Book Suggestion

History Forgot The Life-Saving Service That Birthed The U.S. Coast Guard: James Charlet is Changing That

By Erik J. Wallace

James Charlet and his wife, Linda Molloy, stand in the center of the Sanderling Resort Lifesaving Station Restaurant on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, addressing a crowd of 40 diners. The two are dressed as characters from the late-19th century. Charlet sports a big salt-and-pepper beard and the gold-buttoned, navy-blue dress uniform of a U.S. Life-Saving Service station keeper. Molloy plays his wife, wearing gloves, a long black skirt, white collared blouse and matching sunhat—all tastefully adorned with Victorian frills.

“Go to any town or city in America and ask people if they’ve heard of the U.S. Life-Saving Service (USLSS), and maybe one in a hundred will say yes,” says Charlet, 74. Yet the government agency, which was founded in 1871 and morphed into the Coast Guard in 1915, rescued more than 177,000 sailors and civilians from coastal shipwrecks. Servicemen did it using little more than cork flotation devices, ropes and oar-driven wooden boats.

Crews of about eight men were assigned to lifesaving stations, which were mostly located on isolated coastal shores and managed by a ‘keeper.’ Known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” the Outer Banks was notoriously dangerous for mariners. Accordingly, the area was home to seven stations in 1874 and 29 by 1915. During that time its USLSS crewmen saw more action than any other U.S. location.

“These men were constantly regaled as heroes in the nation’s top magazines and newspapers,” Charlet tells the audience. “People all across the country were inspired by their daring acts of bravery. But today, that history is almost totally forgotten.” Charlet has spent much of the past 20 years trying to change that. The Sanderling event celebrated the quest’s crowning achievement: Globe Pequot’s March 2020 publication of his new book, Shipwrecks of the Outer Banks, Dramatic Rescues and Fantastic Wrecks in the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

a man and a woman is standing at a hotel lobby — KJ & Linda at Sanderling Lyle Gun, Havel

Charlet and Molloy, who worked together at the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site on Hatteras Island, told theatrical stories about wrecks and USLSS rescues. Executive Chef of the Lifesaving Restaurant Brian Riddle provided a four-course dinner of fine-dining takes on seasonal, period-correct dishes and beverages enjoyed by crews. Originally built in 1874, and later designated a National Historic Landmark, the resort’s renovated station-turned-restaurant was the perfect venue.

“[Charlet and Molloy] transported the audience back in time and held them spellbound with tales of real-life heroes,” said Sanderling Resort program coordinator, Ashley Vaught, who attended the dinner. It was so successful she’s partnering with the couple to do more in 2021. “Their ability to make history come alive and shed light on the lives and deeds of these astonishing men is informative and wonderfully entertaining.”

Charlet’s book has struck a similar nerve with readers. It’s become one of Globe Pequot’s current best-sellers and has been made available at major retailers throughout the U.S. and in more than a dozen countries worldwide.

North Carolina State Historical Sites Chief Curator, Martha Jackson, says Charlet does nothing halfway. “His passion for history is superlative and inspiring.” And it’s augmented by an endearing sense of humor, kindness and charm.

Research revealed more than 3,000 known shipwrecks have occurred along the OBX, with an estimated 600 occurring near Hatteras alone. Surrounding stories offered a wellspring of intrigue. For instance, barrier islands like Hatteras were located about 30 miles from the mainland and had no paved roads until the mid-20th century. Villages were isolated, clannish, and had about 100-200 residents each. Legend has it that groups known as ‘wreckers’ once used lanterns to trick wayward ships into running ashore at night. The boats were pilfered for supplies, building materials and valuables. This is most likely not true. Later, German submarines and mines sank more than 100 freighters and tankers during World War I.

“You start reading about this stuff and there are so many incredible stories, it gets addictive,” says Charlet. He volunteered at local mariners’ museums to learn more. One was the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Historic Site, which features a restored 19th century USLSS station. “You hear ‘life-saving’ and you think lifeguards, lighthouses, that sort of thing. Well, this was something altogether different.”

The station’s most famous rescue involved the August 1918 wreck of the British tanker, Mirlo. Charlet used old captain’s logs, news articles, reports, correspondence and interviews to reconstruct what happened the 52 British sailors safely onto the beach.

Remarkably, the heroic tale wasn’t anomalous. “Once I’d pieced together the Mirlo story, I thought, ‘Wow, I bet there are more of these,’” says Charlet. Researching neighboring stations validated the hunch. On one side, a serviceman had singlehandedly saved 12 men from a wrecked barkentine. The only all African American crew in the USLSS had served on the other—and executed dozens of rescues.

