superior authority, or definite information has been received that no further assistance is needed, or, in the judgement of the person in charge, it becomes a physical impossibility to proceed." Similarly, “Section C-2: Assistance,” mandated that “in rendering assistance, the equipment best suited to cope with the type of disaster under prevailing conditions shall be selected. Should the equipment first selected prove inadequate, additional equipment shall be tried.” From a historical perspective, there was certainly a mandate in the regulations for the station crew to make the attempt using all available equipment. Separate from the written regulations are the words exchanged between a Life-Saving Service keeper and a surfman during an actual rescue. One of the more famous keepers on North Carolina’s Outer Banks was Patrick Etheridge, who was born in 1851 and died 1920. Etheridge started out as a surfman at Station Cape Hatteras, where he’d served since 1882, and in 1891, he was appointed to the position of the station’s keeper. In 1909, Keeper Etheridge was transferred to Station New Inlet, serving there until 1914. He was then transferred to Station Bodie Island where he served until March 26, 1915, retiring after 33 years of service. The famous statement attributed to Etheridge, and the circumstances under which it was said, go something like this: a surfman voiced his concern that, under the stormy conditions of heavy seas and surf, the crew might make it to the shipwreck in the station’s surfboat, but might not make it back. In response, Etheridge shouted: “The Blue says we’ve got to go out, and it doesn’t say a damn thing about having to come back!” At one time, the rescue in question was thought to be the December 1885 wreck of Barkentine Ephraim Williams—a rescue for which Etheridge and others were awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal for heroism. The problem with this supposition is that the Life-Saving Service regulations (the “blue book”) in effect at the time was the 1884 edition, which made no mention of rescue crews attempting a rescue no matter what the circumstances. More likely, the motto stemmed from a different rescue that occurred in late December 1904. In this case, the steamship Northeastern ran aground during a severe storm on North Carolina’s Diamond Shoals and started breaking up. In this storm, heavy wind and sea conditions were truly extreme. The station’s logbook relates a rescue in which the heavy breakers hurled the station surfboat onto the beach each time it was launched. It took a full day before the crew could get through the surf to the wreck and rescue survivors. Although the logbook entries for the rescue make no mention of what was said by anyone, it does give a sense of how dangerous the mission was. That Etheridge said something to motivate his surfman to action is supported by a letter published on page two of the March 1954 edition of U.S. Coast Guard Magazine. Chief Petty Officer Clarence Brady, a retired boatswain’s mate who served with Etheridge during Etheridge’s time as keeper, wrote that Etheridge made the statement during the rescue attempt. The matter becomes even more confused, however. A different claim is made in the Manteo, N.C., newspaper Dare County Times, in the June 12, 1946, edition. In an article by Thomas Barnett entitled “Hatteras Reminisces of the Days of Cap’n Pat,” the writer recounted the witness to a shipwreck, who shouted to Etheridge, “Why man, you will never get back, with a storm like this blowing you away from the beach.” To this, Etheridge allegedly replied, “The regulations do not say anything about coming back. They say, go.” It is nearly certain that the keeper said something to urge the crew to proceed with the rescue attempt. Based on surviving records, the exact wording of his admonition will probably never be known. It is also likely that the Life-Saving Service took whatever he actually said and transformed it into a service motto symbolic of the heroism that defined the service and its missions. The old motto, however, was eventually tempered due to some tragic accidents with the loss of Coast Guard rescuer lives. It was changed in March 2018 to the current requirement described in the Coast Guard Commandant’s Instruction CI 3500.3A. This instruction requires rescuers to balance the immediate needs of a rescue case against the risk of personal injury to the rescue crew. This approach includes the implementation of the “green-amber-red” risk assessment system, or the GAR model, the Coast Guard uses today. These requirements are also described in instructions for Coast Guard boat coxswains and boat crew operations. What is clear is that Etheridge and his crew successfully carried out the rescue of the Northeastern under extreme conditions of storm winds and heavy surf. They did so in an oar- powered wooden surfboat, demonstrating the determination of a Service that saves lives in peril on the sea. � Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in MyCG as part of their Long Blue Line series. Issue 3 • 2022 � RESERVIST 35
