THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996 TAG: 9610100359
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: 102 lines
For historians like Steve Harrison, the rescue of the people aboard the schooner E.S. Newman 100 years ago is an important chapter in the history of the Pea Island Lifesaving Station.
But for 60-year-old Lindsey Bowser, the storied station is part of his heritage. He's a descendant of Benjamin Bowser, who was a member of the African-American crew that carried out the daring rescue.
On Friday, the lifesavers of Pea Island will be honored in ceremonies commemorating the centennial of the saving of the passengers and crew of the three-masted ship off the North Carolina coast.
``It makes me proud,'' said Bowser of Roanoke Island, a tear dripping from the corner of his eye. ``It's the reason I joined the Coast Guard.''
On the night of Oct. 11, 1896, the crew of the Pea Island Lifesaving Station, led by Keeper Richard Etheridge, battled hurricane-force winds and the surging waters of the Atlantic to save all nine on the vessel. Outer Banks historian David Stick wrote that the crew ``accomplished the near-impossible.''
Last March, the seven-member crew was honored posthumously with specially minted lifesaving medals by the U.S. Coast Guard in ceremonies in Washington.
Friday, at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, their memory will be honored again. Many of the descendants of the Pea Island lifesavers are expected to be on hand for the 10 a.m. ceremonies. Etheridge is buried near the aquarium.
U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Bruce Frail said Friday's ceremony marks a special day in the history of the United States Lifesaving Service, a precursor to today's Coast Guard. From 1879 to 1947, Pea Island had the only all-African American crew in the United States Lifesaving Service.
``Since Friday marks the 100th anniversary of the rescue of the E.S. Newman, it's an important day in the history of the Coast Guard,'' Frail said. ``Descendants of the crew at Pea Island will be recognized, as will a descendant of the passengers on the Newman. Without the work of the men of Pea Island, that descendant would not be here today.''
Historians David Wright and David Zoby, who have done extensive research on the Pea Island Station, will be the featured speakers.
A Coast Guard helicopter and vessel will be on hand for the ceremonies, as will an 1883 Lyle Gun, a bronze cannon that was a key lifesaving tool for the Pea Island crew.
Harrison, a National Park Service curator at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, said there is a good chance the gun to be displayed Friday was the one hauled to the E.S. Newman disaster.
``Once we found the gun, we were able to link it to the Pea Island Station,'' Harrison said. ``There is a 50-50 chance that this was the gun hauled to the Newman site.''
Developed by Army Lt. David A. Lyle in 1878, the Lyle Gun was used to propel lines to ships in distress. A sand anchor, used to tighten lines for a lifesaving device known as a breeches buoy, could not be buried in the sand due to the rising waters.
There were two Lyle Guns at the station on the night of Oct. 11. Crew members pulled the 162-pound gun two miles through the sand to the site of the rescue effort, a mile and a half north of Oregon Inlet. But because of the powerful surf and high wind, the gun could not be used.
In desperation, a large-size shot line was tied around two surfmen. The rescuers were hauled aboard the Newman by the ship's crew. The 3-year-old child and the wife of the ship's captain were tied to the surfmen, who battled roiling seas to get them to shore.
Then, taking turns, Etheridge's crew made 10 trips to the schooner to complete the daring rescue. The Newman was a total loss, but its passengers and crew were saved.
Lindsey Bowser has heard the stories of the rescuers since his childhood, from family members and neighbors on Roanoke Island.
``Benjamin Bowser served for about two months, and then formed pneumonia and died,'' Bowser said. ``I think this recognition is very important to the relatives. I think everybody who lived on Roanoke Island was touched by the Pea Island Station.''
Bowser said one of his biggest influences was Capt. Maxie Berry, who served at Pea Island in later years.
``He made me interested in Pea Island,'' Bowser said. ``I didn't really understand the importance of it until I was older, and in the working world.''
And Bowser had a famous friend who had planned to write the history of the Pea Island Station, but died before it could be written.
``I knew Alex Haley,'' Bowser said. ``He had wanted to write a history, but he passed before it could be done.
A number of myths swirl around Etheridge and how he became keeper at Pea Island. Some say that U.S. Lifesaving Service officials did not know Etheridge was African-American when he was named to the leadership post. Others say those officials wanted to make an example of Etheridge's incompetent white predecessors by appointing a black man. Bowser dismissed both of those theories.
``They knew him,'' he said. ``They had been down here fishing and had talked to him and looked him in the eye. They knew he was a black man. They wouldn't give him a job like that without knowing who they were talking to. I don't believe it was an accident.''
While the rescue of the Newman is an important milestone in African-American history, Harrison said the story of the E.S. Newman rescue transcends race.
``This is the kind of human experience we can all relate to,'' Harrison said. ``I don't know if we can completely understand it. When you think about men lugging equipment one or two miles through sand in hurricane-force winds, then fighting the surf to rescue those people, it's amazing. This is a real testament to the human spirit.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DREW C. WILSON, The Virginian-Pilot
Friday is the 100th anniversary of the rescue of the schooner E.S.
Newman. Lindsey Bowser is a descendent of a crewmember. by CNB