Fishing boat runs aground on Outer Banks just weeks after a shipwreck was hauled off

Another fishing vessel has run aground on the Outer Banks, just weeks after Cape Hatteras National Seashore removed a haunting 2020 shipwreck that became a tourist attraction.

The National Park Service identified the grounded vessel as the Jonathan Ryan, a 20-foot commercial fishing boat built in 1980.

It became lodged in the sand Sunday, about 1.25 miles southeast of the Frisco Campground, officials said. Details of what caused the incident have not been released.

“The Seashore is working with the U.S. Coast Guard and the vessel’s captain to determine next steps for removing the trawler before it reaches the beach,” park officials said.

Waves and wind will often drive grounded vessels toward the beach, where they will sink deeper into the “soft and malleable” sand, McClatchy News reported.

Outer Banks photographer Wes Snyder posted video of the grounded vessel Monday, Nov. 29, and reported people were still on the boat. His video shows the vessel sat about 50 feet off the beach at sunrise.

It’s the second time a fishing vessel has grounded at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the past two years.

A 72-foot scallop boat known as the Ocean Pursuit ran aground off Bodie Island in March 2020, and it remained there until just a few weeks ago.

As months passed, the boat settled deeper into the beach until only its upper deck was visible. The National Park Service eventually posted signs warning tourists the abandoned wreck was too dangerous to board.

Crews began dismantling the Ocean Pursuit the last week of October and hauled the pieces to a scrap yard, McClatchy News reported. The 30-day project to remove the boat cost $295,000, the park says.

The reason the Ocean Pursuit ran aground was never explained.

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