Related
Pages located on Long Island Genealogy:
Long Island Shipwrecks
Raynor Rock Smith Hero Life Saver of
the Wreck "Mexico"
The Schooner C. C. Colgate
Murder On The High Sea
The Wreck of the Bristol - November 21,
1836
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries large sections of the
United States’ eastern seaboard were sparsely populated. The
crew of any ship running aground could expect very little, if
any, help. As maritime trade increased, so did the demand for
assistance for those wrecked near the shore. The chances of
ships running aground is illustrated by examining the approaches
to the nineteenth century port of New York, at the time the
fastest growing city on the eastern seaboard. A sailing ship had
to make a long funnel-like approach to the busy port, with the
coast of New Jersey on the one side and the coast of Long
Island, New York, on the other. During a strong noreaster, a
sailing craft could be driven upon New Jersey’s lee shore. Both
coasts contained sandbars located between 300 to 800 yards
offshore. In a storm, any ship stranded on the sandbars usually
went to pieces within a few hours. Few people could survive a
300 yard swim in 40 degree storm-tossed surf. Even if a few
sailors managed somehow to reach the beach in winter, they stood
a good chance of perishing from exposure on the largely
uninhabited shore. On January 2, 1837 for example, the American
bark Mexico wrecked on the Long Island coast (Long Beach) and
all 112 emigrant passengers on board were lost.
In 1871 the United States Life-Saving Service
was established and merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to
create the Revenue Marine Bureau. These two services would
become separate again between 1876-1878, and would remain so
until 1915, at which time they would merge again to become the
United States Coast Guard. While originally begun on the New
York and New Jerseys coasts, the USLSS stations covered the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as the Great Lakes region.
Separated by distances of approximately four miles, some of the
the stations in the immediate area of “The Water’s Edge”, were
the Smith Point, Forge River and Moriches USLSS stations.
All of the L.I. stations were on or in the beach hills/sand
dunes, a short way from the high water mark. (Van Field)
The USLSS stations were substantial
structures that were well equipped for the dangerous duty of
rescuing the lives of those aboard ships in distress off
America’s coastlines. They had four rooms on the first floor,
two on the second, and an observation area above. The
lifeboat itself was approximately 26 feet long, 7 feet wide and
weighed between 700 and 1100 pounds. Operated by a seven
man crew, their lifesaving ability was formidable. By 1915 the
United States Life-Saving Service had aided over 28,000
vessels and saved over 178,000 lives.
The U.S. Life-Saving Service was a Federal
agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian efforts
to save the lives of shipwrecked mariners and passengers.
By the time the USLSS merged with the Revenue Cutter Service in
1915 to form the U.S. Coast Guard, there was a network of over
270 stations covering the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf Coasts,
and along the Great Lakes.
The concept of assistance to shipwrecked
mariners from shore based stations began with volunteer
lifesaving services, spearheaded by the Massachusetts Humane
Society. It was recognized that only small boats stood a chance
in assisting those close to the beach. A sailing ship trying to
help near to the shore stood a good chance of also running
aground, especially if there were heavy onshore winds. The
Massachusetts Humane Society founded the first lifeboat station
at Cohassett, Massachusetts. The stations were small shed-like
structures, holding rescue equipment that was to be used by
volunteers in case of a wreck. The stations, however, were only
near the approaches to busy ports and, thus, large gaps of
coastline remained without lifesaving equipment.
In 1848 the federal government entered the
shore based lifesaving business. William A. Newell, a
Congress-man from New Jersey, made a "vigorous and victorious"
appeal to Congress for $10,000 to provide "surf boats, rockets,
carronades and other necessary apparatus for the better
preservation of life and property from ship-wrecks on the coasts
of New Jersey....." The Massachusetts Humane Society also
requested, and received, funds for stations on the coastline.
The stations were to be administered by the U.S. Revenue Marine
(later called the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service), within the
Treasury Department. Actually, once the stations were built,
they were run like a volunteer fire department, but without
anyone in charge, nor any inspection system to insure that men
and equipment were up to standards.
