Mystery lingers from woman's 1812 disappearance at sea
eartha...@yahoo.com
By DIANE TENNANT
The Virginian-Pilot
December 31, 2005
In 1869, along the barren beaches of the Outer Banks, an old woman took
ill. As the doctor tended to her, he saw upon her wall an oil painting
of a beautiful woman dressed in white.
As the sick woman was poor, she offered the portrait to the doctor for
payment. He asked her who it was.
I don't know, the woman said, but it came from a shipwreck, a pilot
boat that drifted ashore in a winter gale. In the cabin was a trunk
containing two black silk dresses sized for a slender woman and a
portrait of a lady.
In 1812, on the last day of the year, an ailing young woman stepped
aboard a ship named Patriot and sailed from Georgetown, S.C., for New
York.
She was on her way to see her father for the first time in many years,
and her husband, the newly elected governor of South Carolina,
reluctantly saw her off.
The Patriot was a pilot boat, a shallow-draft vessel lately back from
privateering , preying on British merchant ships in time of war. The
lady was received aboard and the Patriot slipped away, headed
northeast.
The lady's name was Theodosia Burr Alston. She was 29 years old.
The painting was on a wooden plank about 14 by 17 inches in size. The
old woman said the boat washed up near Kitty Hawk, sails set and rudder
fastened. No one was aboard.
The salvagers also found a vase of wax flowers under a glass globe and
a shell carved in the shape of a nautilus, but it was the portrait that
caught the eye.
Theodosia was the daughter of Aaron Burr, notorious for fatally
wounding Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Burr later was tried on charges
of treason and acquitted .
Theodosia was said to be the best-educated woman in the country at the
time. She was able to read seven languages and speak four.
In 1812, she was sick and grieving, mourning the loss of her
10-year-old son to a summer fever, struggling with the pain and
infections that had plagued her since his birth, possibly dying of
uterine cancer.
Burr had just returned from four years of exile . His daughter, with
whom he shared a strong emotional bond, longed to see him. A sea voyage
was arranged.
The Patriot disappeared from view around the tip of North Island,
heading for Cape Hatteras. The ship was never heard from again.
The doctor, William Gaskins Poole, took the portrait to his home in
Elizabeth City, where it was much admired. A visitor said the lady
looked like Theodosia. Some Burr descendants took a look and said it
was, but none of them had ever seen her alive. The only Alston who had
met her said simply that both Theodosia and the woman in the portrait
had beautiful eyes.
Dr. Poole spent the rest of his life trying to sort it out. He never
could.
In the years that followed the Patriot's disappearance, many tales
arose. "Deathbed confessions" of regretful pirates cropped up every
few years, telling lurid tales of Theodosia walking the plank to her
death. Novels began to appear and then magazines and then Internet
pages, telling the sorry tale of the legendary Theodosia and how she
was killed by pirates, captured by pirates, enslaved by pirates,
ravished by pirates, loved by pirates or cast away by pirates. Her ship
was sunk by the British, raided by the French, wrecked by Outer Bankers
or, in one tale, destroyed by a hurricane off Texas with Theodosia
rescued by cannibal Indians.
In 2003, Richard N. Cote wrote a nonfiction book called "Theodosia
Burr Alston: Portrait of a Prodigy," which says a violent storm Jan.
2 and 3, 1813, was recorded in the logbooks of six British warships off
the coast of North Carolina.
It further says no documentary evidence exists of a shipwreck near Nags
Head in January 1813.
But there is the portrait, now at the Lewis Walpole Library of Yale
University. The portrait is not signed or dated.
There is one more legend. In the week between Christmas and New
Year's, the week the Patriot set out on a voyage of no return, when
the weather is rough and overcast, the ghost of Theodosia walks the
beach. The beam of the lighthouse that sweeps Cape Hatteras, the
distance north to Nags Head - neither dissuades her. She is looking
for her portrait.
tiny dancer
<eartha...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1136060601.7...@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Thanks patty, I've heard many 'outer banks' tales, but I believe this is the
first time I've heard this one.
td
>
Michael Snyder
HAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa!!!
Am I the only one? Really???
No one else notices that the entire crew of a ship (presumably mostly male)
is lost at sea, together with ONE female passenger, and the only
"disappearance"
that apparently "lingers" is that of the *woman*? The men don't even
signify.
