Volunteers reenact the beach apparatus drill for the Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station anniversary celebration. Summer Stevens photo The Chicamacomico Historical Association (CHA) held a 150th anniversary celebration October 12 and 13, 2024 to honor the history and the faithful service of the men who served at the very first US Lifesaving Station. Festivities were held [...]
On December 30, 1917, the Caffey’s Inlet Coast Guard Station crew assisted a stranded tugboat, Pampa, during a snowstorm. By using the breeches buoy, three men were brought off the vessel to send telegrams. The CICGS crew then ran lines for the tug and continued to stand by on the beach during the night in case [...]
On November 9, 1916, the Nags Head Coast Guard Station responded to an incident where a group of fishermen ran into trouble. Their dory became swamped on the outer sand bar and four men were tossed into the water. One was able to make it to shore while the two others needed an assist from the [...]
Around midnight of April 7, 1907, the Nags Head Life Saving Station responded to a vessel in distress just yards away from the station. The schooner, Louis Bossert, had lost her way in the fog and stranded near the shoreline. Keeper Van Buren Etheridge requested assistance from their sister station, Bodie Island, before taking the beach [...]
On December 9, 1905, Keeper Van Buren Etheridge of the Nags Head LifeSaving Station received a telephone call from the Kitty Hawk station keeper, alerting him they had just completed a rescue involving a steamer that had been towing a barge before running aground. The barge was now adrift and currents were moving it towards the [...]
On December 9, 1905, the south patrolman from the Kitty Hawk LifeSaving Station discovered a steamer perilously close to the beach. He was near the end of his three mile route so he turned to hurry back towards the station. After being notified of the case, Keeper Avery B. L. Tillett requested assistance from the Kill [...]
On December 3, 1903, a surfman from the Currituck Beach LifeSaving Station (formerly known as Jones Hill) spotted a vessel stranded about 500 yards northeast of the station. Keeper W. F. Parker immediately reported the discovery by wire to the Department before leading the crew out to the beach. The Lyle Gun was quickly set in [...]
On October 8, 1903, a small sailboat named the Leon Bruce capsized about a mile and a half south of the Caffey’s Inlet LifeSaving Station. The sailboat belonged to Keeper Thaddeus Snow and the rest of the crew at the station and was actually heading to the station itself before being caught in a squall. The [...]
On February 25, 1900, a small schooner was caught in a heavy gale and stranded about two miles north of the Oregon Inlet LifeSaving Station as they were trying to find harbor in the inlet from the storm. The surfmen launched the surfboat but could not pull to the side of the schooner due to the [...]
On April 24, 1899, two fishermen found themselves in a bind as they were attempting to come to shore. The small dory overturned in the breaks and trapped one man underneath as the tide began to pull him and the dory out to sea. Keeper Jesse W. Ward from the Jones Hill LifeSaving Station just happened [...]
