USLSSHA Bibliography

USLSS and USCG
Bibliography Resources

In this section, you will find a complete reference of source materials to learn about the history of the US Life-Saving Service and US Coast Guard.

The following information is a bibliography of published and unpublished reference materials to learn about the history of the US Life-Saving Service and US Coast Guard. We welcome any comments or suggestions regarding the bibliography and its content and organization. If you know of any appropriate works that do not appear in the bibliography, please let us know by emailing the USLSSHA at [email protected].

U.S. Life-Saving Service Heritage Association Recommended Bibliographic Reference Listing

August 2020

Official U.S. Government Publications

  • United States Coast Guard. Annual Report of the United States Coast Guard, 1915-1945. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1915-1945 (Available online for some years from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • United States Coast Guard. Instructions for United States Coast Guard Stations. Washington: Government Printing Office. (1916 and 1922 editions available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • United States Life-Saving Service. Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service, 1875-1914. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1875-1914. (All reports available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • United States Life-Saving Service. Directions for restoring the apparently drowned, for saving drowning persons by swimming to their relief and for the treatment of frostbite, as practiced in the United States Life-Saving Service. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899. (Available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • United States Life-Saving Service. Instructions to mariners in case of shipwreck, with information concerning the life-saving stations upon the coasts of the United States. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1881, 1888, 1908. (Available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • United States Life-Saving Service. Register of the United States Life-Saving Service with Post Office Addresses, July 1, 1914. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1914. (Available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • United States Life-Saving Service. Regulations for the government of the Life-Saving Service of the United States (1884, 1899). Washington: Government Printing Office. 1884, 1899. (1899 edition available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • United States Life-Saving Service. Revised regulations for the government of the Life-Saving Service of the United States and the laws upon which they are based. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1884. (Available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • United States Revenue Marine Service. Annual Reports of the United States Revenue Marine Service (1870, 1872, 1873). Washington: Government Printing Office.

General Historical Information

Pre-USLSS Era (Pre-1871)

  • Bennett, Robert F., CAPT, USCG. Lifesaving Along the Coast, 1846-1871: Its New Jersey Beginnings and How It Expanded. Toms River, N.J.: Ocean County Historical Society.
  • _____. Surfboats, Rockets, and Carronades. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976.
  • Bennett, Robert F., CAPT, USCG-Retired, Susan Leigh Bennett, and CDR Timothy R. Dring, USNR-Retired. The Deadly Shipwrecks of the Powhattan and New Era on the Jersey Shore. Charleston, S.C.: History Press, 2015.
  • Ehrhardt, John B. Joseph Francis (1801-1893): Shipbuilder, Father of the U.S. Life-Saving Service. New York: Newcomen Society of the United States, 1950.
  • Francis' Life-Boats and Life-Cars. New York: Francis Metallic Life-Boat Co., 1852.
  • Galluzzo, John. By Resolution and Perseverance: The History of the Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston: The Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2018.
  • Howe, Mark A. DeWolfe. The Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: An Historical Review 1785-1916. Boston: Printed for the Humane Society at the Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1918.
  • Means, Dennis R. “A Heavy Sea Running: The Formation of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, 1846-1871.” Naval Institute Proceedings, Vol. 19, No. 4, Winter 1987, pp. 223-243.

 

USLSS Era (1871 to 1915)