<eartha...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1136060601.7...@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Kathy
> HAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa!!!
>
> Am I the only one? Really???
>
> No one else notices that the entire crew of a ship (presumably mostly male)
> is lost at sea, together with ONE female passenger, and the only
> "disappearance"
> that apparently "lingers" is that of the *woman*? The men don't even
> signify.
How many of them were sons of ex-Vice Presidents? If it had been a ship
full of anonymous women and one son of a famous politician, who do you
think would have gotten the attention? There's something wrong with
you, Snyder.
Kathy
Phoenix
> Michael Snyder wrote:
> > HAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa!!!
> >
> > Am I the only one? Really???
> >
> > No one else notices that the entire crew of a ship (presumably mostly male)
> > is lost at sea, together with ONE female passenger, and the only
> > "disappearance"
> > that apparently "lingers" is that of the *woman*? The men don't even
> > signify.
>
> How many of them were sons of ex-Vice Presidents? If it had been a ship
> full of anonymous women and one son of a famous politician, who do you
> think would have gotten the attention? There's something wrong with
> you, Snyder.
>
> Kathy
Only an ass couldn't see that the daughter of Aaron Burr would be
specially noted, but Snyder wouldn't read that far.
bel
painter
Take that bit of truth, Snyder!
Michael Snyder
"Kathy" <kb...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:M9Ktf.10653$713.7185@trnddc01...
> Michael Snyder wrote:
> > HAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa!!!
> >
> > Am I the only one? Really???
> >
> > No one else notices that the entire crew of a ship (presumably mostly
male)
> > is lost at sea, together with ONE female passenger, and the only
> > "disappearance"
> > that apparently "lingers" is that of the *woman*? The men don't even
> > signify.
>
> How many of them were sons of ex-Vice Presidents?
The subject line says woman, not daughter-of-ex-vice-president.
> If it had been a ship
> full of anonymous women and one son of a famous politician, who do you
> think would have gotten the attention?
You're joking, right? 1000's of men have been lost at sea,
but this "mystery" is "lingering" about one of the very few
women so lost.
Michael Snyder
"painter" <lolasc...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1136104453....@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Bravo Kathy!!!
> Take that bit of truth, Snyder!
"Truth" being defined as anything that lets you avoid
acknowledging the truth?
Phoenix
msn...@socmen.org says...
>
> "Kathy" <kb...@verizon.net> wrote in message
> news:M9Ktf.10653$713.7185@trnddc01...
> > Michael Snyder wrote:
> > > HAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa!!!
> > >
> > > Am I the only one? Really???
> > >
> > > No one else notices that the entire crew of a ship (presumably mostly
> male)
> > > is lost at sea, together with ONE female passenger, and the only
> > > "disappearance"
> > > that apparently "lingers" is that of the *woman*? The men don't even
> > > signify.
> >
> > How many of them were sons of ex-Vice Presidents?
>
> The subject line says woman, not daughter-of-ex-vice-president.
So all you read was the headline. This is how you justify your dubious
cause - by headlines?
>
> > If it had been a ship
> > full of anonymous women and one son of a famous politician, who do you
> > think would have gotten the attention?
>
> You're joking, right? 1000's of men have been lost at sea,
> but this "mystery" is "lingering" about one of the very few
> women so lost.
Yep, when she is the daughter of a public figure it attracts attention.
Whatcha gonna do about it? Somehow change people's fascination with
celebrities?
Sounds like Communism, dude.
bel
>
>
>
>
>
de Fragile Warrior Sports Supplies
>> HAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa!!!
>>
>> Am I the only one? Really???
>>
>> No one else notices that the entire crew of a ship (presumably mostly
>> male)
>> is lost at sea, together with ONE female passenger, and the only
>> "disappearance"
>> that apparently "lingers" is that of the *woman*? The men don't even
>> signify.
>
> How many of them were sons of ex-Vice Presidents? If it had been a ship
> full of anonymous women and one son of a famous politician, who do you
> think would have gotten the attention? There's something wrong with you,
> Snyder.
>
> Kathy
Oh, my dear, what a gently phrased understatement...
painter
What Freudian malady do you suffer from, exactly?
de Fragile Warrior Sports Supplies
> No, Just the facts.
