Once in the shadow of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, maritime life-saving service nearly lost to history

They shared an iconic name and the most noble of missions: saving lives. One widely recognized, celebrated and adored. The other, nearly forgotten.

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse has saved an untold number of ships from wrecking on her dark shores. Unfortunately, the past lighthouse service did not keep detailed records of each passing ship that survived, so we’ll never know how many were actually saved.

Lighthouses certainly did an admirable job. However, the isolation and romance of their existence has overshadowed a sister service, one in which crew put their lives on the line to save shipwreck victims.

On May 30, 1893, Henry Bamber, an engineer for the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse service, made this photograph of the historic Outer Banks lighthouse as it sat on the beach. It was moved slightly inland in 1999. (Henry Bamber/Courtesy of the Outer Banks History Center) (HENRY BAMBER)

For centuries, Cape Hatteras has always meant one of the world’s most treacherous and dangerous parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Literally thousands of shipwrecks have occurred there, and still do.

As early as 300 B.C., Egypt had built the great lighthouse in Alexandria to help guide sailors into the port. The first in America was at Boston on Little Brewster Island in 1716. Many more followed along all our coasts. After several tries to get one at the critical Cape Hatteras point, finally, in 1870, Dexter Stetson made a modern marvel monster of masonry which eventually became the candy-striped tower image of America.

But, as with all lighthouses, they only gave warnings of landfall at night; what about the other half of the 24 hours? What about storms that caused most of our shipwrecks, day and night, month after month?

Enter the United States Life-Saving Service, one of the least-known yet most fascinating facets of American history.

The service existed from 1871 until 1915, with nearly 300 lifesaving stations along the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes.

The brave souls known as surfmen had a singular mission: saving lives in peril from the sea, “so others may live.”

During their 44-year history, nationwide, using no more than small, open, wooden boats and cork life belts, often in violent and dangerous storms, they responded to over 178,000 lives in peril, saving more than they lost. Yet, somehow, America forgot these peaceful heroes. In 1915, the United States Life-Saving Service merged with the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and renamed the United States Coast Guard.

The United States Life-Saving Service arose in 1871. In North Carolina, a total of 29 stations were constructed from the Virginia to South Carolina lines.

Photos of Coast Guard Cutter Richard Etheridge nameboard donated from the structure of the Etheridge family homestead in Manteo, N.C. Capt. Etheridge was the first African American keeper of the Pea Island Life-Saving Station located on the northern half of Hatteras Island off the North Carolina coast. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Krystyna Hannum) (Krystyna Hannum/U.S. Coast Guard)

The Cape Hatteras Life-Saving Station, commissioned in 1882, became the busiest and most critical for many years.

Located a little over a mile south of the world-famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the two were clearly visible to each other.

Station Cape Hatteras had numerous claims to fame. It was the scene of the highly publicized wreck and rescues of the Ephraim Williams, the Brewster and the 100-year-old mystery of the Carrol A. Deering, known as “The Ghost Ship of Cape Hatteras.” Crew members responded to a record number of 25 total wrecks, many more partial wrecks and countless dozens upon dozens of assists with neighboring stations.

The 1882 station was replaced in 1939 in a slightly different location and despite its well-earned fame, the historic structure was demolished in 1948. A Loran station was constructed there, and the Coast Guard continued to use the site until 1985 when the property was turned over to the National Park Service. The current buildings there are the 1939 station, now National Park Service offices for the Enforcement Park Rangers of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Cape Hatteras Life-Saving Station (1882). (Courtesy National Park Service, Cape Hatteras National Seashore)

Today, the lighthouse beacon still shines its warning into the dark Atlantic, but those saviors in the surf are America’s forgotten heroes.

James D. “Keeper James” Charlet is the author of “Shipwrecks of the Outer Banks: Dramatic Rescues and Fantastic Wrecks in the Graveyard of the Atlantic.”

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Cape Hatteras Life-Saving Service Station shipwreck responses:

Dec. 4, 1882: Steamer Enterprise, three lives lost

Nov. 31, 1882: Schooner Edna Harwood, one life lost

April 16, 1887: Schooner George S. Marts, two lives lost

March 12, 1888: Schooner Rachel A. Collins, four lives lost

April 17, 1889: Schooner John Shay, six lives lost

March 4, 1893: Schooner Martha, no lives lost

July 23, 1895: Barkentine J.W. Dresser, no lives lost

May 22, 1896: Steamer Glanayron, no lives lost

Oct. 9, 1897: Steamer Hesperides, no lives lost

April 5, 1900: Schooner William H. Kenzal, unknown lives lost

May 2, 1900: Steamer Virginia, six lives lost

May 5, 1900: Schooner Hettie J. Dorman, no lives lost

Aug. 9, 1900: Steamer Palestro, no lives lost

Jan. 31, 1901: Schooner George R. Congdon, no lives lost

Dec. 27, 1904: Steamer Northeastern, no lives lost

Jan. 15, 1905: Schooner Cordelia E. Hays, no lives lost

Jan. 13, 1906: Schooner Robert H. Stevenson, 12 lives lost

Feb. 6, 1907: Schooner Hilda, seven lives lost

Jan. 8, 1908: Schooner Leonora, five lives lost

Nov. 29, 1909: Steamer Brewster, no lives lost

Feb. 6, 1911: Schooner Harriet C. Kerlin: no lives lost

March 6, 1911: Schooner Wellfleet, no lives lost

Jan. 18, 1912: Schooner Harry Prescott, no lives lost

Jan. 14, 1915: Yacht Idler, 12 lives lost

April 3, 1915: Steamer Prinz Mauritz, 49 lives lost