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When you think of the beach, you likely picture a peaceful, relaxing scene. Warm sun, hot sand, happy children playing in the surf, seagulls calling, it smells of suntan lotion, salt, and something slightly fishy and yet somehow not at all offputting. But if you’ve ever visited the beach during a storm, a serious storm - a nor’easter or a hurricane - then you know first hand that that paradise can just as easily become a hellscape. Strong winds whip, driving sea spray and sand into your eyes until you’re near blind. Heavy surf crashes thunderously, incessantly upon the shore which appears to have disappeared entirely. There is no beach. Everything is white and gray and wet and pulling, sucking outward, threatening to rip you away with it, away from the land, in a swirling, heaving mass of confusion and chaos. It’s deafening, booming, was that thunder or the waves crashing? That was definitely a scream. Because out there somewhere, God knows where, there is a ship. You squint your eyes into the briny gloam, hold on tight to something, anything. There are people on that ship, a woman, a little boy, and you are the only one who can save them. That was the reality for Richard Etheridge, keeper of the Pea Island Life Saving Station on the night of October 11, 1896 when his all Black crew defied the odds to rescue the lives aboard the wreck of the E.S. Newman in the middle of a hurricane. Richard Etheridge, whose life reads like the plot of an award winning feature film and yet most of you have probably never heard of him. Let’s fix that.

Hello, I’m Shea LaFountaine and you’re listening to History Fix where I discuss lesser known true stories from history you won’t be able to stop thinking about. This episode technically stands alone but it is so connected to last week’s episode about the Roanoke Island Freedmen’s Colony that you really probably should go back and listen to that one first. I am back this week with the story of another incredibly impressive man whose name is not as well known as it should be because of the color of his skin. Despite growing up on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and maintaining a lifelong interest in history, the first time I heard mention of Richard Etheridge was as an adult, as a 4th grade teacher actually. 4th grade social studies is all about North Carolina history. And several years in a row, while I was teaching, we had some folks from the Pea Island Preservation society come give a presentation to our students about Richard Etheridge and his work as a keeper for the US Life Saving Service in the late 1800s. One of those people who came to my classroom was Joan Collins, you heard from her last week and she will join me again this week.

Joan: My name is Joan Collins, I am a board member with the Pea Island Preservation Society Inc. We’re also called PIPSI, the Pea Island Preservation Society Inc. But we’re a non profit organization located on Roanoke Island and our mission is to promote the history of Keeper Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Life Savers, a history that’s also connected to the story of the enslaved, the story of the Freedmen’s Colony on Roanoke Island.

Another person, the man running the show, was Joan’s cousin Darrell Collins. I’d actually like to dedicate this episode to the memory of Darrell Collins who passed away just a couple months ago. Darrell was a beloved local historian, one of the top 3 Wright Brothers historians in the world actually, who spent 40 years as historian at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. He was president of the Pea Island Preservation Society, and, like Joan, a descendant of the Roanoke Island Freedmen’s Colony. I would love nothing more than to have Darrell here to speak with us today and I feel so honored to have heard him give his captivating Richard Etheridge presentation to my students year after year. Honored. So, this one’s for you Darrell. Thank you for bringing Outer Banks history to life for so many people.

