Two Riders on the Storm Just Drop in (Local‪)‬

On April 11, 1956, two Costa Rican freighters plying the lower Chesapeake were caught off-guard by a sudden and ferocious nor' easter. Packing 70-mph winds and ganging up on high tides rarely seen in this region, the storm rudely shoved both vessels onto shoals and left them hard aground. One of them got off in a few weeks, but the Paraporti, a 400-foot tramp steamer, stayed and stayed and stayed. Long enough to become a tourist attraction. Long enough to burn its image into the memories of just about everyone then living in Hampton Roads. Strange enough to earn a permanent place in family photo albums.