BEST OF (#72 OF 541) THE DARING SEA RESCUE OF THE E.S. NEWMAN & OTHER LIVE SAVING LEGENDS
1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
Jon Hagadorn
4.4 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 11 July 2025
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The story of The Pea Island Life Saving Station on North Carolina's Outer Banks and the rescue of 9 passengers and crew from the E.S. Newman by Richard Etheridge and crew in 1879; plus stories of life-saving legends Dunbar John Davis (NC) and Capt. Joshua James (Massachusetts)..
Etheridge, a former Union soldier and slave who was born on the Outer Banks, was awarded head keeper of the Pea island Life Saving Station, the only all-black life saving facility in the country, and unlike many of his white counterparts,, his crew was overlooked when medals were given to surfmen who had acted courageously to save lives. Etheridge;s crew's saving of the 9 passengers aboard the storm-tossed E.S. Newman during hurricane conditions was submitted for review recently and the well earned awards were given posthumously. Methods used to save lives are discussed in this story, which you should find interesting.
Shanks, Ralph, Wick York and Lisa Shanks US Life Saving Service: Heroes, rescues, and Archetecture of the Early Coast Guard. Costano Books, Petaluma CA 1996
Wright, David, and David Zoby, Fire On The Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers, Scribner, NY, 2001
The Rescue of the E.S. Newman
Pea Island Cookhouse Museum
— The Pea Island Life Saving Station —
The Rescue of the E.S. Newman Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Brandon D Cross
1. The Rescue of the E.S. Newman Marker
Inscription. Click to hear the inscription.
Graveyard of the Atlantic
Where the cold water Labrador Current meets the warm water Gulf Stream Current with, "awesome displays of savage fury, seafaring men call it the Graveyard of the Atlantic.” — David Stick, 1953
Thousands of vessels have met their fate wrecked along the North Carolina coast—most by storms, others by wars and pirates. It was along this coast where Richard Etheridge and his crew performed their duty, rescuing victims from the rages of the sea. The 1896 hurricane season produced the highest Atlantic tides in 50 years, destroying structures and property from the Carolinas to New Jersey.
E.S. Newman Rescue
Their most famous rescue was the wreck of the E.S. Newman on the night of October 11, 1896. The 393 ton schooner—carrying six crewmen, Captain Garner, his wife, and three-year-old son Tommy—ran aground south of the station during a hurricane. The hurricane was so intense that the ocean and sound became one body of water. Beach patrol was suspended because the Keeper knew it wasn't safe for his men to walk the beach, but the men kept watch in the tower Paid Advertisement
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atop of the station.
Theodore Meekins was standing watch when he saw what he thought was a faint red streak just south of the station. He called Keeper Etheridge up to the tower and another red flare was spotted. The Keeper mustered the crew. While others on the island took cover to wait out the storm, Richard Etheridge and his crew went out into the storm. In waist deep water the men hauled the beach cart to the site of the wreck. After quickly assessing the situation, it became apparent to Etheridge that none of the equipment on the cart could be used to rescue the people off the ship. He called for volunteers to jump into the raging surf and swim out to the E.S. Newman that was stuck just beyond the inner bar. Theodore Meekins and Stanley Wise stepped forward; the two men bound themselves together with a line, and the other end of the line was secured by surfmen on shore. Meekins and Wise slowly made their way out to the E.S. Newman through the raging surf. Dodging debris from the wreckage, the two men reached the wreck.
They were able to get a line aboard the wreck using a heaving stick, and three-year-old Tommy was the first to be saved. Tucked tightly in the arms of a surfman, the three were pulled through the surf by the surfmen on shore. The remaining eight persons were rescued from the ship in that same manner. After each trip, two different
The Rescue of the E.S. Newman Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Brandon D Cross
2. The Rescue of the E.S. Newman Marker
surfmen would make the dangerous trek out to the wreck. Legend has it that Theodore Meekins made all nine trips out to the Newman that night.
Their brave efforts would go unnoticed for the next one hundred years. Finally on March 5, 1996, Richard Etheridge, Benjamin Bowser, Dorman Pugh, Theodore Meekins, Lewis Wescott, Stanley Wise and William Irving were posthumously awarded the U.S. Coast Guard Gold Life-Saving Medal.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When a hurricane brings gale force winds, crushing waves, and high water to the Hatteras coast, everything changes. |
| 0:19.0 | The waves, whipped by hard wind and rain, |
| 0:23.2 | pour in one after another, seconds apart, banging against the sand dunes, creating inlets where |
| 0:29.3 | there were none, gouging the ocean bottom, and creating chaos among all living things. |
| 0:36.1 | The last place you would want to be in a hurricane is in a ship being driven mercilessly toward the shallow coastline by Hurricane Force winds. |
| 0:45.3 | Or on a life-saving crew whose job it is to rescue the passengers of that ship as they cling to the wreckage, |
| 0:52.3 | which is being hammered by 15-foot waves |
| 0:56.0 | in closing darkness. |
| 0:59.0 | For the life-saving crew, once the waves reach a certain height and intensity, the option of |
| 1:05.0 | using any kind of wooden craft powered by two oarsmen is no longer an option. |
| 1:14.4 | To expect any human being to swim 200 yards through the strong currents and high waves of a hurricane |
| 1:17.3 | to save the passengers of a sinking ship |
| 1:19.7 | would today be considered a death wish. |
| 1:23.8 | But in the years between 1860 and 1950, |
| 1:27.4 | it was a job, a job whose unofficial motto was, |
| 1:31.3 | you have to go out there, you don't have to come back. |
| 1:35.3 | You don't have to come back. Welcome back, everyone, everyone1 heroes, legends, histories, and mysteries, |
| 2:08.1 | and a true story of heroism from a place full of history and legends, the Outer Banks of North Carolina. |
| 2:15.5 | I have mentioned in previous episodes that the Outer Banks is one of |
| 2:19.2 | my family's favorite places to get away to, mainly because you can four-wheel drive the beaches. |
| 2:24.9 | The fishing is great, and if you get to your favorite beach early enough, you can look north and |
| 2:30.2 | south as far as you can see along the wide sand beach and not see another person in sight. |
... |
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