Richard Etheridge was born in 1842, likely on the Outer Banks. His mother’s name was Rachel Dough and she was enslaved by a man named John B. Etheridge. We do not know for sure who Richard’s father was. There’s nothing official that tells us that information. But most people believe that John B. Etheridge was actually his father. And it’s mostly just circumstantial evidence that points to that. He enslaved Richard’s mother Rachel and so, when Richard was born, he enslaved Richard too. But, as I said last week, Richard wasn’t raised like most enslaved children would have been. John was part of a very prominent family, the Etheridges. His brother, Adam Dough Etheridge owned a farm on Roanoke Island. Today it’s called Island Farm and it’s an attraction in Manteo. My kids go there to the pumpkin patch on school field trips every fall. It’s actually really really cool. They’ve restored the old house there to what it would have looked like in the mid 19th century. There’s a cook house and a blacksmith and an outhouse and sheep and chickens and cows and one of the most gloriously beautiful oak trees I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s truly picturesque and it’s like stepping back in time. That’s the Etheridge farm. And at the time when the house was built in 1847, it was considered a mansion. They called it the mansion house. Now, if you go visit today, and you walk around the house, it’s actually quite small and like not very fancy at all. So that says a lot what life on Roanoke Island was like at the time. If that was a mansion, regular houses must have been just like shacks. But the guy who owned that farm, the guy who built that house, his brother was John B. Etheridge who enslaved and probably fathered Richard Etheridge. And so Richard was raised as part of the Etheridge household. Yes, he was enslaved but he was taught to read and write, which was actually illegal at the time. So why would John B. Etheridge break the law to teach this boy he enslaved to read and write? That’s preferential treatment, the kind of preferential treatment that suggests Richard was more to him than just a random boy he enslaved. Now John never came out and said that Richard Etheridge was his son but the way he was treated, the way he was raised and favored by the family certainly suggests it.

Joan: You know, Richard Ethridge grew up on Roanoke Island, being enslaved you know so he was enslaved, and his master is thought to be a man named John B. Ethridge you know also that name the Ethridge name the Etheridge white name you know is part obviously of the history of this area but John B Etheridge and the Etheridge family also you know once had land near the Bodie Island lighthouse and John B Ethridge at one point you know was in charge of the lighthouse there. So Richard Etheridge is you know his to be his biological son. So Ethridge would’ve grown up you know, obviously like many who lived here, knowing the waterways, knowing the ocean, you know becoming an expert Waterman.

John B. Etheridge was a successful fisherman in the area and Richard spent a lot of time aboard his enslaver’s fishing boats, learning the ways of the water, the weather patterns, the dangers of the Graveyard of the Atlantic. This knowledge would serve him well in later years. Now, Roanoke Island is very small, about 12 miles long and 3 miles wide, and it has pretty poor soil for growing crops so there weren’t any large plantations on Roanoke Island or on the Outer Banks. Just small farms like what John’s brother Adam ran. So, because there weren’t large plantations out here, there weren’t large numbers of enslaved people either. Records show that John B. Etheridge enslaved around 9 people. Now, to the west, on the mainland, there were large plantations where hundreds of people were enslaved. Somerset Plantation comes to mind, near what is now Creswell, North Carolina. That’s about an hour drive from Roanoke Island. The family that owned Somerset was the Collins family and it’s likely no coincidence that that is also Joan’s last name. As she mentioned in last week’s episode, Joan believes her ancestors likely came from Somerset or another plantation owned by the Collins family.

In 1862, when Richard Etheridge was 20 years old, Union forces led by General Ambrose Burnside took over Roanoke Island. They stormed ashore and took it from the Confederacy with very few casualties. The Confederates just surrendered. They were massively outnumbered and outgunned. After Union forces took the island, they declared all the enslaved people there contraband and promptly freed them. Many stayed to work for the Union army, rebuilding the forts on the island, and many more came from surrounding areas, like Somerset. Because, if they could make it to Roanoke Island, to where the Union army was now camped out, they would be free. And so a colony was started on the northwest part of the island, a Freedmen’s Colony. That was all in last week’s episode, if you missed it. Little recap for you there. Richard Etheridge was around 20 years old when this happened.

In 1863, after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation officially freeing all enslaved people in the US, formerly enslaved people could officially join the army. And that is what Richard Etheridge did. He joined the Union army and was part of the newly formed 36th United States Colored Troops.

Joan: But when the Civil War broke out, you know Etheridge like others on Roanoke Island, other Blacks on Roanoke Island, left to fight for the Union. So he eventually is part of the 36th regiment of colored troops.