The lifesaving system managed to continue
under this type of organization for the next six years. Then a
strong storm swept the East Coast in 1854. Many sailors died
because there were not enough lifesaving stations and equipment
had not been properly cared for. One town, in fact, used its
lifeboat "alternately as a trough for mixing mortar and a tub
for scalding hogs."
Again, Congress appropriated funds for more
stations. This time, however, some of the money was used to
employ a full-time keeper at each station. Also included was
money to hire two Superintendents to supervise the stations
along the New Jersey and Long Island coasts. The problems,
however, continued. As one old salt recalled, the ‘only person
on duty was a keeper who received $200 a year, and if he
discovered a vessel in distress he had to collect a volunteer
crew.
The American Civil War caused the neglect of
the government’s shore based lifesaving network. This neglect
continued until 1870, when another vicious storm ripped into the
East Coast and many lives were lost. Newspaper editors began to
call for reform to "check the terrible fatalities off our
dangerous coasts" and to revamp the lifesaving system so that
sailors could depend upon help "in the future." The year 1871
marked a turning point in the history of shore based federal
lifesaving efforts.
Sumner Increase Kimball, a young lawyer from
Maine, was appointed, in 1871, the chief of the Treasury
Department’s Revenue Marine Division. One of his first acts was
to send Captain John Faunce, of the U.S. Revenue Marine, on an
inspection of the lifesaving network. Faunce noted that rescue
"apparatus was
rusty for want of care and some of it ruined," some keepers were
too old, few were competent, and politics had more influence in
the selection of keepers than
qualifications for handling boats. In short, the report painted
a dismal picture.
Kimball, using his own political know-how and
reinforced with Faunce’s report, proceeded to completely remake
the lifesaving network. He succeeded in gaining an appropriation
of $200,000 and Congress authorized the Secretary of the
Treasury to employ crews of surfmen wherever they were needed
and for as long as they were needed. Kimball instituted six-man
boat crews at all stations, built new stations, drew up
regulations with standards of performance for crew members, set
station routines, set physical standards, and, in short, set the
organization on the road to professionalization.
The number of stations increased. In 1874,
the stations were expanded to include the coast of Maine and ten
locations south of Cape Henry, Virginia, including the Outer
Banks of North Carolina. The next year, the network expanded to
include the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia peninsula, the Great
Lakes, and the coast of Florida. Eventually, the Gulf and West
Coasts would be included, as well as one station at Nome,
Alaska.
In 1878 the growing network of lifesaving
stations was finally organized as a separate agency of the
Treasury Department and named the U.S. Life-Saving Service.
Sumner I. Kimball was chosen as the General Superintendent of
the Service. Kimball held tight reign over the Service and, in
fact, remained the only General
Superintendent of the organization. The law which created the
U.S. Coast Guard in 1915, also provided for the retirement of
Kimball. The Service’s reputation for
honest, efficient, and non-partisan administration, plus
performance of duty, can be largely attributed to the efforts of
this one man.
The stations of the Service fell into three
broad categories: lifesaving, lifeboat, and houses of refuge.
Lifesaving stations were manned by full-time crews during the
period when wrecks were most likely to occur. On the East coast
this was usually from November to April, and was called the
"active season." By the turn of the
century, the active season was year-round. Most stations were in
isolated areas and crewmen had to be able to perform open beach
launching. That is, they were
required to launch their boats from the beach into the surf.
Before the turn of the century, there were
very few recreational boaters and most assistance cases came
from ships engaged in commerce. Lifeboat stations were located
at or near port cities. Here, deep water, combined with piers
and other waterfront structures, allowed the launching of heavy
lifeboats directly into the water by marine railways on inclined
ramps. In general, lifeboat stations were located on the Great
Lakes, but some lifesaving stations were situated in the more
isolated areas of the lakes. The active season on the Great
Lakes stretched from April to December.
Houses of refuge made up the third, and last,
class of Life Saving Service units. These stations were located
on the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. A paid
keeper and a small boat were assigned to each house, but the
organization did not include active manning and rescue attempts.
It was felt that along this stretch of coastline, shipwrecked
sailors would not die of exposure to the cold in the winter as
in the north. Therefore, only shelters would be needed.
