The W.E. Hutton and Suloide wrecks, which lie in approximately 60 feet of water, 12 miles southwest of Beaufort Inlet and almost due south of Bogue Inlet, are two big wrecks in close proximity to each other that both hold amberjack.
The two ships also share a bit of history.
The Hutton was a 453-foot long tanker that was carrying 65,000 barrels of heating oil from Smith’s Bluff, Tex., to Marcus Hook, Pa., on March 18, 1942, when it took two torpedos from the German submarine U-124. the boat sank, losing 13 of its 36 crewmen.
A year later, on March 26, 1943, the Suloide, a 338-foot freighter, was toting a load of manganese ore when it ran aground on the Hutton wreck. Although a tug was able to pull the Suloide off the Hutton, its hole was fatally damaged and its holds filled with water. It sank about a mile from the Hutton.
To prevent another mishap, the U.S. Coast Guard tried to destroy both wrecks. They used 50 tons of dynamite on the two wrecks to try and blow up any “upstanding” structure, and in May 1944, a wire dragged behind a Coast Guard cutter determined that none of the wreckages was less than 40 feet below the surface.
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