  • Bennett, Robert Frank. “The Life-Savers: For Those in Peril on the Sea.” Naval Institute Proceedings, March 1976, pp. 54-63.
  • _____. Surfboats, Rockets, and Carronades. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976.
  • _____. Sand Pounders: An Interpretation of the History of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, Based on its Annual Reports for the Years 1870 Through 1914. Washington: U.S. Coast Guard Historians' Office, 1998.
  • Galluzzo, John J., editor. RESCUE: True Stories of the U.S. Life-Saving Service. Gwinn, Mich.: Avery Color Studios, Inc. and Hull, Mass.: United States Life-Saving Service Heritage Association, 2011.
  • Kimball, Sumner I. Organization and Methods of the United States Life-Saving Service. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1894, 1912. (Available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • King, Irving H. The Coast Guard Expands, 1865-1915: New Roles, New Frontiers. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1996.
  • Merryman, J. H., CAPT, USRMS. The United States Life-Saving Service-1880. Silverthorne, Colo.: Vistabooks, 1997. (Originally published in Scribner's Monthly, January 1880).
  • Nalty, Bernard C., Dennis L. Noble, and Truman R. Strobridge. Wrecks, Rescues, and Investigations. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1978.
  • Noble, Dennis L. A Legacy: The United States Life-Saving Service. Washington: U.S. Coast Guard Historians' Office, 1988.
  • _____. That Others Might Live: The U.S. Life-Saving Service 1878-1915. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1994.
  • O'Brien, T. Michael, PJ1, USCG. Guardians of the Eighth Sea: A History of the United States Coast Guard on the Great Lakes. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office 1976.
  • O'Connor, William D. Heroes of the Storm. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1904. (Available online from the Internet Archive; www.archive.org).
  • Oliver, Sandra. "The Life-Saving Service: Messroom Meals." In Saltwater Foodways: New Englanders and Their Food, at Sea and Ashore, in the Nineteenth Century, pp. 148-165 Mystic, Conn.: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1995.
  • Otis, James. The Life-Savers: A Story of the United States Life-Saving Service. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1899. (Available online from the Internet Archive; www.archive.org).
  • Shanks, Ralph, Lisa Woo Shanks, and Wick York. The U.S. Life-Saving Service: Heroes, Rescues and Architecture of the Early Coast Guard. Petaluma, Calif.: Costaño Books, 1996.
  • United States Life-Saving Service Heritage Association. They Had to Go Out. . .True Stories of America's Coastal Life-Savers from the Pages of "Wreck & Rescue Journal." Gwinn, Mich.: Avery Color Studies, Inc., 2007.

Early USCG Era (1915 to World War II)

  • Baarslag, Karl. Coast Guard to the Rescue. Chicago: E. M. Hale, 1937.
  • Barbo, Theresa M. et al. The Pendleton Disaster off Cape Cod. Charleston, S.C.: History Press, 2007.
  • Bell, Kensil. "Always Ready": The Story of the United States Coast Guard. New York: Dodd, Mead, 3.
  • Brown, Riley. Men, Wind and Sea: The Story of the Coast Guard. New York: Carlyle House, 1939.
  • https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b50045&view=1up&seq=7
  • Evans, Clayton. Rescue at Sea: An International History of Lifesaving, Coastal Rescue Craft and Organizations. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2003.
  • Evans, Stephen H. The United States Coast Guard, 1790-1915: A Definitive History. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 9.
  • Floherty, John J. Guardsmen of the Coast. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1935. (Available online from the Internet Archive; www.archive.org).
  • _____. Sons of the Hurricane. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1938.
  • Hudson, Gary J. They Had to Go Out: The Triumph-Mermaid Tragedy. Bloomington, Ind.: Xlibris Corp., 2008.
  • Johnson, Robert E. Guardians of the Sea: History of the United States Coast Guard 1915 to the Present. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1987.
  • Kerr, E. S. The United States Coast Guard: Its Ships, Duties and Stations. New York: Robert W. Kelly, 1936.
  • Maxam, Oliver M. “The Life-Saving Stations of the United States Coast Guard.” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, May 1929, pp. 374-380.
  • Noble, Dennis L. Lifeboat Sailors; Inside the U.S. Coast Guard’s Small Boat Stations. Sterling, Va.: Potomac Books Inc., 1999.
  • _____. Rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard: Great Acts of Heroism since 1878. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2005.
  • Noble, Dennis L., and T. Michael O'Brien. “That Others Might Live: The Saga of the U.S. Coast Guard.” American History Illustrated, June 1977, 4-7, pp. 37-43.
  • Smith, Darrell, and Fred Powell. The Coast Guard: Its History, Activities, and Organization. Washington: Brookings Institution, 1929. (Available online for some years from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org)
  • Willoughby, Malcolm F. Rum War at Sea. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office 1964.

