Fire on the Beach.(Review)(Brief Article)

Fire on the Beach by David Wright and David Zoby Scribner/Lisa Drew Books, Jut), 2001, $26.00, ISBN 0-684-87304-4

In 1871, Congress instituted the LSS, the Life-Saving Service. The LSS, a precursor of the Coast Guard, was created to respond to ships that wrecked off the Atlantic coast. The service was decommissioned in 1915, but in 1881 it boasted 189 stations. Station 17 of Pea Island, NC was one, but was unique. It had the only all-African American crew in the history of the LSS.

Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers by authors David Wright and David Zoby tells how Station 17 garnered its …