The first stations consisted of one building
measuring 42 by 18 feet. As the Service grew, so did the size of
the stations. The early buildings were strictly utilitarian, but
by the 1880s, they were becoming more fashionable and usually
were made up of two or three structures. The main building
contained the offices, boat house, and berthing area for the
crew. It usually had a lookout tower on the roof.
Some were built to resemble a Swiss chalet
and one was even designed with a clock tower. By the 1890s, the
architect A. B. Bibb designed stations that looked much like
beach resort homes with lookout towers. The Life Saving
Service operated under a dual chain of command. The Life-Saving
District Superintendents reported directly to Kimball and were
responsible for most of the administrative matters of the
stations, including such matters as pay and supply. The other
channel of command was the Inspector of Life Saving Stations, a
Captain in the U.S. Revenue Marine Service. The inspector
assigned assistant inspectors, usually lieutenants of the U.S.
Revenue Marine Service, to each district and they were
responsible for the operational matters concerning the Service.
The assistant inspectors held drills,
investigations, and so forth. The Inspector of the Life-Saving
Service also reported to Kimball, thus creating a system of
checks and balances. The U.S. Life Saving Service had two means
of rescuing people on board ships stranded near shore: by boat
and by a strong line stretched from the beach to the wrecked
vessel. The Service’s boats were either a 700 to 1,000 pound,
self-bailing, self-righting surfboat pulled by six surfmen with
twelve to eighteen foot oars, or a two to four ton lifeboat. The
surfboat could be pulled on a cart by crewmen, or horses, to a
site near a wreck and then launched into the surf. The lifeboat,
following a design originated in England, could be fitted with
sails for work further offshore and was used in very heavy
weather. Some crews, at first, viewed the lifeboat with
skepticism because of its great weight and bulk. The skepticism
soon changed and crews began to regard it as "something almost
supernatural," for it enabled them to provide assistance "when
the most powerful tugs and steam-craft refused to go out of the
harbor. ..."
When a ship wrecked close to shore and the
seas were too rough for boats, then the Service could use
another method to reach the stranded mariners by stringing a
strong hawser (line) from the shore to the ship. To propel the
line to the ship, a cannon-like gun, called the Lyle gun, was
used. This shot a projectile up to 600 yards. The projectile
carried a small messenger line by which the shipwrecked sailors
were able to pull out the heavier hawser.
Once the line was secure, a life car could be
pulled back and forth between the wreck and the safety of the
shore. The life car looked like a tiny, primitive submarine. The
life car could be hauled over, through, or even under the seas.
After the hatch in the top of the car was sealed, there was
enough air within the device to accommodate eleven people for
three minutes. It is hard to envision eleven people crowding
into the car’s small compartment but, as one surfman put it,
people "in that extremity are not apt to stand on the order of
their going."
Typically, a life car carried four to six
people. Life cars were heavy and difficult to handle. Also, as
those in distress evolved from crowded immigrant packets with
many on board to small commercial schooners with less than a
dozen on board, the life car was widely replaced by the breeches
buoy. A breeches buoy resembles a life preserver ring with
canvas pants attached. It could be pulled out to the ship by
pulleys, enabling the endangered sailor to step into the life
ring and pants and then be pulled to safety much more easily
than the heavier life car. A beach apparatus cart carried all
the equipment needed to rig the breeches buoy and could be
pulled by the crew or horses to the wreck site.
The boats, beach apparatus, and life cars
were only as good as the surfmen who served in the U.S.
Life-Saving Service. The man in charge of the station,
officially
known as the keeper, was called captain by his crew and was an
expert in the handling of small boats and men. Superintendents
of the Life-Saving Districts were responsible for the selection
of the keepers, who, in turn, were responsible for selecting the
crews. Both keepers and crews were examined by a board of
inspectors made up of an officer of the Revenue Marine Service,
a surgeon of the Marine Hospital Service (later called the U.S.
Public Health Service), and an expert surfman to determine their
health, character, and skill. Keepers were required to be able
bodied, of good character and habits, able to read and write and
be under forty-five years of age and a master at handling boats,
especially in rough weather.
Most keepers tended to have long experience
at fishing, or other maritime occupations, or had worked their
way steadily through the ranks of the U.S. Life-Saving
Service. Although many of the keepers transferred from station
to station, a great many of the men remained at one station, or
within a small radius. The long years of service in one area
made the men experts on the weather and surf conditions.