> What Freudian malady do you suffer from, exactly?
Mikey? Femalehateitis.
tiny dancer
"de Fragile Warrior Sports Supplies" <vol...@tds.net> wrote in message
news:43b81b65$1...@newspeer2.tds.net...
LOL, you got that right!
td
painter
> What Freudian malady do you suffer from, exactly?
>>Mikey? Femalehateitis>>
LOL! I bet he's got a case of "Penis Envy" too.
Betsy
"Michael Snyder" <msn...@socmen.org> wrote in message
news:43b7b173$0$96005$742e...@news.sonic.net...
Ding ding ding! There you have it, genius! Missing men at sea are a dime
a dozen. Missing women at sea are rather rare. Especially when they are
the daughter of an ex-vice-president. Do you even read what you write
before you hit "send"? (Smarter than 97% of the rest of us my ass!)
Betsy
Michael Snyder
"Betsy" <b.fe...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Bv6dnbn__8-...@comcast.com...
>
> "Michael Snyder" <msn...@socmen.org> wrote in message
> news:43b7b173$0$96005$742e...@news.sonic.net...
> | You're joking, right? 1000's of men have been lost at sea,
> | but this "mystery" is "lingering" about one of the very few
> | women so lost.
> |
>
> Ding ding ding! There you have it, genius! Missing men at sea are a dime
> a dozen. Missing women at sea are rather rare.
Exactly. Genius. Women die less often, so we talk about them more.
The same exact phenomenon gets women extra attention and men ignored
in all sorts of fields, including health care, and crime victims.
Sherman
From what I've read, sounds more like Vagina Envy to me! Must be
frustrating, trying to save up enough to finish off a transgendering
procedure.
Sherman
tiny dancer
"Sherman" <Sher...@adelphia.com> wrote in message
news:BLidnYlgLby...@adelphia.com...
ROTFL. Sherm, you sound like my husband. He vacillates between 'junior
high kid' to 'totally frustrated male' who couldn't get a woman if his life
depended upon it. ;)
td
>
>
Sharonpo
>> be frustrating, trying to save up enough to finish off a
>> transgendering procedure.
>>
>> Sherman
> ROTFL. Sherm, you sound like my husband. He vacillates between
> 'junior high kid' to 'totally frustrated male' who couldn't get a
> woman if his life depended upon it. ;)
>
>
> td
Well! That goes a long way towards explaining why he settled for you.
Maybe ya'll could get a group discount on that lifetime therapy binge
you're on. Sounds like he could use some. I don't think it's
working/worked on you.
Phoenix
msn...@socmen.org says...
>
> "Betsy" <b.fe...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:Bv6dnbn__8-...@comcast.com...
> >
> > "Michael Snyder" <msn...@socmen.org> wrote in message
> > news:43b7b173$0$96005$742e...@news.sonic.net...
>
> > | You're joking, right? 1000's of men have been lost at sea,
> > | but this "mystery" is "lingering" about one of the very few
> > | women so lost.
> > |
> >
> > Ding ding ding! There you have it, genius! Missing men at sea are a dime
> > a dozen. Missing women at sea are rather rare.
>
> Exactly. Genius. Women die less often, so we talk about them more.
<snort!> Women don't "die less often", genius. We all die, genius.
Unless there is a super race of females who just don't die (outside of
your genius brain) what in the hell are you talking about?
Females of nearly all mammalian species live longer than males. Is this
what you *might* be alluding to?
> The same exact phenomenon gets women extra attention and men ignored
> in all sorts of fields, including health care, and crime victims.
blahblahblah.
If you ever had a point, I've ceased to care. Your finger pointing and
topic injection are so damn dumb it's impossible to take anything you
write seriously.
You are the ultimate enemy of your own crusade.
bel
>
>
>
>
de Fragile Warrior Sports Supplies
Oh, I don't think he wants to get the op, I think he just wants to have one
and can't figure out why no women will share their's with him. In fact,
he's probably trying to figure out why they run screaming into the night
after talking with him for five minutes.
Betsy
Right. Thousands of women give birth every day. Next time a man does, I
promise I will sit up and pay attention. Dope.
