Former Pea Island surf man William C. Bowser displays a photograph of his grandfather, who served under 

 Richard Etheridge at the famed Outer Banks station. 



brothers might damage the fragile 

 infrastructure he was trying to build in 

 the already troubled district. 



The burning of the Pea Island 

 station did not mark the end of the all- 

 black crew. Instead, the station thrived. 

 The season following the fire, the crew 

 worked from the stables. A few months 

 later, they rebuilt their station. 



Etheridge ran his station with 

 military rigor. He followed orders to the 

 letter and expected the same of his men. 

 He drove them like soldiers, relentlessly 

 drilling them with the lifesaving 

 equipment, quizzing them on their 

 knowledge of procedure and ensuring 

 that the station was kept in impeccable 

 condition. The Pea Island crews became 

 known for their daring in the surf and 

 their commitment to duty, often under 

 perilous circumstances. 



Their most daring effort came on 



the night of Oct. 11, 1896, when the 

 schooner E.S. Newman ran aground 

 south of the station during a hurricane. 

 The Newman's captain had beached the 

 schooner in the hope of saving his crew, 

 which included his wife and 3-year-old 

 daughter. The storm was so violent that 

 Etheridge had canceled patrols for the 

 night for fear of losing one of his men to 

 the wind and surf that swept across the 

 inundated beach. 



From the observation tower, 

 surfman Theodore Meekins sighted a 

 light off the coast. Etheridge immedi- 

 ately mustered his crew and led them 

 two miles to the wreck. Once there, they 

 realized that their lifesaving equipment 

 was inoperable in the extreme condi- 

 tions. Reacting quickly, Etheridge 

 ordered that a line be tied between two 

 men and that those men swim the line to 

 the ship. Ten trips were made back and 



forth to the beach, one by one transport- 

 ing the crew of the Newman to safety. 



Over the generations, serving at the 

 Pea Island station became a time- 

 honored tradition among the young 

 black men of Roanoke Island. William 

 Bowser grew up hearing the stories of 

 the Newman and other rescues from his 

 grandfather, who had served under 

 Etheridge. He always knew that he, too, 

 would someday be a surfman. 



"It was in my blood that I would 

 go to Pea Island," says Bowser. "That's 

 all we had on our minds. We all wanted 

 to be just like them." □ 



David Wright, a professor at the 

 University of Massachusetts, and 

 David Zoby, a professor at Virginia 

 Commonwealth University, have been 

 researching the Pea Island Lifesaving 

 Station for the past year. 



COASTWATCH 9 