“It didn’t take long to realize these stories were virtually inexhaustible,” says Charlet.

Charlet was hooked. He started spending free-time tracking down information about obscure OBX wrecks and related USLSS rescues. He compiled findings into narratives and shared them with groups like the National Maritime Historical Society. They were well received and led to public presentations and articles in regional periodicals.

“People really responded to these stories, and I was one of them,” says Linda Molloy. She met Charlet at a Chicamacomico Historic Site event in the early 2000s. His presentation about the USLSS inspired her to volunteer and the two began dating soon thereafter. A few years later, they were hired by the onsite museum. Brainstorming ideas to boost attendance and enhance visitor experiences inspired them to develop historical personas. Molloy was a seamstress and former actor. She made costumes and worked with Charlet to hone living-history presentations centered around turn-of the-century rescues and village life. Jackson, the North Carolina historical sites curator, calls the results “fantastic.” Visitor feedback was unanimous: Molloy and Charlet were an extraordinary hit.

Charlet’s book came out of a chance encounter: An author with ties to Globe Pequot read one of his stories and suggested he pitch writing about the USLSS.

“The Coast Guard is the only branch of the U.S. military where the primary focus is saving lives,” says Charlet. Exploring its largely forgotten origins had national appeal. The adventurous and almost unbelievable reality of Outer Banks USLSS servicemen was like a positive version of the Wild West. “Their deeds were heroic, in the truest sense of the word.”

Charlet emailed the publisher, submitting past articles as potential chapters. They loved the material and signed a deal in 2018. “It was all pretty surreal,” says Charlet, laughing. The project let him fully indulge his obsession. “I got to spend about eighteen months totally immersed. It was great fun.”

And the book reads accordingly. On one hand, it’s filled with dozens of suspenseful tales about rescues. On the other, it offers a fascinating portrait of 19th and early-20th century life on what is today one of the East Coast’s top tourist areas.

For his part, Charlet is thrilled the book has found a large audience. But his delight isn’t about personal acclaim.

“I’m happy to help restore this amazing chapter of history,” says Charlet. In an era that celebrates actors, athletes, YouTube stars and billionaires as heroes, “it’s important for people to understand what real heroism looked like.”

To be sure, Charlet’s book showcases some dazzling examples.

THE BOOK

Unlike conventional shipwreck books which are simply arranged chronologically, this is a themed-collection: The Well-Known, The Lesser-Known, The Hardly Known, some Dramatic Failures and the Mysterious. Some specific wrecks – the Tiger, the USS Huron, the SS Central America – so impacted our history as to forever alter our fate. All are true stories more about the rescues than the wrecks; the real-life human drama of shipwreck victims and their heroic lifesavers. In their time, the men of the United States Life-Saving Service responded to over 178,000 lives in peril from the sea; of which they saved over 177,000. Yet America forgot these peaceful heroes. These eye-opening accounts correctly reveal America’s Forgotten Heroes – the United States Life-Saving Service, predecessor of today’s United States Coast Guard.

“James Charlet has written a masterpiece that not only preserves the heroism of the brave surfmen of the U.S. Life-Saving Stations but reveals little-known maritime history,” Martha Battle Jackson, Chief Curator, Division of State Historic Sites and Properties, NC Dept. of Natural and Cultural Resources.

For more information about the book, about James, and more reviews, Google the book main title and add James Charlet. You will find numerous sources.

RAVE PROFESSIONAL EDITORIAL REVIEWS

a book cover — Leslie, Feb 28, 1885, COVER, Fire Isl rescue

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It showed me that, as much as I thought I knew about the history of the Outer Banks, there is a lot more that I didn’t know. James Charlet has written an extraordinary account of the shipwrecks along the Outer Banks. From the earliest settlers through Blackbeard, colonial America and into the 21st century, he has captured the essence of why the Outer Banks is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic.–Chris Wright, BMCM, USCG (ret); Surfman 309.

James Charlet is one of America’s finest storytellers today. With experience as a historian, manager of the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station, and a lifelong student of maritime legends, there is no better subject for him than the true stories of nightmarish shipwrecks along the notoriously dangerous North Carolina Coast. Shipwrecks of the Outer Banks offers in-depth looks at some of the most famous shipwrecks to date and what caused them. He puts the reader right there on board the distressed ship or in the life-saving surfboat with the angels in oil coats struggling to rescue their fellow mariners. Well-illustrated and peppered with fascinating behind-the-scenes explanations, this book is hard to put down.–Cheryl Shelton-Roberts.

