THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 16, 1994                    TAG: 9406160511 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B1    EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA  
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940616                                 LENGTH: MANTEO 

BLACK RESCUE CREWS HAVE A STORY WORTH TELLING \

``I used to live in Collington in the summer, in a place that had no air conditioning,'' said Zoby, a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. ``I came in to the aquarium to cool off. I saw an exhibit on the black lifesavers, and was puzzled. I wanted to know more about them and their circumstances.''

{REST} Those African-Americans that fired the curiosity of Zoby, a 26-year-old white man, were the crew at the U.S. Lifesaving Service's Pea Island Station, the first and only all-black crew in the history of the Lifesaving Service, a forerunner to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Zoby, along with a black colleague, David Wright, will be part of a slide lecture and panel discussion, ``Uncovering the Pea Island Lifesaving Station'' at the Outer Banks History Center at 7 p.m. Friday.

Appearing at the event will be several noted Southern scholars as well as William C. Bowser of Norfolk, one of the last surviving surfmen of the Pea Island Station.

Black surfmen served at Pea Island from 1870 to 1947, with virtually no recognition.

``For me, one of the big questions was how a group of black men got into the positions they were in,'' said Wright, a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts. ``During Reconstruction, there were a lot of blacks who received political appointments. But after Reconstruction and the Wilmington Race Riots, as well as the enactment of Jim Crow laws, I was surprised that the Pea Island station remained all-black.''

Richard Etheridge, a Union civil war veteran, was appointed as the first black ``keeper'' at Pea Island after the previous keeper, who was white, failed to respond properly to a ship in distress.

The station's finest hour came on Oct. 11, 1896, in the rescue of seven people aboard the schooner E.S. Newman. The Newman ran aground during a hurricane. All passengers aboard the vessel were saved.

In the 67-year history of the Pea Island Station, more than 600 shipwrecked mariners were saved while only 10 lives were lost.

The role of the black lifesavers went virtually unnoticed for many years. Noted Outer Banks historian David Stick refers to the station in his writings. According to Wright, most historians were unaware, not only of the role of African-Americans specifically, but of the United States Lifesaving Service as a whole.

That is changing.

``A lot of this new awareness has to do with the work people like Ken Burns and black historians have done over the past 25 years. Prior to that, you just didn't find those contributions in the history books.''

Zoby and Wright utilized the National Archives in Washington and Atlanta for some of their research. But the real treasure trove was discovered in interviews with surviving crew members and their families.

``In this case, we were not the scholars,'' said Zoby. ``We learned from talking to Mr. Bowser and family members of Pea Island surfmen. That's where the meat of the project is.''

Wright added, ``This is their story. We were just lucky that they shared it with us.''

Friday's presentation is part of a series of lectures funded by the North Carolina Humanities Council. Admission is free.

by CNB