THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: Monday, October 7, 1996 TAG: 9610070059 SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA TYPE: NORTH CAROLINA BRIEFS LENGTH: 25 lines
The North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island will host a 100th anniversary commemoration and dedication ceremony honoring Pea Island Lifesavers at 10 a.m. Friday.
Conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard, the ceremony will commemorate the centennial anniversary of the historic E.S. Newman rescue by the members of the Pea Island U.S. Lifesaving Station. Officials will dedicate an exhibit containing the Gold Lifesaving Medal crew members won for that rescue.
The Pea Island Lifesaving Station, built in 1878, was one of 18 stations on the Outer Banks run by the U.S. Lifesaving Service. It was the only unit in the history of the Coast Guard to be manned by an all-black crew. The unit was led by Richard Etheridge, who became the first black man appointed as keeper of a lifesaving station on Jan. 24, 1880.
Etheridge and the six other surfmen who comprised the Pea Island unit were involved in several notable rescues such as the Thomas J. Lancaster in 1881, the Charles C. Lister in 1888, and the E.F. Newman in 1896 - the most famous and dramatic rescue conducted by the lifesavers. by CNB