Betsy
Betsy
|
| HAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa!!!
|
| Am I the only one? Really???
|
| No one else notices that the entire crew of a ship (presumably mostly
male)
| is lost at sea, together with ONE female passenger, and the only
| "disappearance"
| that apparently "lingers" is that of the *woman*? The men don't even
| signify.
Shipwrecked men have received plenty of attention. The Wreck of the
Edmund Fitzgerald got a Ballad. The ships at Pearl Harbor have a famous
memorial. How about that National Geographic article that got so much
attention (it was fascinating) about the frozen sailors they found up in
the Arctic from the doomed ship looking for the NW Passage? Not to
mention all the various war ships that MEN write about in history books.
So stop yer infernal whining, Mikey. There is no conspiracy against
ships and men. This is simply an unusual case. That is what makes it
interesting.
Betsy
Michael Snyder
> Right. Thousands of women give birth every day. Next time a man does, I
> promise I will sit up and pay attention. Dope.
Right. It always comes down to "gestation justifies everything".
Bitch.
Michael Snyder
>
> Shipwrecked men have received plenty of attention.
Really? In this newsgroup? Name one.
In mass media, in this decade? Name one.
Betsy
<snerk> Poor loser.
Betsy
Oh please. See your left hand? The thumb? Put it in your mouth and shut
up. There. Doesn't that feel better?
Betsy
de Fragile Warrior Sports Supplies
Poor excuse for a man, too.
Phoenix
msn...@socmen.org says...
Snyder, this story is from 1812.
God you are an idiot.
bel
>
>
>
>
de Fragile Warrior Sports Supplies
"Phoenix" <avian...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1e238944d...@news-server.carolina.rr.com...
Seems to me I remember this sunken submarine called the Kursk, in the
not-to-distant past... Not a woman was mentioned, either. DAMN THE MANLY
PRESS MO'CHINE FOR HOLDING DOWN WOMENKIND!!!!
Sharonpo
Seems to me like you postmenopausal harpies' testosterone needs
adjusting.
mary, phd.
"Sharonpo" <_Shar...@cox.nettle> wrote in message
news:41u2l1F...@individual.net...
awwww...Snyder's got a GIRLFRIEND!
mary, phd.
Sharonpo
t...@comcast.com:
> "Sharonpo" <_Shar...@cox.nettle> wrote in message
>> Seems to me like you postmenopausal harpies' testosterone needs
>> adjusting.
> awwww...Snyder's got a GIRLFRIEND!
>
> mary, phd.
Jealous?
carm...@gmail.com
Not a grown man, still a boy, but Elian Gonzales did get a bit of
attention.
Carmen (who can't quite believe that you all are this peevish about
some dead chick)
de Fragile Warrior Sports Supplies
"mary, phd." <plain...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f-OdnRkq3pb...@comcast.com...
Couldn't happen to a lovelier pair of old, bitter, deluded, psychopaths.
Truly a match made in the seventh circle of Hell. They should be very happy
together. Let's just all thank God the snarky bitch is long past breeding
age.
Wild Monkshood
Phoenix wrote:
>
> Unless there is a super race of females who just don't die (outside of
> your genius brain) what in the hell are you talking about?
Paradise Island. Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman, hails from there.
Wild (Invisible Plane....) Monkshood
>
>>>
mary, phd.
"Sharonpo" <_Shar...@cox.nettle> wrote in message
shudder....
hardly.
mary, phd.
mary, phd.
"de Fragile Warrior Sports Supplies" <vol...@tds.net> wrote in message
news:43b9e78b$1...@newspeer2.tds.net...
I'll drink to that.
mary, phd. (grand marnier and coke tonight)
Michael Snyder
>
> "Michael Snyder" <msn...@socmen.org> wrote in message
> news:43b98a74$0$96014$742e...@news.sonic.net...
> |
> | "Betsy" <b.fe...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> | news:0v-dnY-T241...@comcast.com...
> | >
> | > Shipwrecked men have received plenty of attention.
> |
> | Really? In this newsgroup? Name one.
> | In mass media, in this decade? Name one.
> |
>
> Oh please.
Can't, huh?
Michael Snyder
<carm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1136256611.4...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>
> Michael Snyder wrote:
> > "Betsy" <b.fe...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > news:0v-dnY-T241...@comcast.com...
