Historic Lifesaving & Other Shore Stations

Collapse All Expand All
 East Coast / Gulf Coast

Maine  

Boothbay Harbor

Burnt Island

Cape Elizabeth

Cranberry Islands

Cross Island

Crumple Island

Damiscove Island Eastport

Fletcher's Neck

Hunniwell's Beach (Kennebec River)

Jonesport

Quoddy Head

Rockland

South Portland

Southwest Harbor

White Head

Wood Island 

 

New Hampshire

Hampton Beach

Isles of Shoals

Jerry's Point

Portsmouth Harbor

Rye Beach

Wallis Sands

 

Vermont

Burlington

 

Massachusetts 

Boston

Brant Point

Brant Rock

Cahoons Hollow

Cape Cod Canal

Castle Hill

Chatham

City Point

Coskata

Cuttyhunk

Fourth Cliff

Gay Head

Gloucester

Gurnet

High Head

Highland

Maddaket

Manomet Point

Menemsha

Merrimac River

Monomoy

Monomoy Point

Muskeget

Nahant

Nauset

Newburyport

North Scituate

Old Harbor

Orleans

Pamet River

Peaked Hill Bars

Plum Island

Point Allerton

Provincetown

Race Point

Salisbury Beach

Scituate

Surfside

Straitsmouth

Wood End

Woods Hole 

 

Rhode Island 

Block Island

Brenton Point

Castle Hill

Green Hill

Narragansett

New Shoreham

Point Judith

Quonocontaug

Sandy Point

Watch Hill 

 

Connecticut

Fishers Island

New Haven

New London

 

New York 

Amagansett

Bellport

Big Sandy

Blue Point

Buffalo

Charlotte

City Island

Coney Island

Ditch Plain

Eatons Neck

Far Rockaway

Fire Island

Forge River

Galloo Island

Georgica

Gilgo

Governors Island

Hither Plain

Jones Beach

Kings Point

Lone Hill

Long Beach

Meadow Island

Mecox

Montauk

Montauk Point

Moriches

Napeague

New York

Niagara

Oak Island

Oswego

Point Lookout

Point of Woods

Potunk

Quogue

Rockaway

Rockaway Point

Rocky Point

Sackett's Harbor

Salmon Creek

Sheep's Head Bay

Shinnecock

Short Beach

Smiths Point

Southampton

Tiana

Zachs Inlet 


New Jersey 

Absecon

Atlantic City

Avalon

Barnegat

Bay Head

Bonds

Brigantine

Cape May

Cedar Creek

Chadwick's

Cold Spring

Corson Inlet

Deal

Forked River

Fortesque

Great Egg

Harvey Cedar

Hereford Inlet

Holly Beach

Island Beach

Little Beach

Little Egg

Long Beach

Long Branch

Loveladies Island

Manasquan

Mantoloking

Monmouth Beach

Ocean City

Peck's Beach

Sandy Hook

Sea Isle City

Seabright

Shark River

Ship Bottom

South Brigantine

Spermaceti Cove

Spring Lake

Squan Beach (also known as Manasquan Beach)

Stone Harbor

Tatham's

Tom's River

Townsend Inlet

Turtle Gut

Wildwood


Pennsylvania

Philadelphia

 

Delaware

Bethany Beach

Cape Henlopen

Fenwick Island

Indian River Inlet

Lewes

Rehoboth Beach

 

Maryland 

Annapolis

Curtis Bay

Crisfield

Green Run Inlet

Isle of Wight

North Beach

Ocean City

Oxford

St. Inigoes

Stillpond

  

Washington, DC

Washington

 

Virginia 

Assateague Beach

Cape Charles

Cape Henry

Chincoteague

Cobb Island

Dam Neck Mills

False Cape

Hog Island

Little Creek

Little Island

Little Machipongo Inlet

Metomkin Inlet

Milford Haven

Parramore Beach

Pope's Island

Portsmouth

Seatack

Smith Island

Wachapreague

Wallop's Beach 

 