At first, Richard’s unit, the 36th, played mostly secondary roles, as prisoner of war guards in Point Lookout, Maryland. They also conducted raids, going down into Virginia to steal supplies, horses, cattle, and even enslaved people from the Confederacy and bringing them across the border into Maryland where they became contraband and where the enslaved people became free people. In September of 1864, the 36th distinguished itself in the Battle of New Market Heights, Virginia. This was an important victory for the Union. It was another big step towards capturing the Confederate capital of Richmond. And I don’t know exactly what role Richard Etheridge played in winning this particular battle but I know he was promoted to sergeant two days after the battle which suggests that he was instrumental indeed. According to the US Coast Guard quote “Beyond the tactical gains lay an even more remarkable accomplishment; former slaves like Sgt. Etheridge had fought for their freedom as soldiers. In a world full of racism and doubt, these men shattered the false narrative of inferiority. Instead, the U.S. Colored Troops had proved themselves to be heroes to their country, and victors beyond reproach, earning 14 Medals of Honor,” end quote.

While he was away fighting to end slavery and save the United States, it was brought to his attention that conditions back at the Freedmen’s Colony on Roanoke Island were less than favorable. Rations that had been promised to families of enlisted men had been drastically cut and people were hungry. Plus the whole thing was being horribly mismanaged. Together with another soldier named William Benson, he wrote a letter to the Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau to air their grievances.

Joan: Ethridge, you know also is obviously staying in communication with people that lived on the Freedmen’s colony. You know he co-author a letter while he was serving as part of the Union basically asking that the people that were left at the Freedmen’s colony you know be treated better than you know that people were still stealing their food and you know stuff like that so he’s always an advocate, obviously for the fair and right treatment of others.

I read Etheridge’s full letter in last week’s episode but they're mostly complaining about a guy named Holland Streeter, the assistant superintendent of the colony who is doing a terrible job. Richard talks about how quote “white soldiers break into our houses act as they please steal our chickens rob our gardens and if anyone defends their-Selves against them they are taken to the guardhouse for it, so our families have no protection when Mr. Streeter is here to protect them and will not do it,” end quote. He concludes the letter quote “General we the soldiers of the 36th U.S. Co Troops having families at Roanoke Island humbly petition you to favor us by removing Mr. Streeter the present Asst Supt at Roanoke Island under Captain James." And he signs the letter, "on behalf of humanity, Richard Etheridge, William Benson.” On behalf of humanity. Now, I want to point out that at this time, Richard Etheridge does not yet have a wife and children back on Roanoke Island. This situation is not affecting him personally and yet still, he steps up to advocate for others who are suffering because that was the kind of man Richard Etheridge was.

After the Civil War, Richard and the rest of the Black troops he served with were reorganized into the 9th and 10th Cavalry and sent to Texas. And that might sound familiar if you listened to episode 49 about Buffalo Soldiers. Yes, Richard Etheridge was a buffalo soldier for a short time. And, if you listened to that episode, then you know the Buffalo Soldiers were not treated very well. By 1866, Richard and the other men in his unit were owed 10 months of back pay, had had their rations cut in half, and were still getting reports of abuse from their families back on Roanoke Island. Richard leaves the military in December of 1866 and returns to the Outer Banks. So he goes home, he gets married. And he does what he knows how to do, he fishes. By 1867, the Freedmen’s colony had been officially decommissioned and much of the land had been given back to the previous landowners. Most of the African Americans who had been living in the colony, moved away. The island just could not sustain them all. Some, around 300, stayed. Richard Etheridge is one of the ones who stayed, which makes sense, he was born and raised there. He was a successful fisherman and was actually able to purchase over 100 acres of land, according to the US Coast Guard. Which is significant. Then he sets his sights on a new profession:

Joan: He left at around 21 years old and he fights in the Civil War and after the war ends he comes back to Roanoke Island, and you know basically starts a family and gets his first job and his job is with the United States Service.

