The Story of the Pea Island Life Savers Essays

The Story of the Pea Island Life Savers Essays The Story of the Pea Island Life Savers Paper The Story of the Pea Island Life Savers Paper JJ 1 J. J. . . . The Story of the Pea Island Life Savers In July of 2007, I explored the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the first time. I had driven down Highway 12 to a beach house for the summer vacation. The environment of the open sea touched by the narrow land gave me a feeling of wonderment as I observed the coastline and its beauty. During that first visit I noted that the ocean surf was strong and the sky constantly changing. On each visit to the Outer Banks, I challenged myself to learn something new of the Outer Banks long history. It was on my third visit to the Outer Banks when I discovered the story of a unique group of black men who were Life Savers. These black Life Savers worked for the government after the reconstruction period of the Civil War and defined the standard of performance in the United States Life-Saving Service; later to become the United States Coast Guard. My history lesson of this unique group black Life Savers began at the Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station Historic Site. My wife and I spent the day traveling along Highway 12 until we reached the Lifesaving Station in the village of Rodanthe. I met James Charlet who was the Site Manager for the Chicamacomico Lifesaving. James shared his passion for the history of the U. S Life-Saving Service with me. He recommended the documentary film RESCUE MEN-The Story of Pea Island to me. James said the DVD would explain about the U. S Life-Saving Service of the Outer Banks. JJ 2 The film begins with a quote The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. from Martian Luther King. At the beginning of the film, I was placed in the middle of a great storm on the terrible night of October 11, 1896 when the schooner E. S. Newman grounded south of the Pea Island Lifesaving Station. Captain S. A. Gardiner and eight others clinging to the wreckage saw two life savers swimming toward them and realized they were black men. It was not until 1996 that the crew of the Pea Island Life-Saving Station was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal for their efforts in saving all crew and family members. This late but honorable recognition was explained in further detail in the film. Blacks living during the â€Å"Jim Crow† era as these Life Savers were, found their contributions to the history of the Outer Banks often neglected from the public they served. A key character in the film was Richard Etheridge, a slave born on January 16, 1842. Etheridge was the property of John B. Etheridge on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Large plantations did not exist in the Outer Banks; African Americans were relatively few and slavery limited. During his early life, Richard Etheridge learned to work the sea, fishing, piloting boats and combing the beach for the refuse of wrecks. Even though it was illegal to do so, his master also taught him to read and write. After the fighting began between the States, the Outer Banks were the site of one of the first Northern invasions. In February 1862, Union commanders employed black labor to build fortifications for the Union armies. The Union realized the potential that the recruitment of Southern blacks offered their forces but at the same time diminishing the oppositions labor JJ 3 supply. Black troops started to enlist during the summer of 1863. Richard Etheridge joined on August 28. In the 1870s, some of the Outer Banks black army veterans found jobs as Surfmen in the U. S. Life-Saving Service, which had opened seven stations on North Carolina’s coast. Until 1880, the men served with white men at various stations along the Outer Banks in integrated or â€Å"checkerboard† crews. After fighting in the Civil War for the Union, Richard Etheridge joined the U. S. Life-Saving Service. During this time in the Outer Banks, the U. S. Life-Saving Service was full of cronyism and white crews were handpicked by the local politicians. Blacks only held the lowest of positions, such as cooks and stable hands. It was not until the Pea Island Life-Saving Station, crewed by mostly whites, had become incapable of performing rescues that Sumner Kimball, the General Superintendent of the U. S. Life-Saving Service, appointed Richard Etheridge keeper of the Pea Island Station. Etheridge the only black man to lead a lifesaving crew and became the Pea Island Station first black Captain. Captain Etheridge recruited and trained only blacks to man Station 17 know as the Pea Island Station. In 1880, although civilian attitudes towards Etheridge and his men ranged from curiosity to outrage, the Pea Island Station crew figured among the most courageous Surfmen in the service, performing many daring rescues from 1880 to the closing of the station in 1947. The film provides many insightful details of the daily lives of these black Surfmen who turn out to be the best Live Saving crew of the Outer Banks. At the conclusion of the film, the JJ 4 narrator leaves the viewer with his observation. â€Å"The Pea Island crew saved scores of men, women and children, who, under other circumstances would have been considered the hands of those reaching out to help them, to be of the wrong race. † I look forward to my next visit to the Outer Banks and may I be as fortunate to discover something new about the history of North Carolina.