North Carolina 

Big Kinnakeet

Bodie Island

Bogue Inlet

Caffey's Inlet

Cape Fear

Cape Hatteras

Cape Lookout

Chicamacomico

Core Bank

Creed's Hill

Currituck Inlet

Durant's

Elizabeth City

Fort Macon

Gull Shoal

Hatteras Inlet

Hobucken

Kill Devil Hills

Kitty Hawk

Little Kinnakeet

Nags Head

New Inlet

Oak Island

Ocracoke

Oregon Inlet

Paul Gamiel Hill

Pea Island

Portsmouth

Poyners Hill

Wash Woods

Whales Head

Wrightsville Beach

 

South Carolina

Charleston

Georgetown

Sullivan's Island

 

Georgia

Brunswick

Tybee Island

 

Florida

Biscayne

Cape Malabar House of Refuge

Chester Shoal House of Refuge

Cortez

Destin

Fort Lauderdale

Fort Myers Beach

Fort Pierce

Gilbert's Bar House of Refuge

Indian River

Indian River Inlet House of Refuge

Islamorada

Jupiter Inlet

Key West

Lake Worth Inlet

Marathon

Marquesas Keys

Mayport

Mosquito Lagoon House of Refuge

Orange Grove House of Refuge

Panama City

Pensacola

Ponce de Leon Inlet

Port Canaveral

St. Petersburg

Sand Key

Santa Rosa

Smith's Creek

Yankeetown

 

Puerto Rico

San Juan

 

Alabama

Dauphin Island

 

Mississippi

Gulfport

Pascagoula

 

Louisiana

Grand Isle

Venice

 

Texas 

Aransas

Brazos

Freeport

Galveston

Grand Isle

Port Aransas

Port O'Connor

Sabine Pass

Saluria

San Luis

South Padre Island

       Velasco
 West Coast / Alaska / Hawaii

California 

Arena Cove

Bodega Bay

Bolinas Bay

Carquinez

Channel Islands Harbor

Fort Point

Golden Gate

Golden Gate Park

Humboldt Bay

Lake Tahoe

Los Angeles/Long Beach

Monterey

Morro Bay

Noyo River

Point Bonita

Point Reyes

Rio Vista

San Diego

San Francisco

Southside 

 

Oregon 

Cape Arago

Chetco River

Coos Bay

Coquille River

Depot Bay

Point Adams

Port Orford

Portland

Siuslaw River

Tillamook Bay

Umpqua River

Yaquina Bay 

 

Washington 

Bellingham

Cape Disappointment

Grays Harbor

Ilwaco Beach

Klipsan Beach

National Motor Lifeboat School, Cape Disappointment, Ilwaco

Neah Bay

Petersons Point

Port Angeles

Quillayute River

Seattle

Shoalwater Bay

Waaddah Island 

 

Alaska

Juneau

Ketchikan

Nome

Valdez

 

Hawaii

Honolulu

      Maui
 Great Lakes Region / Central States

New York

Alexandria Bay

Buffalo

Niagara

Oswego

Rochester

 

Pennsylvania

Erie (Presque Isle)

 

Ohio

Ashtabula

Cleveland (Harbor)

Fairport

Lorain

Marblehead; (Point Marblehead)

Toledo

 

Kentucky

Louisville

 

Michigan 

Alpena

Beaver Island

Belle Isle

Bois Blanc

Charlevoix

Crisps

Eagle Harbor

Frankfort

Grand Haven

Grand Marais

Grand Point Au Sable

Grindstone City

Hammond Bay

Harbor Beach

Holland

Lake View Beach

Ludington

Manistee

Marquette

Middle Island

Muskallonge Lake

Muskegon

North Manitou

Ottawa Point

Pentwater

Pointe Aux Barques

Point Betsie

Port Huron

Portage

Saginaw River

St. Clair (Shores)