Yeah, do you think there’s any connection, I’m just thinking like if his, who we assume to possibly be his father had connections to the Bodie Island lighthouse, do you think there was a connection there as to why he became involved in life-saving was it was related…

Joan: Well, I mean, I think so. I mean well first of all people you know also I find have this you know kind of classic image of the enslaved you know they don’t view the enslave necessarily as people who lived on the coast all of their lives, as people who were the expert Waterman, as people you know, I mean, think of, think of this kind of complicated history where you also have you know people who, as I said like in my family might have Native American ties people have ties obviously to the African slave trade, you know people have ties too early the colonist that come. But they’re people who also who you know are used to living in this environment. This type of environment is particularly with respect obviously to you know those may have been used to in a living in rough conditions in the environment in Africa or Native Americans that lived here or whatever but there and even, you know I think if you study Civil War history, you will see how even the enslaved you know were allowed to leave their plantation sometimes because they were the ones that guided people through these waterways and you know they you know so they very much had roles that I think people don’t necessarily think enough about. Because you know you got this, even kids, you know we talk to kids a lot. You know what do you know bout slavery or the enslaved and they don’t know much but what they do know is not an image necessarily of people you know with the skill sets that are so important to survival. You know so, the story of Richard Ethridge and the Pea Island lifesavers obviously is very contrary to that image that already is out there for so many so we want to change.

I think that was Joan’s way of politely telling me you know, sure his biological father may have been a lighthouse keeper but that’s not the only reason he became involved in life saving. It’s not so crazy, really, for a Black man in this area to join the lifesaving service. John B. Etheridge aside, stereotypes aside, he had the skills and the knowledge and the courage and strength for that type of job. In the late 1870s, the US Life Saving Service was officially established. And this connected life saving stations spread out along the coast into one cohesive unit. As I have said time and time again, this stretch of coastline, along the Outer Banks, is incredibly dangerous because of unpredictable weather, shifting sands, and dangerous shoals that ground unsuspecting ships without warning - the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Literally thousands of ships, upwards of 5,000 ships have sunk off North Carolina’s coast. Tremendous loss of life right here in these waters. And so this necessitated a life saving service where men were stationed at various places along the beach to try to rescue any survivors from these shipwrecks. Now men had already been doing this along the Outer Banks just out of necessity, but by the 1870s it became an official like US government service, the US Life Saving Service.

Richard Etheridge, always a man of service, joined the newly formed US Life Saving Service in 1875. He was first stationed at Oregon Inlet and later at Bodie Island. At Bodie Island, he was surfman number 6 which is the lowest possible rank. And that wasn’t because he was less experienced or less skilled than the other life savers. The US Life Saving Service did not allow Black men to rank higher than white men at the time and this was what they called a “checkerboard” crew meaning that it was integrated with Black men and white men serving together. But, all of that was about to change in 1879 when the keeper of the nearby Pea Island Life Saving Station, the keeper is like the head guy, the commander, the keeper there was fired for basically doing a terrible job. In the early years of the Life Saving Service, it was incredibly ineffective. Wikipedia says quotes “In the early years, nepotism and political cronyism tainted many Life-Saving Service appointments [leading to] a series of highly publicized maritime disasters off the North Carolina coast. In two months, 188 lives and more than a half million dollars in property was lost off the Outer Banks, within sight and with little or inexpert assistance from the lifesavers on shore. The New York World reported, "It begins to be painfully clear that the terrible loss of Human life … on the North Carolina coast … must be attributed directly to the inefficiency of the Life-Saving Service,” end quote. So this guy, the keeper at Pea Island gets fired for running such an inefficient crew and allowing all of this loss of life and loss of property to happen. Now they need to replace him. Who are they going to replace him with? They’re going to replace him with the best guy they have, which just so happens to be Bodie Island surfman number 6, Richard Etheridge. That’s huge. Because what it means is, Richard was so good at the job, so undeniably good at it, they had no choice but to overlook his race and promote him to keeper of Pea Island Life Saving Station, the first African American to serve in this position.

Now this was, once again, a checkerboard crew meaning that Richard was in charge of both white surfmen and Black surfmen. The white surfmen weren’t cool with that and all of them resigned when he took the position in 1880. They were replaced with Black surfmen from nearby stations making Pea Island the first all Black life saving station, just like out of necessity. And they were good. They were really good. According to the National Park Service quote “Etheridge ran a tight ship and commanded what has often been described as the best crew in the Outer Banks,” end quote. But this, of course, rubbed some people the wrong way.

And so I know this was like when he joined the life-saving service I know it was it was integrated what were some of the challenges that he faced as a Black man serving with white men I know you know this is like right after the Civil War. I can’t imagine that it was smooth sailing at that point.