> > >
> > > Shipwrecked men have received plenty of attention.
> >
> > Really? In this newsgroup? Name one.
> > In mass media, in this decade? Name one.
>
> Not a grown man, still a boy, but Elian Gonzales did get a bit of
> attention.
Stretch much?
Michael Snyder
"Wild Monkshood" <wild_mo...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:q0muf.100504$aS5....@bignews4.bellsouth.net...
Boss! Boss! Get off the plane!
carm...@gmail.com
Why get snarky with me? You asked, I came up with an answer. A quick
Google shows this group discussed Elian to death. He was also a male
shipwreck survivor who dominated the mass media to the point of nausea
inducement.
Why on earth you give this sort of stuff so much rent free space in
your head is beyond me. Every time you stick out your chin at least a
half dozen people oblige by popping you one. You *know* that's going
to happen and you do it anyway. Why? It just doesn't make sense to
me. Can you explain it so it does?
Carmen
Michael Snyder
<carm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1136300613.6...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>
> Michael Snyder wrote:
> > <carm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> > news:1136256611.4...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> > >
> > > Michael Snyder wrote:
> > > > "Betsy" <b.fe...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > > > news:0v-dnY-T241...@comcast.com...
> > > > >
> > > > > Shipwrecked men have received plenty of attention.
> > > >
> > > > Really? In this newsgroup? Name one.
> > > > In mass media, in this decade? Name one.
> > >
> > > Not a grown man, still a boy, but Elian Gonzales did get a bit of
> > > attention.
> >
> > Stretch much?
>
> Why get snarky with me?
Right back at'cha babe...
> You asked, I came up with an answer.
And I commented that it's a stretch.
carm...@gmail.com
Michael Snyder wrote:
> <carm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1136300613.6...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> >
> > Michael Snyder wrote:
> > > <carm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> > > news:1136256611.4...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> > > >
> > > > Michael Snyder wrote:
> > > > > "Betsy" <b.fe...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > > > > news:0v-dnY-T241...@comcast.com...
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Shipwrecked men have received plenty of attention.
> > > > >
> > > > > Really? In this newsgroup? Name one.
> > > > > In mass media, in this decade? Name one.
> > > >
> > > > Not a grown man, still a boy, but Elian Gonzales did get a bit of
> > > > attention.
> > >
> > > Stretch much?
> >
> > Why get snarky with me?
>
> Right back at'cha babe...
>
> > You asked, I came up with an answer.
>
> And I commented that it's a stretch.
It came across as peevish, as in "Nobody was supposed to answer that.
You ruined my point by coming up with an example."
Carmen
Michael Snyder
<carm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1136310322....@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
That's your interpretation. And you didn't ruin my point,
because you didn't come up with an example. Not a meaningful one.
Phoenix
msn...@socmen.org says...
Why should she? It doesn't prove anything. Why does it matter if
shipwrecked men have been mentioned in the last hundred years when
referencing an article from 1812?
bel
>
>
>
>
carm...@gmail.com
Whatever you say Michael. Have a good day.
Carmen
Phoenix
msn...@socmen.org says...
You ruin your own point.
> because you didn't come up with an example. Not a meaningful one.
Meaningful to what? Snyder's psychosis? Sorry, your pathologies don't
matter in the least for meaningful discourse.
If you can't see that the disappearance of Aaron Burr's daughter is
significant enough to note independently of all other people lost at sea
for the last millennia, then you are woefully and willfully psychotic.
Example of what? If you need some back-up fact, apropos of nothing, to
satisfy your anger at the world - you go find it.
bel
>
>
>
>
>
>
Wild Monkshood
Phoenix wrote:
>
>
>>because you didn't come up with an example. Not a meaningful one.
>
>
>
> Meaningful to what? Snyder's psychosis? Sorry, your pathologies don't
> matter in the least for meaningful discourse.
>
> If you can't see that the disappearance of Aaron Burr's daughter is
> significant enough to note independently of all other people lost at sea
> for the last millennia, then you are woefully and willfully psychotic.
And, it overlooks the fact that the portrait was one of the "facts"
that made this story. How many men had a portrait recovered? See how
silly it becomes....
Wild Monkshood