 

Station Buildings and Architecture

  • Livingston, Dewey, and Steven Burke. The History and Architecture of the Point Reyes Lifeboat Station. Point Reyes, Calif.: Point Reyes National Seashore, 1991.
  • Menz, Katherine B. Historic Furnishings Report: Sleeping Bear Point Life-Saving Station. Harpers Ferry, W.Va.: Historic Furnishings Branch, Harpers Ferry Center, National Park Service, 1983.
  • Pinyerd, David A. The Preservation of Pre-World War II Coast Guard Architecture in Oregon. Thesis for Master of Science Degree in Historic Preservation, University of Oregon, 2000. (Available online from Historic Preservation Northwest; www.hp-nw.com/thesis.htm).
  • Shanks, Ralph, Lisa Woo Shanks, and Wick York. The U.S. Life-Saving Service: Heroes, Rescues and Architecture of the Early Coast Guard. Petaluma, Calif.: Costaño Books, 1996.

Equipment (Not Including Rescue Boats)

  • Barnett, J. Paul. The Lifesaving Guns of David Lyle. South Bend, Ind.: South Bend Replicas, 1976.
  • Buker, George E. The Metal Life Car: The Inventor, The Impostor, and the Business of Lifesaving. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2008.
  • Forbes, R. B. Life-Boats, Projectiles, and Other Means for Saving Life. Boston: W. Parsons Lunt, 1872. (Available online from the Internet Archive; www.archive.org).
  • Lyle, David A., LT, U.S. Army. Report on life-saving ordnance and appurtenances. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1878. (Available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • _____. Report on foreign life-saving apparatus. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880. (Available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • Pond, James L. History of Life-Saving Appliances. New York: E. D. Slater, 1885. (Available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • Ryder, Richard G. Old Harbor Station. Norwich, Conn.: Ram Island Press, 1990. (Contains a complete list of every item delivered to the Old Harbor Station, 1898-1922.).
  • Sharpe, Mitchell R. Development of the Lifesaving Rocket: A Study in the 19th Century Technology Fallout. Huntsville, Ala.: George G. Marshall Space Flight Station, NASA, 1968.

Rescue Boats

  • Barnett, J. R. Modern Motor Lifeboats. Glasgow: Blackie and Son, 1933.
  • Bray, Maynard, Benjamin A. G. Fuller, and Peter T. Vermilya. Mystic Seaport Watercraft. 3rd edition, Mystic, Conn.: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1970.
  • Canney, Donald. U. S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
  • Dibdin, J. C., and John Ayling. The Book of the Life-Boat. London: Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier, 1894.
  • Dobbins, David P. The Dobbins Life-Boat Illustrated. Buffalo, N.Y.: Art-Printing Works of Matthews, Northrop & Co., 1886.
  • Guthorn, Peter J. The Sea Bright Skiff and Other Shore Boats. Exton, Pa.: Schiffer, 1971.
  • Methley, Noel T. The Life-Boat and Its Story. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1912.
  • Middleton, E. W. Lifeboats of the World: A Pocket Encyclopaedia of Sea Rescue. Poole, UK: Blandford Press, 1977.
  • Orleans Historical Society. Rescue CG 36500. Orleans, Mass.: Orleans Historical Society, 1985.
  • Scheina, Robert L. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters and Craft of World War II. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1982.
  • Stackpole, Edouard, and James Kleinschmidt. Small Craft at Mystic Seaport. Mystic, Conn.: Marine Historical Association, 1959.
  • Wilkinson, William D. “Nineteenth-Century Coastal Lifeboats in the Collection of the Mariners Museum.” In Wooden Shipbuilding and Small Craft Preservation. Washington: The Preservation Press, National Trust for Historic Preservation, pp. 53-62, 1976.
  • Wilkinson, William D., and CDR Timothy R. Dring, USNR-Retired. American Coastal Rescue Craft. University Press of Florida, 2009.

