May 3, 2013—Downtown Books Manteo, War Zone signing.
May 4, 2013—Duck’s Cottage Duck, NC, War Zone signing.
May 20, 2013—Farmville Public Library, “War Zone—WWII Off the NC Coast.”
June 10, 2013—Rocky Mount Rotary
June 11, 2013—Kannapolis Rotary Club
June 11, 2013—Book signing at Literary Book Post, Salisbury 2:30-5 p.m.
June 11, 2013—Afton Sunset Rotary
June 12, 2013—Concord Rotary Club.
June 17, 2013—Shaftsbury Society Luncheon at John Locke Foundation offices, Raleigh, 12 p.m. (info here)
June 19, 2013—RTP180º-Depths of NC, Davis Dr. RTP HQ , 6 p.m.
July 13, 2013—Thomasville Library
August 8-9, 2013—NC Maritime Museum: Thursday, Blackbeard Roundtable, Beaufort Pirate Invasion
September 17-21, 2013—On the Same Page Literary Festival, West Jefferson, NC
Oct. 17, 2013—Colonial Dames, Rocky Mount.
Oct. 24, 2013—Friends of Wilson Co. Lib.
Since 1997, Kevin Duffus has published four books and produced four award-winning documentary films all on Outer Banks history. His books and films have been widely praised for their groundbreaking research, historical accuracy and superior quality.
1854 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
Fresnel lens and pedestal.
©2010 KPD.
Upcoming Events
Latest News
updated April 23, 2013
UNC-TV Bookwatch with D.G. Martin
WFAE/Charlotte Talks: On the Real Black Beard
Old bones, perhaps a pirate’s, find eternal rest in coastal N.C.
Blackbeard’s True Treasure Revealed
Edward Salter finally laid to rest—temporarily
New discovery in the storied history of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Fresnel lens
WRAL: Smithsonian to examine remains thought to be of pirate
Bones going to NC relatives may have been pirate
VA-Pilot: What’s in a name? “Graveyard of the Atlantic”
Lawyers: State erred in Salter-remains case
Cannons thundered at Teach’s Hole for the
2nd annual Blackbeard pirate memorial (’09)
Pirates return to Ocracoke to honor their dead (’08)
Blackbeard group seeking an ‘Adventure’
(click on DVD for direct link)
(click on DVD for direct link)
“When lighthouse enthusiast Kevin P. Duffus discovered a 12-foot-tall, 6,000-pound, bronze and crystal lens in a government warehouse he knew he solved a long-standing mystery. The whereabouts of the enormous missing Fresnel lens from the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in North Carolina had long eluded preservationists and investigators, emerging as the “holy grail” of lenses. Today, the mammoth antique lens is on display at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum on Hatteras Island for locals and tourists to admire.”
Jenn Bain, Travel+Leisure Magazine, December 2008
In 2008, after completing years of research, Kevin Duffus published The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate, a detailed examination of the famous seafaring rogue’s final six months in North Carolina. The controversial book presents stunning contradictions to traditional historical accounts about Black Beard’s (also known as Blackbeard) origins, his travels and motivations as a pirate, his death, and the identity and fate of his most trusted crew members.
In the course of his research, Duffus discovered that the bones of one of those crew members, the cooper Edward Salter, had been stored, and forgotten, in a state warehouse for nearly a quarter of a century. Following a 3-year dispute with state officials and 3 court hearings, Duffus succeeded in establishing the rights of Salter’s descendants to repossess the bones in order to afford Salter the honor, dignity and decent interment he so desired, and of which he had been deprived. On Sunday, October 24, 2010, Edward Salter, the colonial-era landowner, merchant, assemblyman, warden of St. Thomas Church of Bath, and former pirate-cooper, was finally laid to rest.
Read the eulogy presented by Kevin Duffus at the reinterment of Edward Salter here.
(click here for more event info)
In 2007, Kevin Duffus wrote, designed and published Shipwrecks of the Outer Banks—An Illustrated Guide, which noted historian (and mentor of Duffus) David Stick called the long-awaited sequel to his own book, Graveyard of the Atlantic. Among his other historical accomplishments, Duffus discovered the lost history of the builder of the 1870 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, preserved the amazing personal story of the World War II “baby born in a lifeboat” and oral histories of island residents, Coast Guard crews, Navy sailors, and merchant marines, all who survived “Torpedo Junction.”
Above clockwise from left: Prototypical Outer Banks lifesaver Patrick Etheridge; a surfboat rescue at sea in the 19th century; nameboards of vessels wrecked on the Outer Banks. ©2010 KPD.
Above: David Stick and Kevin Duffus in 2007. Stick, who passed away in May 2009, was a self-proclaimed maverick historian and author. ©2010 KPD.
Above: The sandstone grave marker of Susanna White, whom long-standing eastern North Carolina legend said was the sister of the pirate Black Beard. Her true identity led Kevin Duffus on a 30-year odyssey of discovery of the lost history of the notorious pirate. ©2010 KPD.
©2013 Looking Glass Productions, Inc. USA, All Rights Reserved.
New DVDs
Above: Kevin Duffus leads pallbearers in carrying the remains of Edward Salter. Washington Daily News photo.
New book from historian Kevin P. Duffus
In 1942, black smoke and orange flames from torpedoed vessels filled the ocean skies from New England to New Orleans. Explosions rattled window panes and the nerves of coastal residents. Beaches were awash with wreckage, oil, empty lifeboats, and bodies.
War Zone is a gripping panorama of the plight of merchant sailors, of Coast Guardsmen watching helplessly as sailors plunged into pools of burning oil, and of the baby born in a lifeboat. Learn about intrepid citizens who defended America in little boats and in small planes; the truth behind the famous phrase “Sighted sub, sank same;” and the children who spied on German spies. Discover the real story behind the legends of secret agents, midget-submarine landings, and the shelling of a chemical plant on Kure Beach. Follow the accounts of three climactic engagements between U.S. forces and German U-boats off the North Carolina coast with the Battle of the Atlantic hanging in the balance; and the time a tearful son from England visited his father’s grave on Ocracoke Island for the first time in 62 years.
War Zone is a classic American story told from the perspective of everyday people who daily faced daunting challenges with perseverance, patriotism, and uncommon valor. Shocking, emotionally stirring, humorous, and ironic, War Zone preserves these memories of the greatest generation of Americans living on the coast of North Carolina in 1942.
304 pages $24.95 call 1-800-647-3536 to order signed copies
A Pirate's Life Is a Wonderful Life...On North Carolina's Outer Banks
Review: The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate • by Kevin Duffus
“Little is known for certain about the life of the notorious pirate—which very well may be why his legend continues to fascinate us. Duffus’s book is partly a painstaking reconstruction of the pirate’s last days based on historical fact, partly conjecture based on research to fill in the gaps. The author is both a conscientious historian and a fine storyteller, which means that he is careful to distinguish fact from speculation and that his speculations are equally as fascinating as his research, if not more so.”
Krysten Davis