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.

Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers

Biographies & Memoirs

WRIGHT, DAVID

Zoby, David

Community & Culture

Oxford University Press

A history of the U.S. Lifesaving Service, an ancestor of the modern Coast Guard, focuses on a crew of seven men, led by former slave and Civil War veteran Richard Etheridge, stationed on Pea Island, North Carolina, and their heroic exploits, including the rescue of the entire crew of the E. S. Newman during a hurricane in the 1890s. 25,000 first printing.

Scribner

From the golf-course ponds of Tidewater, Virginia, to the vacant uplands of North Dakota, to the windswept headlands of Alaska, David Zoby takes us on a contemplative tour of fishing and hunting destinations. His dogs come along too. Fish Like You Mean It is eleven thoughtful essays on the art of fly fishing, bird hunting, and living on gas-station coffee. Plucked from the very best outdoor journals--Gray's Sporting Journal, American Angler, The Flyfish Journal--these essays sparkle likesunlight on your favorite trout stream."I've fished and hunted all of my life and written about these subjects for decades. Dave Zoby's essays are some of the freshest writing I've seen in some time."&nbsp;-- Don Thomas, author of To All Things a Season"From the Mid-Atlantic to Alaska and through the grasslands in between, these essays range over the topography of a nation and follow the contours of a life. This collection holds a place in a tradition that spans from Thoreau to the present. In this book, you will not find endorsements of gear or tips on where to locate trout. You will find something of greater value--moments of transcendence in the field and on the water: '... falling into the prairie ... steer beaten dirt ... dust devil rising ... the tide gone out forever.' In language both poignant and revealing, David Zoby leads us on a journey of reflection and discovery."&nbsp;-- Chad Hanson, author of Trout Streams of the Heart &nbsp;&nbsp;"Dave Zoby is first and foremost, a writer, stylist, and storyteller. He is also a passionate hunter, conservationist, fly fisherman, and dog man. In Fish Like You Mean It, he brings these skills and passions together in elegant essays that speak to the frustrations, absurdities, triumphs, and joys that make up a life afield. Always honest, never pretentious, Dave Zoby is one of our finest essayists."&nbsp;-- Henry Chappell, author of At Home on the Range with a Texas Hunter and Silent We Stood

Fish Like You Mean It

Sports & Outdoors

Hunting & Fishing

Independently published

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Books by Zoby, David