New archeological discoveries may finally solve the greatest mystery of Colonial America in this history of Roanoke and Hatteras Islands. Established on what is now North Carolina’s Roanoke Island, the Roanoke Colony was intended to be England’s first permanent settlement in North America. But in 1590, the entire population disappeared without a trace. The only clue to their fate was the word “Croatoan” carved into a tree. For centuries, the legend of the Lost Colony has captivated imaginations. Now, archaeologists from the University of Bristol, working with the Croatoan Archaeological Society, have uncovered tantalizing clues to the fate of the colony. In The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island, Hatteras native and amateur archaeologist Scott Dawson compiles what scholars know about the Lost Colony along with what scholars have found beneath the soil of Hatteras.

From January to July 1942, more than seventy-five ships sank to North Carolina's "Graveyard of the Atlantic" off the coast of the Outer Banks. German U-boats sank ships in some of the most harrowing sea fighting close to America's shore. Germany's Operation Drumbeat, led by Admiral Karl Donitz, brought fear to the local communities. A Standard oil tanker sank just sixty miles from Cape Hatteras. The U-85 was the first U-boat sunk by American surface forces, and local divers later discovered a rare Enigma machine aboard. Author Jim Bunch traces the destructive history of world war on the shores of the Outer Banks.

A letter from a sea captain, signed only with cryptic initials, directs an experienced sailor to built and outfit a ship, and to assemble a crew to sail on a dangerous adventure. The voyage starts towards a northerly destination with, as far as anyone knows, no captain aboard. After some time at sea, the captain finally appears and announces his identity, and his plan to sail to the North Pole. The crew faces dangers and hardship as they fight their way through the icy seas, while the captain single-mindedly drives them to find a passage ever farther north. In his usual style, Verne includes lots of history and scientific explanations in the story. The Adventures of Captain Hatteras was first published in 1864 under the title Voyages et aventures du capitaine Hatteras. The polar regions were not completely explored at this time. Verne speculated that the North Pole would be reachable by sea, and with the story set in 1861, it would be almost another fifty years before an explorer reached the pole. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.