Cape Hatteras

Cape on the coast of eastern North Carolina, USA, which projects into the Atlantic from Hatteras Island. This is where the cold waters of the North Atlantic meet the warm Gulf Stream, causing great turbulence; more than 700 shipwrecks are said to have occurred here, and the area is nicknamed ‘the Graveyard of the Atlantic’.

Features Cape Hatteras lighthouse was built in 1870, and in 1999 had to be relocated 488 m/1,600 feet from the shoreline as a result of beach erosion. A new lighthouse offshore and global positioning satellite navigation have rendered the old lighthouse obsolete, but it remains the nation's tallest brick lighthouse and a tourist attraction.

The Atlantic coast of North America is lined for long distances by an offshore sandbar; this bar extends along virtually the whole of the North Carolina coast, enclosing behind it the lagoon-like waters of Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, and terminating at Cape Fear in the south. There are two promontories where the longshore drift changes direction: Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout. The sandbar is accessible by road via bridges over the sound, and the whole area has been designated the Cape Hatteras National Seashore since 1953. Sea life here is typical of both the temperate and tropical zones.