New Jersey saw many shipwrecks on or near its shores in the 19th century. This destined the state to play a key role in the founding of what became the U.S. Life-Saving Service. In 1848, Monmouth County Congressman William A. Newell reported to Congress that 158 sailing vessels had been lost off the New Jersey coast between 1839 and 1848. Newell asked Congress to appropriate $10,000 to build eight “lifeboat
stations” equipped with “surfboats, lifeboats, and other means for the preservation of life and property shipwrecked on the coast of New Jersey between Sandy Hook and Little Egg Harbor.” Congress agreed, and the stations were completed in 1849, spaced ten miles apart from Spermaceti Cove on Sandy Hook south to Long Beach Island. Each station housed rescue equipment that included a surfboat mounted on a wagon, a small line-throwing mortar, and a small enclosed metal lifeboat called a “lifecar.” The lifecar held up to six passengers and was used to haul them back to the beach using rope lines stretched from shore to shipwreck.
In 1871, the lifesaving system was reorganized and 28 old stations on the Jersey Shore were replaced with larger ones. Because they were painted red for visibility from the sea they became known as “Red House stations.” Paid six-man crews were introduced, who were rated numerically by their experience and capability, with a keeper in charge of each crew. The surfmen lived and worked at the stations, and drilled weekly with rescue equipment that included wooden boats and beach apparatus. Surfmen conducted daily tower watches and nightly beach patrols to be on the constant lookout for shipwrecks.
During the 1870’s, lifesaving stations expanded along the East Coast and the Great Lakes. Each state coastline became a numbered district, as did the stations in them. New Jersey became District No. 4, with the stations numbered from north to south along the coast. The Sandy Hook Life-Saving Station, near the tip, was Station No. 1, Spermaceti
Cove was Station No. 2, and Cape May Station was Station No. 40. In 1878, the lifesaving system was officially named the United States Life-Saving Service, an agency within the U.S. Treasury Department. Men who knew the sea like Jonathan “Captain Jack” Edwards, keeper at Spermaceti Cove Life-Saving Station from 1879 to 1899, were
now in charge of the stations. Edmund Price also served at Spermaceti Cove Station from 1880 until 1910 as Surfman No. 1, a rank that reflected his lifesaving experience and skills. However, as dedicated as they were, time and the rigors of the job caught up with these men. An injury incurred during a surfboat drill forced Keeper Edwards to resign his post, while ill-health eventually forced Surfman Price to retire. Eventually, the “Red House” Stations were replaced by larger and sturdier structures. A new station was built near the north end of Sandy Hook in 1891. Keeper Trevonian H. Patterson, the son of Sandy Hook Lighthouse Keeper Charles Patterson, was in
charge, a person who had “..lived at Sandy Hook since he was one year old, knows every inch of the beach, and is as familiar with the
treacherous shoals as he is with the plank walk leading from the station to the Ordnance dock.” A new station was also built near Spermaceti Cove in 1894, where, in 1899, Joel R. Woolley became keeper. This station still stands today.
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