Personnel/Biographical

  • Applegate, Lloyd R. A Life of Service: William Augustus Newell. Toms River, N.J.: Ocean County Historical Society, 1994.
  • Coston, Martha J. A Signal Success: The Work and Travels of Mrs. Martha J. Coston: An Autobiography. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger Publishing, 2007. (Original book published by J. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1886). (Available online from the Internet Archive; www.archive.org).
  • Foster, Kathleen A. Shipwreck! Winslow Homer and the Life Line. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2012.
  • Ehrhardt, John B. Joseph Francis 1801-1893: Shipbuilder: Father of the U.S. Life-Saving Service. Princeton: Princeton University Press for the Newcomen Society, 1950.
  • Kerrigan, Evans E. The Sea Shall Not Have Them: A Complete Illustrated Record of the Life-Saving Medals of the United States. Norton Heights, Conn.: Medallic Publishing Co., 1971.
  • Kotzian, John. Sky Pilot of the Great Lakes: A Biography of the Reverend William H. Law. Gwinn, Mich.: Avery Color Studios, Inc., 2014.
  • Kimball, Sumner I. Joshua James, life-saver. Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1909. (Available online from the Internet Archive; www.archive.org).
  • Lonergan, Tom. Martha Coston and The Box of Light. Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, 2013.
  • Means, Dennis R. Sand Enough: The Legacy of Captain Joshua James of Hull, Massachusetts. Means Library Publishers, 2013.
  • Wechter, Nell Wise. The Mighty Midgetts of Chicamacomico. Eureka, Calif.: Times Printing Co., 1974.

