Cape Fear River

But he did not find this most recent depredator, who had departed very promptly when he heard that armed ships were coming out of the harbor.

Now Mr. Rhett, who was no more of a sailor than Staid Bonnet had been when he first began his seafaring life, boldly made his way up the coast to the mouth of Cape Fear River, where he had been told the pirate vessel was lying.

When he reached his destination, Mr. Rhett found that it would not be an easy thing to ascend the river, for the reason that the pilots he had brought with him knew nothing about the waters of that part of the coast.

And although the two ships made their way very cautiously, it was not long after they had entered the river before they got out of the channel, and it being low tide, both of them ran aground upon sandbars.

If the Royal James had been ready to sail, there is no doubt that Bonnet would have taken his chance of finding the channel in the dark, and would have sailed away that night without regard to the cannonading which might have been directed against him from the two stranded vessels.

But as it was impossible to get ready to sail, Bonnet went to work with the greatest energy to get ready to fight.

He knew that when the tide rose there would be two armed sloops afloat, and that there would be a regular naval battle on the quiet waters of Cape Fear River.

All night his men worked to clear the decks and get everything in order for the coming combat, and all that night Mr. Rhett and his crews kept a sharp watch for any unexpected move of the enemy while they loaded their guns, their pistols, and their cannon, and put everything in order for action.

Once he had landed by night with two boat crews at the town of Smithville, being rowed under the very guns of Fort Caswell, walked with three men to General Lewis Hebert's headquarters, captured an officer of engineers, the general himself being absent in Wilmington, and had come safely away with his prisoner from a post garrisoned by a thousand men.

At another time, having volunteered to destroy the ironclad Raleigh, supposed to be lying in the Cape Fear River, he went in his cutter up the stream, eluding the sentries on either shore, landed within seven miles of Wilmington, thoroughly reconnoitered the place, found the Raleigh a total wreck, and after three days of adventures in which his luck and daring were equally amazing, he was intercepted on his return down the river in the moonlight by a whole fleet of guard boats and his escape apparently cut off.

Turning about, he found himself confronted by a schooner filled with troops.

Instead of surrendering, he dashed for New Inlet, and seconded by his crew, who always seemed with him as insensible to danger as himself, he escaped into the breakers where the enemy dared not follow, and safely rejoined his ship.

In spite of the utmost efforts of the national vessels, an extensive trade was carried on between these ports and those West Indian islands which had been taken as points of transshipment for the contraband goods exported from England to the Confederacy, and for the cotton which formed the only coin by which the South paid its debts to Europe.

There was a peculiarity about the harbor of Wilmington which rendered it the favorite port of entry for blockade runners.

The city stands on the Cape Fear River, about twenty-eight miles from the sea.

There is a good entrance to the river at its mouth and another by New Inlet, six miles in a straight line to the north.

Once he had landed by night with two boat crews at the town of Smithville being rowed under the very guns of Fort Caswell, walked with three men to General Lewis Haybert's headquarters, captured an officer of engineers, the general himself being absent in Wilmington, and had come safely away with his prisoner from a post garrisoned by a thousand men.

At another time having volunteered to destroy the ironclad Raleigh, supposed to be lying in the Cape Fear River, he went in his cutter up the stream, eluding the sentries on either shore, landed within seven miles of Wilmington, thoroughly reconnoitered the place, found the Raleigh a total wreck, and after three days of adventures in which his luck and daring were equally amazing, he was intercepted on his return down the river in the moonlight by a whole fleet of guard boats and his escape apparently cut off.

Turning about, he found himself confronted by a schooner filled with troops.

Instead of surrendering, he dashed for New Inlet, and seconded by his crew, who always seemed, when with him as insensible to danger as himself, he escaped into the breakers where the enemy dared not follow, and safely rejoined his ship.

In spite of the utmost efforts of the national vessels, an extensive trade was carried on between these ports and those West Indian islands which had been taken as points of transshipment for the contraband goods exported from England to the Confederacy and for the cotton which formed the only coin by which the South paid its debts to Europe.

There was a peculiarity about the harbor of Wilmington which rendered it the favorite port of entry for blockade runners.

The city stands on the Cape Fear River, about twenty-eight miles from the sea.

There is a good entrance to the river at its mouth and another by New Inlet, six miles in a straight line to the north.

North Carolina's just reached a $600 million legal settlement with chemical giant Chemours.

Yeah, the company is accused of dumping illegal, unpermitted PFA chemicals, or forever chemicals as they're known, into North Carolina waterways, including the Cape Fear River, the drinking water source for half a million residents.

Let's go to Penelope Lopez.

She's following this, joining us live with more on these breaking details of this settlement.

Penelope?

Hey, good afternoon.

You know, this is years in the making and a big win for tens of thousands of people who've been drinking water from the Cape Fear River, as well as other waterways.

Eyewitness News is learning that a vast majority of the settlement will go directly to local governments.

It moves us forward to a solution.

After years of litigation, chemical manufacturers Chemours and DuPont, who are accused of illegally dumping chemicals into the Cape Fear River, are now required to clean up.

And what this deal does is take big steps on both of those to help ensure clean drinking water and to punish these companies for

polluting it.

In 2017, the EPA found that Comoros dumped PFAS in the Cape Fear River, which supplies drinking water to half a million residents.

Thursday's $455 million agreement is the largest environmental damage payment in the state's history and will be spread over 15 years.

In a statement posted online, Comores says the settlement recognizes the significant investments and progress made under the 2019 consent order with the state of North Carolina, including substantial reductions in PFAS emissions from Fayetteville Works.