Furthermore, because the keepers tended to select men from the
local community for their crews, the units of the Service,
unlike many government agencies, remained principally a local
affair.
The men who made up the crews of the Service
were known as surfman, because those on the East Coast, where
the Service began, launched their boats from open beaches into
the surf. Surf men could be no older than forty-five and had to
be physically fit and adept at handling an oar. A glance at the
muster rolls of the Service shows that most surfmen listed their
occupations before entering the Life-Saving Service as
"fisherman" or "mariner." The number of men composing a crew was
determined by the number of oars needed to pull the largest boat
at the station. This meant the crews ranged from six to eight,
but by the turn of the century, some stations were staffed with
at least ten men. Because keepers selected the crews,
regulations were enacted to prevent nepotism. Many surfmen, like
the keepers, remained at one station for long periods of time,
but some moved on to other stations in order to be promoted.
Surfmen were ranked by order of their experience, with Surfman
Number I being the most experienced and second in command of a
station.
In 1889, the Service became uniformed. The
idea grew from stations on the Great Lakes which had adopted a
naval uniform. Initially, this did not result in an esprit de
corps but instead resulted in a shout of outrage. The surfmen
were expected to pay for the uniforms out of their meager
salaries. The rescues performed by the men of the U.S.
LifeSaving Service captured the attention of nineteenth century
America. Indeed, the sight of a keeper standing erect in the
stern of his small boat, grasping his sweep oar, urging on his
men at their oars as the boat rose and fell in high surf, could
cause a reporter to write exciting copy. Terms such as "soldiers
of the surf" and "storm warriors" were used to describe the
lifesavers. The men did perform amazing rescues, but by far the
largest amount of work for the crews revolved around drilling
(practicing) with the rescue equipment, patrol and lookout duty,
and general station upkeep.
Each day of the week, except Sunday, the
surfmen were expected to drill or clean. On Mondays and
Thursdays, for example, the crew practiced with the beach
apparatus. The surfmen had to complete the entire procedure of
rigging the equipment, including firing the Lyle gun at a
practice pole shaped like a ship’s mast. When
the district inspectors arrived, the entire drill had to be
completed within five minutes or the man slowing the operation
could be dismissed from the Service.
On Tuesday, the men were expected to practice
with their boats. The craft were to be launched and landed
through the surf. In order to have the men react
automatically in an emergency, the boats would be deliberately
capsized and righted. This was a great crowd pleaser, one
observer noting that "no sight is more
impressive." The remainder of the week was taken up with
practice in signaling and first aid. Saturdays were devoted to
cleaning the station. All of the drills, while not overly
technical, were constantly hammered into the crew, which, in
turn, insured that the men would react quickly and automatically
during an emergency. This would pay large dividends when the
surf was running and danger was high.
There remained one other important duty that
took up a large portion of the surfmen’s routine, lookout and
patrol duties. During the daylight hours, a surfman was
assigned to scan the nearby water areas from the lookout tower.
No seats were kept in the tower in order to prevent inattention
to duty. At night, or when the weather grew foul, the surfmen
performed beach patrols. Originally, the patrol distances were
set up so that the beach patrol would meet the patrol from its
neighboring station, thus providing a good coverage for isolated
shorelines. As more and more of the coast came under the
watchful eye of the Service, it became impossible to provide
such coverage. In the areas where overlapping patrols could not
be maintained, the surfmen patrolled for five miles or more. At
the end of his patrol, there would be a stake with a
patrol-clock key attached. The key was inserted into the patrol
clock and the surfman would be able to prove that he had
completed the patrol.
The beaches many times were "clad with ice"
and, at best, were "pathless desserts in the night." Often times
‘the soft sand, bewildering snowfalls, overwhelming winds, and
bitter cold," threatened to stop the men. Surfmen bundled up in
oilskins and carried a patrol clock, if patrols did not overlap,
and a pouch of coston signals. The coston signal was much like a
flare and was used to warn ships that were approaching too close
to the beach, or to let grounded ships know that they had been
potted and help was on the way. Mariners were fortunate that
beach patrols were run in all weather. In [899, for example,
surfmen burning coston signals warned off 143 ships in danger of
running aground. In October of the same year, Surfman Rasmus
Midgett, of he Gull Shoals, North Carolina, Station,
accomplished he amazing feat of rescuing ten people single
handedly from the wrecked Priscilla while on patrol.
