper of the bridge was able to give only the information that the victim was a white man named Gibbs, and that members of the crew had taken the body to Englehard Friday for burial. Englehard is a remote fishing village on the Hyde County mainland, fronting Pamlico Sound.
Inquiries among masters of craft plying the Eastern Carolina sound and rivers here disclosed a general impression that the victim was William Henry Gibbs of Englehard, about 55 years old, and long employed on craft in these waters. This impression was strengthened by the circumstance that the body was taken to the Hyde County village.
The bridge keeper stated that the Rebecca was headed south, and blew for the draw to be opened when about 100 yards from it. Before it could be raised, the craft, borne swiftly along by wind and tide, had crashed into it, the draw having had just sufficient clearance to catch the Rebecca’s pilot house with full force, crushing it into splinters. The impression current here is that Gibbs was steering, and had no opportunity to escape.
The Rebecca is commanded by Captain R.B. Burruss of Middleton, according to Captain W.O. Gibbs of this city, skipper of the Texaco Oil Company taker Carolina. Captain Gibbs stated also that William Henry Gibbs, supposed victim of the accident, had been employed by him for a number of years. The Rebecca has no regular run, he added, hauling freight between Englehard and various other sound points and Norfolk.
In discussing the accident, the bridge tender said he thought there were only two men aboard the Rebecca at the time, and that he didn’t think either was the captain. The craft is lying at Coinjock awaiting repairs, he added.
Shipping records describe the Rebecca as a gasboat 64 ½ feet long, of 18 feet beam and 4.4 feet in depth, with 43 gross and 28 net tonnage, and carrying a crew of three. She is propelled by a 60-horsepower engine. The boat was built in Fishing Village, Maryland, in 1899. Her homeport is given as Elizabeth City.
Last night’s fatality is the second of Coinjock Bridge within recent months, the other having occurred in a mishap almost identical with this one.
From the front page of The Daily Advance, Elizabeth City, N.C., Saturday evening, Feb. 20, 1926
According to the Feb. 22, 1926, issue of The Daily Advance, the man killed was Walter Gibbs, brother of William Henry Gibbs of Englehard. newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92074042/1926-02-20/ed-1/seq-1/
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