If you have ever experienced James Charlet relating the history of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and tales of heroic rescues by the Chicamacomico Station, you know you are in for a treat. I have watched as James held his audiences spellbound, from small children to older adults, and this book does not disappoint. He does a masterful job weaving the history of the U.S. Life-Saving Service (now the U.S. Coast Guard), explaining why the Outer Banks of North Carolina are the “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” and recounting seemingly impossible rescues of passengers and crews of unfortunate ships foundering off the coast. In addition, the author explains nautical terms to landlubbers so that we can better appreciate and understand what actually happened. He also relates how certain wrecks impacted the history of the United States, such as the loss of the SS Central America adversely affecting the fragile economy and political climate of the time. James Charlet has written a masterpiece that not only preserves the heroism of the brave surfmen of the U.S. Life-Saving Stations but reveals little-known maritime history. A MUST read for all persons serving in the U.S. Coast Guard!–Martha Jackson, Chief Curator, Division of State Historic Sites and Properties, NC Dept. of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Keeper James methodically reveals his passion about the Lifesaving Service. I was amazed by his knowledge on this important piece of American History, and his diligent attention to the details. The 1918 rescue of the SS Mirlo‘s crew in Chapter 3 stirred my excitement and almost brought me to tears. Such heroics exceed my imagination. Hat’s off to a master storyteller! This history deserves to be told and retold. America is in need of heroes to spur each of us to go above and beyond what we think we can accomplish. These ordinary men from the Outer Banks of North Carolina performed superhuman feats of courage, exemplifying the true meaning of the “golden rule.” I would like to have known some of them on a personal level, across the table over a cup of hot coffee on a cold and windy day. They are simply inspiring!–Lewis C. Forrest, Chair, The Friends of the Outer Banks History Center.

TO ORDER: National Book Network, Tel: (800) 462-6420, Fax: (800) 338-4550 customercare@nbnbooks.com Current sale outlets: Amazon, Google Books, Barnes and Noble, Good Reads, Target, Thrift Books, National Book Network, Vital Source, Kindle Store and Books-A-Million. Also Our State Magazine shop. Internationally, it is available from Renaud-Bray (France), Rakuten Kobo (Canada), Billigkroken ARK Blog (Norway), Amazon.com.uk (Great Britain), Amazon.es (Spain), Amazon.it (Italy), Bol.com (The Hague, Netherlands), Rakuten.co.jp (Japan), Book Depository (UK), Mighty Ape (New Zealand), Adlibris (Finland), JPC (Germany), and Coinfo Book Service in Australia.

Sanderling Resort Lifesaving Restaurant, Duck, Outer Banks, NC

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Book Suggestion

As US Federal Climate Disaster Protections Crumble, Look To Indigenous Leadership and Keep Multinational Corporations On the Hook

Book cover of Truth Demands by Abby Reyes, featuring a collage of torn landscape images with the subtitle “a memoir of murder, oil wars, and the rise of climate justice.”

When Colombia entered its post-civil war transitional justice process, the investigatory magistrates sought to recognize me as a victim in Case 001 of their truth and recognition chamber. Their invitation came 20 years to the day after we found the bodies of my partner Terence Unity Freitas and his mentor-colleagues Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa (Menominee) and Lahe’ena’e Gay (Hawaiian). They were kidnapped and murdered in 1999 upon exiting Indigenous U’wa territory in northeastern Colombia, near land then coveted by a U.S. oil company.

Gingerly Terence’s mother and I breathed life into our questions long dormant about the role of Occidental Petroleum at the time of the murders in that part of Colombia, where oil pipelines have always been a magnet for armed violence. We wondered if finally we had found a forum robust enough to hold the weight of our inquiry.

The answer was no. The reason was a failure of imagination exacerbated by procedural capture. We can learn from Colombia’s mistakes.

As our own democracy falters, and the backbone of domestic federal environmental, climate, and civil rights protections breaks, it is time for us to look to the instruction Indigenous societies like Pueblo U’wa in Colombia offer for procedural guidance.

For Pueblo U’wa, oil is the blood of the Earth and the Earth is our mother. To sustain life, they say, we have to keep the oil in the ground. For the U’wa, it’s not about a sustainable development framework, or weighing interests among stakeholders. Rather, for the U’wa, the purpose of human life is to maintain equilibrium between the world below the surface of the Earth, and the world above, where we live our daily lives.