The greatest days of the Service covered the
ten years from 1871 to 1881. These were the years of its
greatest growth and some of its greatest rescues were performed
luring this period. As the nineteenth century began to edge
closer to the twentieth, however, two major problems began to
develop for the Service. First, with the advent of steam powered
ships, the age of sail was coming to an end. With improved
navigational technology, ships were less at the mercy of the
wind and were in less danger of being driven into the beach.
Secondly, at the turn of the century, the U.S. Life-Saving
Service noted the increase of gasoline powered small boats,
especially those used for recreational purposes. For example,
the amount of cases involving these boats increased fifty-eight
percent from 1905 to 1914. The Service was not equipped for this
type of work. To be sure, it had experimented with motor
lifeboats as early as 1899. Keeper Henry Cleary, of the
Marquette, Michigan, Station tested a 34 foot lifeboat equipped
with a two cylinder, twelve horsepower Superior engine. By 1905,
twelve power boats were in operation. It was, however, too
little too late. The Service was essentially set up to move
boats, or beach apparatus, by cart to the site of a major
shipwreck. The procedures required to do this were fast enough
for sailing and steam ships, but not for large numbers of
pleasure boats.
Other problems developed. There was no
retirement system, nor any compensation for injured crewmen.
Salaries became too low to attract new men and, with no
retirement, it became difficult to gain promotion. By 1914 there
"were instances of keepers in their seventies manning the
customary sweep oar while the strokes were manned by men in
their sixties." In 1914, after years of trying to obtain a
retirement system, Kimball agreed that a merger of the U.S.
Revenue Cutter System and the U.S. Life-Saving Service would be
best for both services and the country.
The law which created the U.S. Coast Guard,
on 28 January 1915, by combining the two services, also provided
for the retirement of Kimball and many of the older keepers and
surfmen. The U.S. Life-Saving Service performed nobly over its
forty-four years of existence. During this period, "28,121
vessels and 178,741 persons became involved with its services."
Only "1,455 individuals lost their lives while exposed within
the scope of Life-Saving Service operations.
The legacy of the U.S. Life Saving Service is
great. The organization Kimball formed provided the basis for
the new U.S. Coast Guard’s search and rescue organization for
years to come. Indeed, one can find little fault with the drills
and organization of Kimball’s routine. As late as 1959, U.S.
Coast Guard Lifeboat Stations on the Great Lakes were still
following a modified version of the old Life-Saving Service’s
schedule for drills. For example, beach apparatus drills were
still being held weekly to provide first aid and signaling
practice. Further, lookout tower watches were also still in
effect. The constant attention to practice with rescue equipment
and inspections is still in use today. In short, the good
practices of the Life-Saving Service remained in effect.
Kimball’s organization also allowed a small
crew to perform a large mission. The perception of a small
service doing a big job is as true for today’s Coast Guard as it
was for yesterday’s Life-Saving Service. For instance, the
average size of many U.S. Coast Guard stations in 1959 was no
more than fifteen. Technology, however, has helped the U.S.
Coast Guard to perform its mission more efficiently. Better
motor lifeboats have increased the range of rescue efforts.
Helicopters have greatly increased the ability to help those in
distress. In fact, the combination of better boats and
helicopters eventually caused the closure of many stations. In
1915, for example, there were twenty-nine Life Saving Stations
on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Today, because of the
impact of technology, there are now eight stations in the same
area.
