| Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers Contributor(s): Wright, David (Author), Zoby, David (Author) |
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ISBN: 0195154843 ISBN-13: 9780195154849 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA OUR PRICE: $25.64 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 2002 Annotation: From the Civil War to the turn of the century, this is the true-life story of the original Coast Guard and one crew of African-American heroes who fought storms and saved lives off America's southeastern coast. 31 halftones. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Biography & Autobiography | Cultural, Ethnic & Regional - General - History | United States - 19th Century |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2002025112 |
| Physical Information: 0.87" H x 6.14" W x 9.28" (1.17 lbs) 352 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Chronological Period - 1900-1949 - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 - Cultural Region - South Atlantic - Cultural Region - Southeast U.S. - Geographic Orientation - North Carolina - Topical - Black History |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Fire on the Beach recovers the heroic, long-forgotten story of the only all-black crew in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1871 the Life-Saving Service, the precursor to the Coast Guard, was created by Congress to assure the safe passage of American and international shipping and to save lives and salvage cargo. Although it was decommissioned in 1915, a century ago the LSS boasted some two hundred stations, and the adventures of the now forgotten surfmen filled the pages of popular reading, from Harper's to the Baltimore Sun to the New York Herald. This book tells the story of Station 17 of Pea Island, North Carolina, and its courageous captain, Richard Etheridge. A former slave and Civil War veteran, Etheridge was appointed Keeper of the Pea Island station, but when the white crew already in place refused to serve under him, he recruited and trained an entirely black crew. Although they were among the most courageous in the service, leading many daring rescues and saving scores of men, women, and children along the treacherous stretch of coast known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic, civilian attitudes toward the Pea Island surfmen ranged from curiosity to outrage. When a hurricane hit the Banks in the late 1890s, they managed to save everyone aboard the wrecked E.S. Newman. This incredible feat went unrecognized for a century until, in 1996, the Coast Guard posthumously awarded Etheridge and his men the Gold Life-Saving Medal. This courageous story of a group of men who battled prejudice as well as fierce storms to carry out heroic deeds illustrates yet another example of the contribution of one group of remarkable African Americans to this country's history. |