The United States Coast Guard is best known by its motto “So others may live.” But it has gone through a lot of development through the years. “Coast Guard Day” is celebrated nationally every year on August 4, and 2022 will mark its 232nd anniversary, but the origin of that date can be somewhat confusing. […]

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On August 16, 1918, Surfman Number Eight of the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station, Leroy Stockton Midgett, took the watch in the tower of the still-new 1911 station. Although this was three years after the Life-Saving Service had been recreated as the Coast Guard, these folks had been used to the old terminology for many years and […]

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When Dunbar Davis, Keeper of the United States Life-Saving Service Station Oak Island, went to bed on Monday night of August 28, 1893, he would never have dreamed of responding to four different shipwrecks mostly by himself the next day, and saving 23 men during a violent hurricane, over a course of 55 consecutive hours, […]

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When the Italian vessel Nuova Ottavia wrecked on shoals off Currituck Beach just after sunset on Wednesday evening, March 1, 1876, it made no sense to any of the horror-struck witnesses, and the incident still makes no sense. It had been seen earlier about five miles from shore with rough seas and “rather high and […]

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The two most common mistakes in Outer Banks history are arguably referring to the Old Oregon Inlet Life-Saving Station as the Pea Island Station, and the history surrounding the Wright brothers. From long debates over whether North Carolina or Ohio could claim the title of being the “Birthplace of Aviation,” to the concept of who […]

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On October 11, 1896, a most remarkable rescue by the most remarkable crew of the U.S. Life-Saving Station No. 17 Pea Island took place, which became a pedestal of honored U.S. Coast Guard achievements. Etheridge’s Early Years When there was suddenly an opening for Keeper of the Pea Island Life-Saving Station, a surprising thing happened. […]

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One Remains Upon a Pedestal of Coast Guard History to This Day. They Happened 122 Years Ago This Month. By James D. “Keeper James” Charlet Two of the most daring and dramatic shipwrecks in American history occurred off of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. They were not only in the same month and year of 1899, […]

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The old Oregon Inlet Life-Saving Station is often confused with the historic Pea Island Station, and this is an extremely common – and highly understandable – mistake. What is pictured here is the Old Oregon Inlet Life-Saving Station. Since it is located on the northern tip of Pea Island, it is natural to assume that it would […]

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Our National Seashore Neighbor Readers of Island Free Press are certainly familiar with our Cape Hatteras National Seashore. It stretches for 70 miles from Bodie Island to Ocracoke. It was the nation’s very first national seashore, having been established in 1953. Hatteras Island is the main part of this seashore and is happily in the […]

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Today marks the 100th Anniversary of the discovery of the Carroll A. Deering off the shores of Cape Hatteras. Keeper James Charlet recounts the mysterious tale.