Publicly Accessible Lifesaving Stations within the New York area
FORGE
RIVER LIFEBOAT STATION
Location: FIRE ISLAND
Nearest City: BAYSHORE
Owner: FLYNN'S HOTEL
Current Use: HOTEL
Hours:
Public Phone: 516-583-8000
Access: OCEAN BAY PARK
OAK ISLAND
LIFESAVING STATION
Location: OAK ISLAND BEACH
Nearest city: BABYLON
Owner: TOWN OF BABYLON
Current use: COMMUNITY CENTER
Hours: BY APPOINTMENT
Public Phone:
Access:
POINT OF
WOODS LIFEBOAT STATION
Location: FIRE ISLAND
Nearest City: BAYSHORE
Current Use: HOTEL
Hours:
Public Phone: 516-583-8000
Access: OCEAN BAY PARK
New York Maritime Historical Sites open to the Public
Dunkirk
Historical Lighthouse and Veterans Park Museum
1 Lighthouse Point Drive (off Route 5)
Dunkirk, NY 14048-0069
(716) 366-5050
Long
Island Maritime Museum
(formerly Suffolk Marine Museum)
86 West Avenue
West Sayville, NY 11796
(516) 854-4974
Hudson
River Maritime Museum -
http://www.ulster.net/~hrmm/
Dedicated to The Preservation of The Maritime History of
The Hudson River One Rondout Landing, Kingston, NY 12401 -
914-338-0071,
FAX 914-338-0583 - e-mail hrmm@ulster.net
MUSEUM
HOURS & FEES
telephone #718-409-7200
http://www.sunymaritime.edu/museum/layout.htm
The museum is housed in the halls of historic Fort Schuyler, on
the campus of the State University of New York (SUNY) Maritime
College, Bronx, New York. The Maritime College may be
reached by public transportation from Manhattan via "Pelham Bay
Local" of the Lexington Avenue (East Side) I.R.T. Subway.
Change at Westchester Square Stations, and take bus- marked
"Bx40 Fort Schuyler" -directly to the gate of the College, which
is the last stop on this bus route.
The New York Bus Service offers express bus service between
Manhattan and Throgs Neck. Call (718)994-5500 for stop
information. The stop for Fort Schuyler
is at the intersection of Pennyfield and harding Avenue,
approximately 1/2 mile from the campus.
From Long Island and Long Island Expressway West on Long Island
Expressway to either Cross Island Parkway or Clearview
Expressway North to Throgs Neck Bridge: take Pennyfield
Avenue-Fort Schuyler Exit IMMEDIATELY after toll station. If
possible use right most toll booths. At second stop sign turn
left over highway onto Pennyfield Avenue to College entrance.
Stony
Point Battlefield State Historic Site
Park Road, off U. S. Route 9W
Stony Point, NY 10980
(914) 786-2521
South
Street Seaport Museum
Website
http://www.SouthStSeaport.org
New York City's maritime past comes alive at South Street Seaport Museum. Here adults, families, and children can see, touch and enjoy the city's rich and diverse maritime past in the 19th century district where it all began. Explore the decks and cabins of six historic ships, see exhibitions of maritime art and artifacts, discover New York's archaeological heritage. Journey through the area's stone-paved streets as well as the little shops all along he way. Learn to use a 19th Century letterpress, sail around New York harbor on a graceful twin-masted schooner or excursion vessel.
Address
& Phone
South Street Seaport Museum
207 Front St.
New York, New York 10038
Phone: (212) 748-8600
Fax: (212) 748-8610
Hours
April 1st - September 30th:
Daily 10 am to 6 pm; Thurs. until 8 pm
October 1st - March 31st:
Daily 10 am to 5 pm; closed Tuesdays
Admission
Adults: $6
Seniors: $5
Students w/ID: $4
Children: $3
Intrepid
Sea-Air-Space Museum
W. 46th Street & 12th Avenue
New York City, NY 10036
(212) 245-2533
U.
S. Merchant Marine Academy
Steamboat Road
Kings Point, NY 11024
No phone number given.
By appointment only.
East End Seaport Marine Museum
One Bootleg Alley
Greenport (Long Island), NY 11944
(516) 477-0004
Montauk
Point Lighthouse Museum
Montauk (Long Island), NY 11954
(516) 668-2544
Old
Fort Niagara
Fort Niagara State Park
Youngstown, NY 14174
(716) 745-7166
Cold
Spring Harbor Whaling Museum
Main Street
Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724
(516) 692-9626
H.
Lee White Marine Museum
Foot of West First Street
Oswego, NY 13126
(315) 342-0480
Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum
7606 Ontario Street
Sodus Point, NY 14555
(315) 483-4936
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