Just as his vessel was ready to sail, Mr. Rat received news that a pirate ship had captured two or three merchantmen just outside the harbor, and he was put out to sea with all possible haste and cruised up and down the coast for some time, but he did not find this most recent depredator, who had departed very promptly when he heard that armed ships were coming out of the harbor.

Now Mr. Rat, who was no more of a sailor than stayed Bonnet had been when he first began his seafaring life, boldly made his way up the coast to the mouth of Cape Fear River, where he had been told the pirate vessel was lying.

When he reached his destination, Mr. Rat found that it would not be an easy thing to ascend the river.

river.for the reason that the pilots he had brought with him knew nothing about the waters of that part of the coast and although the two ships made their way very cautiously it was not long after they had entered the river before they got out of the channel and it being low tide both of them ran aground upon sandbars this was a very annoying accident but it was not disastrous for the sailing masters who commanded the sloops knew very well that when the tide rose their vessels would float again but it prevented mr rhett from going on and making an immediate attack upon the pirate vessel the top masts of which could be plainly seen behind a high headland some distance up the river of course bonnet or captain thomas as he now chose to be called soon became aware of the fact that two good-sized vessels were lying around near the mouth of the river and having a very natural curiosity to see what sort of craft they were he waited until nightfall and then sent three armed boats to make observations when the boats returned to the royal james and reported that the grounded vessels were not well-loaded trading craft but large sloops full of men and armed with cannon bonnet for we prefer to call him by his old name had good reasons to fold his arms knit his brows and strut up and down the deck he was sure that the armed vessels came from charlestown and there was no reason to doubt that if the governor of south carolina had sent two ships against him the matter was a very serious one he was pent up in the river he had only one fighting vessel to contend against two and if he could not succeed in getting out to sea before he should be attacked by the charlestown ships there would be little chance of his continuing in his present line of business if the royal james had been ready to sail there is no doubt that bonnet would have taken his chance of finding the channel in the dark and would have sailed away that night without regard to the cannonading which might have been directed against him from the two stranded vessels but as it was impossible to get ready to sail bonnet went to work with the greatest energy to get ready to fight he knew that when the tide rose there would be two armed sloops afloat and that there would be a regular naval battle on the quiet waters of cape fear river all night his men worked to clear the decks and get everything in order for the coming combat and all that night mr rhett and his crews kept a sharp watch for any unexpected move of the enemy while they loaded their guns their pistols and their cannon and put everything in order for action very early in the morning the wide-awake crews of the south carolina vessels which were now afloat and at anchor saw that the topmasts of the pirate craft were beginning to move above the distant headland and very soon bonnet's ship came out into view under full sail and as she veered around they saw that she was coming toward them up went the anchors and up went the sails of the henry and the sea nymph and the naval battle between the retired army officer who had almost learned to be a sailor and the private gentleman from south carolina who knew nothing whatever about managing ships was about to begin it was plain to the south carolinians that the great object of the pirate captain was to get out to sea just as soon as he could and that he was coming down the river not because he wished to make an immediate attack upon them but because he hoped to slip by them and get away of course they could follow him upon the ocean and fight him if their vessels were fast enough but once out of the river with plenty of sea-room he would have twenty chances of escape where now he had one but mr rhett did not intend that the pirates should play him this little trick he wanted to fight the dastardly wretches in this river where they could not get away and he had no idea of letting them sneak out to sea consequently as the royal james under full sail was making her way down the river keeping as far as possible from her two enemies mr rhett ordered his ships to bear down upon her so as to cut off her retreat and force her toward the opposite shore of the river this manoeuvre was performed with great success the two charlestown sloops sailed so boldly and swiftly toward the royal james that the latter was obliged to hug the shore and the first thing the pirates knew they were stuck fast and tight upon a sandbar three minutes afterward the henry ran upon a sandbar and there being enough of these obstructions in that river to satisfy any ordinary demand the sea nymph was very soon grounded herself upon another of them but unfortunately she took up her permanent position at a considerable distance from her consort here now were the vessels which were to conduct this memorable sea-fight all three fast in the sand and unable to move and their predicament was made the worse by the fact that it would be five hours before the tide would rise high enough for any one of them to float the positions of the three vessels were very peculiar and awkward the henry and the royal james were lying so near to each other that mr rhett could have shot major bonnet with a pistol if the latter gentleman had given him the chance and the sea nymph was so far away that she was entirely out of the fight and her crew could do nothing but stand and watch what was going on between the other two vessels but although they could not get any nearer each other nor get away from each other the pirates and mr rhett's crew had no idea of postponing the battle until they should be afloat and able to fight in the ordinary fashion of ships they immediately began to fire at each other with pistols muskets and cannon and the din and roar was something that must have astonished the birds and beasts and fishes of that quiet region as the tide continued to run out of the river and its waters became more and more shallow the two contending vessels began to careen over to one side and unfortunately for the henry they both careened in the same direction and in such a manner that the deck of the royal james was inclined away from the henry while the deck of the latter leaned towards her pirate foe This gave a great advantage to Bonnet and his crew, for they were in a great measure protected by the hull of their vessel, whereas the whole deck of the Henry was exposed to the fire of the pirates.

But Mr. Rhett and his South Carolinians were all brave men, and they blazed away with their muskets and pistols at the pirates whenever they could see a head above the rail of the Royal James, while with their cannon they kept firing at the pirate's hull.

For five long hours the fight continued, but the cannon carried by the two vessels must have been of a very small caliber, for if they had been firing at such short range and for such a length of time with modern guns, they must have shattered each other into kindling wood.