Joan: Well well I will say this that you know that these men you know performing rescues is a very difficult task. You know and I mean you can imagine they’re performing rescues with no modern technology no motorized anything so these men had to be skilled, yes and they had to rely on each other. Yes, they did many rescues for joint rescues. You know that they learn to obviously how to get along how to respect each other how to rely on each other you know that is truthful, but the other truthful part is look at what’s happening historically at that time you know this station is existing during several key points in the nation’s history and then shortly as you said after the Civil War, you know during Reconstruction during Jim Crow era before the Civil Rights movement even begins you have this one station you know that’s primarily staffed by Blacks. So I also say too you know to think that everything was just a lovefest is is is is not true thinking because you got to understand history you’ve got to you’ve got to look at it too in the context of what is happening historically, what’s happening at that time. So yeah, their stories of them working together and forming great relationships and performing joint rescues you know but there are also stories that speak to what’s happening at that time. You know probably one of the most famous is obviously when Etheridge takes command, shortly after the station is burned to the ground. You know this is due to the fact that Etheridge is Black. You know there’s a lot of of these keepers were you know these keepers or captains or commanders, you know these positions were very very well highly regarded positions.

The night of October 11th, 1896 - which just so happens to be my birthday - would be the ultimate test of their skills. That night, there was a storm so bad it’s presumed to have been an actual hurricane. It was so bad that Richard, as the keeper of the station, had actually suspended beach patrols. You know normally they would walk up and down the beach looking for ships that might need rescuing. Not tonight. This storm was so bad there was no beach. It was just ocean overwash, massive crashing waves, as far as the eye could see. So they can’t even do beach patrols. They’re hunkering down in the station and watching from the watch tower. That’s all they can do. One of the surfmen under Richard Etheridge at the time, Theodore Meekins, is on duty in the watchtower. He’s looking out at this angry, angry ocean and it’s dark, and there’s sand blowing with these hurricane force winds, and white wash everywhere, the storm is raging. But there, just to the south, he sees something down the beach. It looks like a light. And I imagine his heart must have sunk. How could there possibly be a ship out there in this mess? Meekins alerts Richard Etheridge and they set off a flare. If this is a ship, they want to let them know you know “we see you out there, we’re here and we see you.” They watch, staring through the storm out to where Meekins thought he saw the light. They watch for a minute, another minute, and then, a flare. It is a ship. And it is in desperate need of rescue.

What Richard Etheridge and his men don’t know yet is that this ship is called the ES Newman. It was a 393 ton schooner en route from Providence Rhode Island to Norfolk, Virginia. The ship had run into this hurricane and been blown 100 miles off course where it eventually ran aground two miles south of the Pea Island Life Saving Station. It was captained by a man named S. A. Gardner who had 6 crew members on board with him as well as his wife and his three year old son. So Etheridge and his men spring into action. Etheridge recorded in his records for that night quote “The keeper at once mustered the crew and with the team [of] a pair of good mules started to the scene of disaster with the hand cart and driving cart,” end quote. So they are hauling their gear out to the beach to try to perform this rescue. That normally would have included a surf boat which was like a big row boat and a breeches buoy which was like, okay so picture a life preserver, like the round life preserver but with pants attached to it, like underwear basically attached to it. And someone would get in this breeches buoy, wear it, and it would be attached to a line that they would shoot from the beach to the shipwreck using a cannon and they would basically zip line them to safety. That’s how they did these rescues, with the breeches buoy and the surf boat. But this storm was so intense, there was nowhere on the beach to anchor the buoy line. There was no beach, right it’s all underwater. Richard recorded quote “It seemed impossible under such unfavorable circumstances to render any assistance.” [the schooner was] well upon the beach, with head sails all blown away, cabin stove in, and its effects greatly demolished, yawl boat [lifeboat] lost,” end quote. And so, because he can’t get a line to the ES Newman to send this breeches buoy, he has to think fast. He decides to attach lines to the surfmen themselves, the strongest swimmers. The rest stay back and they hold on to these lines. They are the anchor. So they're using the surfman as basically human breeches buoys. Richard wrote that he quote “let them go down through the surf as near the side of the vessel as possible,” end quote. The crew aboard the Newman threw down a ladder and quote “each survivor with a line around their body with great difficulty was carried back on the beach,” end quote. Starting with the captain’s three year old son. They can only carry one person each time so they have to do this nine times, they have to make this treacherous trek to the wreck and back, ropes held by their fellow surfmen the only thing keeping them from washing away into the storm. According to an article in Coastwatch magazine by Bridgette A. Lacy, the lifesaver’s unofficial motto was quote “you have to go out, but you do not have to come back.”

