The Rescue of the E.S. Newman

The Rescue of the E.S. Newman. Pea Island Cookhouse Museum. , 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 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 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., (captions) , The Lyle Gun , The E.S. Newman in Port. , Manning the Lookout Tower. , The U.S. Coast Guard Gold Life-Saving Medal.