The Pueblo U’wa maintain this equilibrium through song: Songs that last days. Songs that every U’wa child learns. Songs that tell stories of our interdependence with the rivers, mountains, forests, oceans from which we come and to which we are beholden for planetary survival. In a letter home to a friend shortly before his murder, Terence observed, “this is the reason we are doing this work, so that people can listen to singing.” Defending the space for the song’s narrative defends people’s access to remembering who they are, a key to bold action. For life to sustain, the voice of the song must remain inviolate.

In the transitional justice process, Colombia considered an oil company to be a third party to the armed conflict. Although investigation of the role of third parties had originally been part of the envisioned charge, the judicial decision that finalized the investigatory scope of the truth and recognition chamber eliminated it. Business elites had ensured that third parties such as multinational resource extraction corporations were excluded from investigation.

In Terence’s notebooks, he meditated on the voice of silence in the U’wa people’s resistance to oil extraction in their territory. “Where is the voice of silence? Of women? Of children? Of the communities that cannot speak publicly about opposition to petrol?” He wondered about the relationship between silence and fear. His final note regarded the silence of “the sound of the stumps cut during seismic line studies.” In U’wa territory, Terence contemplated the narrative that silence elicits. In relegating corporations like Occidental Petroleum to third-party status, Colombia designed the truth and recognition chamber in a manner that restricted the range of stories that could be safely elicited. The narrative of silence was thus harder to hear. The sound of the stumps cut during seismic line studies did not ring out in the chamber. Earth itself was also rendered a third party, peripheral to the deliberations.

We are familiar with this playbook of course; it is, after all, our own corporations and those doing their bidding who are wreaking havoc on democratic institutions both abroad and here at home. But for a future to be possible, the truth demands that we move these so-called third parties—the corporations, the voices of community, and the not-so-silent voice of the Earth—out of the periphery and into the center of our vision.

As our institutions are eviscerated, we can take heart and reconstitute ourselves around a recent judicial ruling that did just that. In a case that Pueblo U’wa has diligently pursued since before the 1999 murders, the highest human rights court in the hemisphere—the Inter-American Court of Human Rights—just ruled in the community’s favor. Especially in this moment when everything tells us the opposite, Caso U’wa signals a course correction that we would do well to hear and amplify: For a livable planet, time’s up on the narrative of fossil fuel extraction as economic panacea.

In the context of the climate crisis, Caso U’wa highlights the importance of ancestral knowledge and the right of Indigenous peoples to self-determination in the face of extractive projects that threaten their existence.

In the battle of competing narratives for our collective future, Pueblo U’wa played the long game and won. I have to believe that, in the end, we will, too. In these preposterous times, this is the collective pivot we make now to step forward into the livable climate future we know is possible.

Abby Reyes’ memoir, Truth Demands: A Memoir of Murder, Oil Wars, and the Rise of Climate Justice, is available now through Penguin Random House: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/645675/truth-demands-by-abby-reyes/

About the Author

Abby Reyes

Abby Reyes began her career with rural environmental legal assistance in the Philippines, her father’s homeland, and walking alongside the Colombian U’wa Indigenous pueblo for dignity against big oil. As an environmental and human rights lawyer, she directs community resilience at University of California Irvine, supporting community-academic partnerships to accelerate community-owned just transition solutions.

Reyes is also a lecturer at UC Irvine School of Law.

A graduate of Stanford University and UC Berkeley Law, she is a partner of the National Association of Climate Resilience Planners and recently stepped down from the board of directors of EarthRights International after nearly a decade.

Book Suggestion

Wet and Salty. A Lifelong Journey Seeking Coral Conservation and Resilience.

By Rodney V Salm

Rodney Salm takes us on a 55-year journey that began as a boy in Moçambique through a life of extreme adventure spent in and under the ocean in polar regions and tropical seas, but principally among coral reefs in far-flung places. He chronicles his transition from plundering seas to conserving their precious bounty.

A young man holding a trevally fish showing visible shark bite wounds, standing barefoot on a beach with fishing gear. — *A friend holds a trevally with shark bites, Santa Maria, Moçambique*

In those early years when there were no rules and the resulting freedom liberating, Rod drew heavily on self-reliance built from camping in the bush and along beaches. He learned to live off the sea, often sharing his speared fishes with sharks that harassed him as he hunted for his next meal.

During the first decades of his career, Rod worked alone under the seas and across deserts in foreign lands, learning his limits, encountering danger, and checking off another of his nine lives. This lifestyle exposed him to adventure and discovery, different people and beliefs systems, and engaging legends. In his own words: “I fell inextricably in love with the underwater world, especially corals, and came to realise that the damage done to them by humans around the world is not necessarily fatal or final. Coral reefs are vital living organisms, well able to recover from most harm humans and the climate can do to them. They just need to be given the chance.” That theme lies at the core of the enthusiasm and messages Rod shares in this book.

