On Oct. 11, 1896, during hurricane conditions and in the darkness of the night, Keeper Richard Etheridge and the all-Black surfmen crew he commanded at the Pea Island Life-Saving Station — Benjamin Bowser, Dorman Pugh, Theodore Meekins, Lewis Wescott, Stanley Wise and William Irving — saved all onboard the shipwrecked schooner.
On this day: Etheridge becomes Life-Saving Station Keeper
On Jan. 24, 1880, Etheridge, who grew up enslaved on Roanoke Island and fought with the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War, became the first Black person in the nation to command a U.S. Life-Saving Service station.
A special time to remember the 1896 E.S. Newman rescue
The Miami-based Coast Guard Cutter Richard Etheridge is named for the first African American to command a Life Saving Station, one known for the Oct. 11, 1896, rescue of all onboard the shipwrecked schooner.
