Honor. Respect. Devotion.

Rescue: True Stories of the U.S. Life-Saving Service

 The United States Life-Saving Service Heritage Association is proud to present its second collection of writing on the history of life-saving in America: Rescue: True Stories of the U.S. Life-Saving Service. This compilation features a foreword by Frederick Stonehouse, and all of the following articles:

Rescue: True Stories of the U.S. Life-Saving Service

Section I: Honor, Respect, Devotion to Duty

  • 1952: The Pendleton Rescue by CAPT W. Russell Webster, USCG (Ret.)

Section II: Beginnings

  • 1820: A Rich Family History: Captain Benjamin Rich and the Mass Humane Society by John J. Galluzzo
  • 1850s: New York Roots: The Life Saving Benevolent Association by Van R. Field
  • 1853: Ships Fear Fire More than Water by Carolyn Matthews
  • 1854-55: Another Black Hole Filled: The Francis Metallic Surfboat by Frederick Stonehouse
  • 1873: Growing Pains and Politics: White Head Lifesaving Station, 1873-1878 by David Gamage

 Section III: The Golden Era

  • 1880: Discretion is the Better Part of Valor by Frederick Stonehouse
  • 1885: Gone But Not Forgotten: A Great Lakes Life-Saving Station by William D. Peterson, Ph.D
  • 1891: Henry J. Cleary: Showman of the Service by Frederick Stonehouse
  • 1893: Shipwrecks on the Jersey Shore: The Henry R. Congdon and Mary F. Kelly by Margaret Thomas Buchholz
  • 1900: Surfman Attacked and Robbed on Patrol by John J. Galluzzo
  • 1900: Lawrence O. Lawson: An Extraordinary Keeper by Dennis L. Noble
  • 1902: "A Hard Day on All of Us": Indian River Station and the Wreck of Anna Murray by Bob Trapani, Jr.
  • 1903: Gold Medals on the Jersey Shore by Margaret Thomas Buchholz
  • 1911: "The Worst Days of a Bad Fall": Captain Motley and the Surfmen of Middle Island, Michigan, November 1911 by Eric C. Hartlep
  • 1913: Columbia River Gold Rush: The Rescue of the Rosecrans by Frederick Stonehouse

Section IV: Enter the Coast Guard

  • 1915: The First Rescue: The Wreck of the Sylvia C. Hallby CDR. John F. Ebersole, USCG (Ret.)
  • 1915: Crossing the Line: The Story of Ocean City's Jack Jernee by Fred Miller
  • 1920-33: The Great Rum War on Long Island by Van R. Field
  • 1928: Powerless: The Wreck of the Robert E. Lee by John J. Galluzzo
  • 1936: Ordeal in the Ice: The 1936 Rescue at the Charlevoix, Michigan, Coast Guard Station by Geoffrey D. Reynolds
  • 1951: Leggings, Flat Hats, and Seabags: Coast Guard Boot Camp at Cape May, New Jersey, 1951 by Frederick G. "Bud" Cooney
  • 1980: Coast Guard Tape of Harrowing 1980 Rescue off Massachusetts Resurfaces by Captain W. Russell Webster, USCG (Ret.)

Section V: A Legacy Continues

  • 2005: Portrait of a Dying Breed: The Gilbert’s Bar House of Refuge by Ensign Cara Blasko, USCG
  • 2005: Protecting the Emerald Isle: The Royal National Lifeboat Institution in Ireland by Nicholas Leach
  • 2004: A Day in the Life of Coast Guard Station Point Allerton by John J. Galluzzo
  • 2004 The Lifesavers of Coast Guard Station Tillamook Bay, Oregon by Dennis L. Noble

Photo Left: A Dobbins Lifeboat from the Coos Bay, Oregon station the in surf.  The Dobbins lifeboat was a lightweight lifeboat developed in 1881.  It was 24 feet long, weighing from 1,600 to 2,000 pounds.  It was self-righting and self-bailing and could carry up to 33 people safely.  It was rowed by eight surfmen and steered by the keeper with a tiller.  A Dobbins lifeboat appears in many photos on the Oregon coast, and it is believed that every Oregon station had one in addition to their surfboat by 1900.  (Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.)