Luckily, the men of the Pea Island Lifesaving Station did come back that night and they carried with them one by one each of the 9 lives aboard the ES Newman, saved them, against overwhelming odds. For this heroic rescue, Richard Etheridge and his crew were posthumously awarded the U.S. Coast Guard’s Gold Life-Saving Medal in 1996, 100 years after the rescue took place. That’s Richard Etheridge, Benjamin Bowser, Dorman Pugh, Theodore Meekins, Lewis Wescott, Stanley Wise, and William Irving. Richard Etheridge served as keeper of the Pea Island Life Saving Station for 20 years until his death in January of 1900. He actually passed away at the station, became ill and died at the age of 58. The Pea Island Life Saving Station continued to be manned by an all Black crew through World War II until it was decommissioned in 1947. And when it was decommissioned, when they closed the doors of the station for the very last time, the man who put the locks on the door was Herbert Collins, Joan’s father.

Joan: Now my father grew up on Roanoke Island and he was born in 1921. He served at the station he grew up you know think of who his role models would’ve been, Richard Etheridge you know people who served with Etheridge like his great uncle like his you know others before him. I always say look at his role models, this young kid you know who gets to Pea Island eventually, but when he joined the service, the only way that he could join was to be a mess attendant, a house boy, shining shoes you know serving meals and also just kinda. I wish he was here now because I often think about how he really must’ve felt kind of coming from this area and knowing you know what people before him did and how they the contributions that they made, but you know because of when he was born and what was happening in his lifetime you know he did not get the start for sure that he wanted. But it’s also you know the Pea Island story, the Etheridge story. It’s a story of you know determination and persistence and teamwork and you know all the things that drive people I think to do better.

Yeah, I was going to ask you about your father is that Herbert Collins is that was he your father?

Joan: Right

I came across him and I think it said something like he was the one to put the locks on the on the life-saving station when it closed in the in the 1940s

Joan: Right he served there the duration of World War II so he would’ve been there you know and he would’ve performed you know rescue attempts in those surf boats that were did not have motors. He told me one story I’ll never forget it, we rowed 12 miles out, 12 miles, and 12 miles obviously you know they were tough. But yeah so he was there the duration of World War II.

Yeah, and did you have any other ancestors in the service or was he the only one that was in the…

Joan: My family has a lot of history connected to the Coast Guard at Pea Island you know my my father‘s great uncle would’ve been part of the Etheridge crew that performed the rescue of the ES Newman. My father’s grandfather would have served under Etheridge also. My father‘s uncle you know was Maxi Berry, a Berry, was in charge of the station when my father got there and then you know so and then a little lot of a lot of connection to not only the Pea Island station but the Coast Guard my family know which would be the Collins and the Berrys have a combined record of 400 years of service and the Coast Guard. A lot of people you know have obviously heard of the Midgette history and the Midgette story but a lot of people don’t realize that you know there’s this family, and I’m certainly proud of my family’s connection to this history, you know has 400 combined years of service so that’s kind of special.

It’s not at all surprising that Joan Collins has stepped up herself to serve at Pea Island, not as a life saver, not as a keeper or surfwoman, but as a preservationist. Pea Island Life Saving Station is in her blood.

I love that you’re still part of it. You know, even though the life-saving station is no longer you’re still working to preserve it and to preserve the memory. I think your ancestors would be so proud. That’s really neat.

Joan: Thank you, thank you.

I’m so inspired by the work Joan is doing with the Pea Island Preservation Society so I was curious to know how we can support their efforts.

