Cape Fear is a prominent headland jutting into the Atlantic Ocean from Bald Head Island on the coast of North Carolina in the southeastern United States . It is largely formed of barrier beaches and the silty outwash of the Cape Fear River as it drains the southeast coast of North Carolina through an estuary south of Wilmington . Cape Fear is formed by the intersection of two sweeping arcs of shifting, low-lying beach, the result of longshore currents which also form the treacherous, shifting Frying Pan Shoals , part of the Graveyard of the Atlantic .
4-675: The Frying Pan Shoals are a shifting area of shoals off Cape Fear in North Carolina , United States. Formed by silt from the Cape Fear River , the shoals are over 28 miles long and resemble a frying pan in shape. They provide fishing. The shoals are known for the high number of shipwrecks found in the region and are deemed part of the Graveyard of the Atlantic . From May 1994 to August 2008, over 130 new shipwreck locations have been discovered in
8-419: The Atlantic at or near Cape Fear on March 1, 1524. The name comes from the 1585 expedition of Sir Richard Grenville . Sailing to Roanoke Island , his ship became embayed behind the cape. Some of the crew were afraid they would wreck, giving rise to the name Cape Fear. It is the fifth-oldest surviving English place name in the U.S. Cape Fear was the landing place of British General Sir Henry Clinton during
12-626: The area. Known since the beginning of European exploration , the shoals were marked on a map in 1738. The southern edge of the shoals has been marked by nine lightships including the Frying Pan , a light tower , and a weather buoy . The Bald Head Light and the Oak Island lighthouse have also provided warning to mariners. 33°48′04″N 77°56′49″W / 33.80111°N 77.94694°W / 33.80111; -77.94694 Cape Fear (headland) Dunes dominated by sea oats occur from
16-568: The upper beach drift line back to the stable secondary dunes, where they mix with other grasses such as saltmeadow cordgrass and panic grass , as well as seaside goldenrod , spurge and other herbs to form a stable salt-tolerant grassland . The Cape Fear estuary drains the largest watershed in North Carolina, containing 27% of the state's population. Giovanni da Verrazzano , the Italian explorer sailing for France , made landfall after crossing
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