*Healthy table Acropora corals with deep colour, active pale growth margins, and no damage or disease, Komodo National Park, Indonesia*

Crammed with adventure, pioneering conservation achievements, and field science, Rod chronicles the many challenges that often plagued but never deterred him. Even as heat stress resulting from global warming caused mass coral bleaching and mortality and confounded reef managers and scientists, he led the charge to find ways to address the issue. Again, in his own words: “In 1989 Oman was where the seed of reef resilience was planted in my mind. In 1998 Kenya and Seychelles were where it was watered. And in 1999 it germinated in Palau.” The result was adoption of resilience as an organising principle for coral reef conservation, first in Palau and over time around the world.

Four scuba divers measuring a massive boulder coral (Porites) underwater in clear blue waters, with reef fish swimming nearby. — *Coral Triangle Center team measuring a giant boulder Porites as part of their training in rapid coral health and resilience assessment, Lease Islands, Indonesia*

The book concludes with a ﬁrsthand account of Rod’s development of a groundbreaking method for rapid assessment and enhancement of coral health and resilience to address the challenges of climate change.

Combining vivid storytelling with practical insights, the book aims to inspire scientists, students, and nature enthusiasts—showing that science can be thrilling, adventurous, and impactful. It leaves us optimistic that we can take action to safeguard coral communities and enhance their resilience to global change.

To order the book, please check with your local bookstore, or online at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

About the Author

Rod Salm smiling while holding a rope aboard a boat, with silhouetted islands and ocean behind him in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. He wears a hat, glasses, and a “Sea Turtles” T-shirt. — *Rod Salm, Raja Ampat Islands, Indonesia. Photo: Djuna Ivereigh*

Rodney V Salm

Although now officially retired, I continue to pursue practical methods for the application of resilience principles to coral conservation. I am a member of the scientific advisory board of the Coral Triangle Center and emeritus adviser to The Nature Conservancy Micronesia Marine Program. In recent years I led a coral health and resilience assessment for African Parks in the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park in Mozambique and continue to provide training to the Coral Triangle Center team and partners in rapid coral health and resilience assessments.

Book Suggestion

Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival

In Reefs of Time, geoscientist and writer Lisa Gardiner ventures into the fossilized past of coral reefs to illuminate the urgent questions of their future. This compelling new release from Princeton University Press arrives at a moment when the world’s coral ecosystems are teetering under the weight of climate change, pollution, and overexploitation. Gardiner’s approach is both scientific and lyrical, weaving together cutting-edge research and personal fieldwork into a narrative that is as illuminating as it is moving.

Rather than dwell solely on the devastation facing reefs today, Gardiner takes readers to the “shallow end of deep time,” ancient epochs when reefs adapted to shifting seas and temperatures. From these remnants, she distills stories of endurance and transformation. The fossil record becomes not just a window into the past but a guidebook for the path forward.

Her storytelling spans continents and millennia. Readers follow Gardiner through tropical locales, where she and fellow researchers decipher the cryptic signatures etched into coral limestone. These reef remnants, some older than the dinosaurs, hold clues about how coral communities once survived dramatic environmental upheaval and how they might do so again.

Praise for Reefs of Time reflects the resonance of Gardiner’s message. Nancy Bent of Booklist describes it as “lessons from the past [that] may help save corals for the future.” Science writer Juli Berwald calls it “an elegant, urgent, and ultimately hopeful message about why our past matters so much to our future,” while Riley Black hails it as “a delight” that blends science, history, and poetic observation.

At its core, Reefs of Time is a meditation on resilience. It reframes the story of coral reefs not as one of inevitable loss, but as one of possibility if we are willing to act, and act with knowledge. It speaks to scientists, educators, policymakers, and readers who care about life beneath the waves.

Reefs of Time will be released June 10 by Princeton University Press. It is a standout contribution to marine literature, offering clarity and hope in the face of one of our era’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Learn more or pre-order the book here: Princeton University Press: Reefs of Time

About the Author

Portrait of Lisa S. Gardiner, author of Reefs of Time, wearing tortoiseshell glasses, a dark sweater, and a patterned scarf, standing outdoors with soft-focus greenery in the background.

Lisa S. Gardiner is a science writer, geoscientist, and educator. She is the author of Tales from an Uncertain World: What Other Assorted Disasters Can Teach Us about Climate Change. Her writing has appeared in leading publications such as the Atlantic, Hakai Magazine, and Scientific American.