Joan: Well I would encourage you to, well, know the history and share the history, I always say that. You know know it, share it, think about it, and and talk to other people about it. You know, come to the cookhouse museum. You know we don’t have regular hours now but if you contact us with a group we would be happy to accommodate you. It’s on Walter Raleigh Street not on the other not toward downtown Manteo, but in the other direction, and there are outdoor exhibits there that you can read about the history there’s a prominent life-sized statue of keeper Richard Etheridge. So, you know you can support us by learning about the history, sharing the history with others, and yeah, coming to see us.

If you’ve ever visited the aquarium on Roanoke Island, I’ve been going there my entire life, since I was a small child. Out in front, near where you get your tickets, there’s a circle. It’s fenced off and there’s a few oak trees in there and the sidewalk goes around it in a circle, you can’t miss it. And yet I did, I did miss it for almost my entire life. Because it took me until only a few years ago, when I was bringing my own children to this aquarium, to realize that Richard Etheridge is buried there, in that circle, next to his mother and his wife and his daughter and his granddaughter. That’s where he’s buried. And as many times as I walked passed it and paid it no mind because I didn’t know who Richard Etheridge was. And that’s a real shame because the man was a hero on so many fronts. And he deserves to have his name remembered. So I’m thankful to Joan Collins for continuing to share this story and to preserve what’s left of the Pea Island Life Saving Station. And I’m thankful to Darrell Collins for dedicating his life to that mission as well. I’ve linked the Pea Island Preservation Society website in the description of this episode so you can check out what they’re up to, maybe plan a visit to the Cook House which is the only surviving part of the old life saving station which was moved to Manteo and now serves as a museum. Let’s help Joan preserve this history.

Joan: To me the story of the Freedman’s Colony, the story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island lifesavers, I mean it when you know it you really understand, you know it humanizes people it makes you think of you know the whole story of the enslaved and you know kind of what’s happening on the coast, well for me in a different way certainly and you know for me personally. As I said, I visited the Somerset plantation recently. You know that you know a whole series of emotions for me you know. So I just hope people are receptive to wanting to hear and learn about the entire history of the area, so the Freeman’s Colony, the story of Etheridge and the Pea Island lifesavers opens that door.

The US Life Saving Service Heritage Association web page begins quote “They were called storm fighters, and they were called storm warriors. When wind and wave conspired to kill those who dared to tread upon the sea, the men of the United States Life-Saving Service left the comfort of their sturdy stations and entered the battle. With nothing more than wooden boats, cork life jackets and oil-skin foul weather gear on their backs, they let their muscle, determination and bravery lead the way. Time and again they smirked in the face of danger, and stole back the lives of men who were supposed to be dead, victims intended to be claimed by shipwrecks caused by storms,” end quote. And of all those men, of the many men who served in the US Life Saving Service, there were none quite like Richard Etheridge. A man born into slavery, who fought for his freedom, he fought for his country, and he fought for the lives of so many. He fearlessly battled hurricane force winds, overhead storm surge, blinding confusion and overwhelming panic. He calmly led others into that battle and he won time and time again, reclaimed lives from the angry sea, men, women, children who were supposed to be dead, he saved them, on behalf of humanity.

Thank you all so very much for listening to History Fix, I hope you found this story interesting and maybe you even learned something new. Remember I’ve dropped a link to the Pea Island Preservation Society website in the show notes in case you want to check that out. Be sure to follow my instagram @historyfixpodcast to see some images that go along with this episode and to stay on top of new episodes as they drop. I’d also really appreciate it if you’d rate and follow History Fix on whatever app you’re using to listen, and help me spread the word by telling a few friends about it. That’ll make it much easier to get your next fix.

Information used in this episode was sourced from “Fire on the Beach” by David Wright and David Zoby, “Etheridge Homeplace: a History” by Penne Smith, the United States Coast Guard, the National Park Service, the American Battlefield Trust, Wikipedia, Coastwatch, the US Lifesaving Service Heritage Association, and the Outer Banks Voice, As always, links to these sources can be found in the show notes.

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