Saint Joseph

Saint Ignace

Sand Beach

Sault Ste. Marie

Ship Canal

Sleeping Bear Point

South Haven

South Manitou

Sturgeon Point

Tawas

Thunder Bay Island

Two Heart River

Vermillion Point

White River 

 

Indiana

Michigan City

 

Illinois

Calumet Harbor

Chicago

Evanston

Jackson Park

South Chicago

Wilmette Harbor

 

Wisconsin 

Bayfield

Baileys Harbor

Green Bay

Kenosha

Kewaunee

Milwaukee

Plum Island

Racine

Sheboygan

Sturgeon Bay Canal

Two Rivers

Washington Island 

 

Minnesota

Duluth

Life-Saving Service & Coast Guard Stations

Crew and Motor Life Boat Dreadnaught, Point Adams Life-Saving Station, Oregon

 

Fort Lauderdale House of Refuge

June 7, 2021
PRINT | E-MAIL

Fort Lauderdale House of Refuge

USLSS Station #4, Seventh District
Coast Guard Station #208


Location:

7 miles north of New River Inlet; 26-08' 00"N x 80-06' 00"W

Date of Conveyance

1875

Station Built:

Unknown

Fate:

Destroyed by the Hurricane of 1930


Remarks:

The Fort Lauderdale site was reserved from the public domain for lifesaving purposes, by Executive Order dated August 2, 1875. The original site comprised approximately 14 acres. The first keeper was Washington Jenkins of Biscayne Bay, Fla., appointed October 7, 1876. He remained until January 2, 1883.  

According to the 1879 "Annual Report of the Life Saving Service" these houses of refuge along the east coast of Florida "contemplate no other life saving operations than affording succor to shipwrecked persons who may be cast ashore, and who, in the absence of such means of relief, would be liable to perish from hunger and thirst in that desolate region.  Crews of surfmen are not needed here, but the keepers and members of their families are required to go along the beach, in both directions, in search of castaways immediately after a storm."

By 1928, accretions had increased the area to approximately 18.9 acres, but 4 acres were covered by the canal or inlet.  As of 1929 the station was listed as a House of Refuge under the operational control of "Base Six."

Coast Guard Base Six was located on the southern end of the Fort Lauderdale Site, north of the New River Inlet, out through in 1922. The Base was established in accordance with Coast Guard Headquarter’s Letter of June 9, 1924, and was occupied by 33 men from the Coast Guard Cutter Yamacraw in September 1924. The muster roll shows that the first commanding officer was C.G. Porcher.

Keepers:

Washington Jenkins was appointed keeper on 7 DEC 1876 and resigned on 27 NOV 1882.

Edwin R. Bradley was appointed keeper on 2 JAN 1883 and resigned on 30 JUN 1883.

John Thomas Peacock was appointed keeper on 3 SEP 1883 and transferred to Station Biscayne Bay on 12 FEB 1885.

Charles W. Coman was appointed keeper on 13 MAY 1886 and resigned 6 OCT 1888.

Dennis O'Neill was appointed keeper on 31 OCT 1888 and resigned on 28 APR 1890.

John H. Fromberger was appointed keeper on 29 DEC 1894 and resigned on 21 MAY 1906.

R. S. King was appointed keeper on 28 APR 1906 and left on 11 JUN 1906.

James B. Vreeland was appointed keeper on 26 MAY 1906 and left in 1915.

Charels Skogsberg was appointed keeper in 1915.


Sources:

Station History File, CG Historian’s Office

Dennis L. Noble & Michael S. Raynes.  “Register of the Stations and Keepers of the U.S. Life-Saving Service.”  Unpublished manuscript, compiled circa 1977, CG Historian’s Office collection.

Ralph Shanks, Wick York & Lisa Woo Shanks.  The U.S. Life-Saving Service: Heroes, Rescues and Architecture of the Early Coast Guard.  Petaluma, CA: CostaƱo Books, 1996.

U.S. Treasury Department: Coast Guard.  Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers and Cadets and Ships and Stations of the United States Coast Guard, July 1, 1941.  Washington, DC: USGPO, 1941.