By Carolyn Brown Treadon
The following was shared by Tim Ashley and appeared on the US Guard Guard Newsfeed, unofficial.
The huge numbers of lives lost due to shipwrecks along the Atlantic coast resulted in the formation of the U.S. Lifesaving Service. On June 10, 1872 Congress ordered that Life-Saving stations were to be erected “under supervision of two captains of the revenue service.” An Act of Congress authorized government life-saving stations on Cape Cod and Block Island. The service replaced the Massachusetts Humane Society, which had maintained shelters along the coast in an effort to assist shipwrecked sailors.
The Lifesaver’s motto was: “You have to go, but you don’t have to come back.” While they were stationed on Cape Cod between 1872 and 1915, they earned them the name, Guardians of the Ocean Graveyard.
The lifesaving stations were simple buildings designed as a home for the crew and storage for the boats and other gear. They were set back as far as possible from the high-water mark and painted red so that they might be distinguished from a long distance at sea. There was a lookout or observatory from where the surfmen would keep track shipping traffic during the day and a sixty-foot flagstaff used to signal passing ships by International code.
In the 1870s, nine stations were built on Cape Cod. The stations were to be manned by the most expert surfmen and boat handlers to be found and the patrol of the coast at night and during thick weather by day was inaugurated. Provincetown men were actively recruited for their demonstrated ability in boat handling. The stations were manned ten months a year, from the first of August until the following June. The keeper remained on duty throughout the year.
Thanks to Sherrie, we will always remember safe boating is no accident!!
If you would like to learn more about vessel safety checks, please contact Steve Hults, Staff Officer for Vessel Examinations at steve.hults@uscgaux.net.
Please contact us for more information about our safe boating classes or learning more about getting involved in the Auxiliary, check out our website at www.uscgaux.net follow us on FaceBook @ Apalachee Bay Flotilla 12 or contact our Flotilla Commander Phil Hill at pnkkhill2000@yahoo.com.
The Coast Guard Auxiliary is the uniformed civilian volunteer component of the U.S. Coast Guard and supports the Coast Guard in nearly all mission areas. The Auxiliary was created by Congress in 1939. For more information, please visit www.cgaux.org.