A gale’s howling winds take on a graver context where the ocean meets the treacherous Black Tip Shoals.  It has been told that at tale end of Hurricane Season along the Outer Banks, in years where the storms have raged for months, those moaning winds mask an even more ominous sound: The Howl of the Brine Wolf. The great beast is said to hibernate beneath the sandy outcroppings that line the coast and can only be awakened by the most intense and prolonged bouts of inclement weather. Often thought to be a tall tale, the first account of the great ocean predator came In November of 1862.  A local fisherman named Robert Hooper was surfcasting for sea mullet just north of the Black Tip Shoals when he spotted a Confederate Iron Clad chugging along past the breakers.  It would later be revealed that the vessel was CSS Braxton and that the ship was reported as “Overdue and Presumed Lost.” 

Robert Hooper’s claim of the Braxton’s fate was far less ambiguous. Lightening streaked the sky and moments later an ominous rumble of thunder shook the beach. The wind picked up and caused drizzle and sea spray to whip Hooper in the face. He began reeling in his line in an effort to take shelter before the final storm of the season commenced, but something stopped him. A howl.  He reported at that moment, he heard a blood curdling howl emanate from the deep. Robert stood frozen on the beach, his boots locked in place. His family had lived and worked these waters since they had arrived in America and the fisherman believed he had seen every danger this stretch of coastline could conjure up. That would prove to be wrong this particular evening. Hooper saw as what he described as two large, glowing eyes appear beneath the surf, 100 yards off the bow of the CSS Braxton.  The Brine Wolf then exploded from the dark sea, its scaly torso silhouetted by the fading light. It’s massive teeth gnashing, it’s piercing eyes glowing like enormous embers in the dusk. The beast seemingly possessed both the head of a great wolf and the body of a leviathan. It easily doubled the Braxton in length. The Brine Wolf’s grisly jaws cleaved the Iron Clad in half before a single sailor even realized there was a threat and the vessel descended into the Graveyard of the Atlantic in the blink of an eye. No one was spared. 

Hooper’s tale was the first of over a dozen accounts that spread along the Outer Banks over the next century and a half, cementing the Brine Wolf’s legacy as one of the most notorious folk tales of Barrier Island. It is that legendary beast that we at Black Tip Shoals Distillery  named “Brine Wolf Bourbon” after. Not to honor the monster but as acknowledgment. A show of respect for the dangers that shaped this patch of sand and sea that we call home.

Product Details

• Premium soft black tee
• Large back graphic featuring the Brine Wolf Bourbon 
• Front chest Black Tip Shoals Maritime Supply logo

Black Tip Shoals Maritime Supply
Born in the Graveyard of the Atlantic

Some ships were lost to history. Their legends still sail on. ☠️🌊🏴☠️