Regional Focus

  • Able, Kenneth W. Station 119: From Lifesaving to Marine Research. West Creek. N.J., Down the Shore Publishing, 2015.
  • Anderson, Charles M. Isle of View: A History of South Manitou Island, published the author, 1979.
  • Barry, James P. Wrecks and Rescues of the Great Lakes: A Photographic History. Thunder Bay Press, 1994.
  • Bennett, Robert Frank. The Lifesaving Service at Sandy Hook Station: 1854-1915. Washington: Public Affairs Division, Historical Monograph Program, U.S. Coast Guard, 1976.
  • Bibb, A.B. “The Life-Saving Service on the Great Lakes.” Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, Vol. 13, April 1882, pp. 386-398. (Available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • Boonisar, Richard M. Gurnet Point, published the author, 2017.
  • Buchholz, Margaret Thomas. New Jersey Shipwrecks: 350 Years in the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Harvey Cedars, N.J.: Down at the Shore Publishing, 2004.
  • Bundschuh, Scott. Crisp Point Lifesaving Station and Lighthouse: Lifetime of Historical Service. Sheridan Books, 2009.
  • Canfield, Edward J., and Thomas A. Allan. Life on a Lonely Shore: A History of the Vermilion Point Life-Saving Station. Ste. Marie, Mich.: Lake Superior State University Press, 1991.
  • Charlet, James D. Shipwrecks of the Outer Banks: Dramatic Rescues and Fantastic Wrecks in the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Manhan, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020.
  • Chenery, Richard L., III. Old Coast Guard Stations, Vol. 1, Virginia: Popes Island to False Cape. Richmond, Va.: Dietz Press, 1998.
  • _____. Old Coast Guard Stations, Press, 2000.Vol. 2, North Carolina: Currituck Beach to Cape Fear. Richmond, Va.: Dietz
  • Claflin, James. Historic Nantucket: Surfside Life-Saving Station. A History of Nantucket's Life-Saving Stations, Volume 1. Worcester, Mass.: Kenrick A. Claflin & Son, 2008.
  • Coffin, Edward W. Muskeget. Rockland, Me.: Lakeside Printing, 2001.
  • Collins, George M. To Guide, Guard, and Rescue: Building the Yaquina Lighthouses, Jetties, and Life-Saving Station. Published by the author, 2010.
  • Couch, Danny, Noah Pierce, and Shawn Gray. “A History of the United States Life-Saving Service on Hatteras Island.” Sea Chest, Vol. 4, No. 2. Winter 1977. Publication of Cape Hatteras School, Buxton, N.C.
  • Crowner, Gerald E. The South Manitou Story. Mio, Mich.: Gutura Printing, 1982.
  • Dalton, J.W. The Life Savers of Cape Cod. Sandwich, Mass.: Barta Press, 1902. Reprint, Old Greenwich, Conn.: The Chatham Press, 1968. (Available online from the Internet Archive; www.archive.org).
  • Farson, Robert H. Twelve Men Down: Massachusetts Sea Rescues. Yarmouthport, Mass.: Cape Cod Historical Publications, 2000.
  • Field, Van R. Wrecks and Rescues on Long Island: The Story of the U.S. Life Saving Service. East Patchogue, NY: Searles Graphics, Inc., 1997. (Published by the author).
  • Galluzzo, John. Lifesavers of the South Shore: A History of Rescue and Loss. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2008.
  • Gonzalez, Ellice B. Storms, Ships and Surfmen: The Lifesavers of Fire Island. New York: Eastern National Park and Monument Association, 2000.
  • Halsey, Eldred. Tragedy on Yaquina Bar. Newport, Ore.: Lincoln City Historical Society, 1988.
  • Harrison, Timothy, and Walter C. Plohocky, BMCS, USCG Ret. Thunder Bay Island Lighthouse and Life Saving Station. East Machias, Me.: Foghorn Publishing, 2010.
  • Hawley, Johnathan P. Point Betsie: Lightkeeping and Lifesaving on Northeastern Lake Michigan. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2008.
  • Hurley, George, and Suzanne. Shipwrecks and Rescues along the Barrier Islands of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Norfolk, Va.: The Donning Company, 1984.
  • Hutchinson, Janet. "House of Refuge." In History of Martin County. Port Salerno, Fla.: Florida Classics Library 1987.
  • Johnson, Leland R. Heroes of the Falls: Louisville’s Lifesavers. Louisville, Ky.: Butler Books, 2014.
  • Kagawa, Ron M., and J. Richard Kellam. Cobb’s Island, Virginia: The Last Sentinel. Norfolk, Va.: Donning, 2003.
  • Karentz, Varoujan. The Life Savers: Rhode Island’s Forgotten Service. Charleston, S.C.: CreateSpace, 2012.
  • Lamb, M.J. “The American Life Saving Service.” Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 64, No. 381, February 1882, pp. 357-373. (Available online from Hathi Digital Trust; www.hathitrust.org).
  • Leatherman, Stephen P., Carolyn Walker, and Carl P. Harvey. The Hamptons’ Life-Saving Stations: Historical Landmarks as Shore Change Indicators. Southampton, N.Y.: Eastern Long Island Coastal Conservation Alliance, Ltd., and Southampton College of Long Island, 2011.
  • Lombard, Asa Cobb Paine. East of Cape Cod. New Bedford, Mass.: Reynolds-DeWalt Printing, 1976.
  • Mobley, Joe A. Ship Ashore! The U.S. Lifesavers of Coastal North Carolina. Raleigh: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1994.
  • Murray, Steve. Guardians of the Hereford Inlet. published the author, 2010.
  • Noble, Dennis L. "The Old Life Saving Station at Michigan City, Indiana: 1889-1914," Indiana History Bulletin, Indiana Historical Bureau, Vol. 51, Oct 1974, pp. 136-143.
  • _____. U. S. Life-Saving Service 1889-1915, U. S. Coast Guard Service 1915-1989, Michigan City Station. Michigan City, Ind.: Michigan City Historical Society, 1989.
  • Noble, Dennis L., and O'Brien, T. Michael O'Brien. Sentinels of the Rocks: From "Graveyard coast" to National Lakeshore. Marquette: Northern Michigan University Press, 1979.
  • Osborne, Ernest L., and West, Victor. Men of Action: A History of the U.S. Life-Saving Service on the Pacific Coast. Bandon, Ore.: The Bandon Historical Society Press, 1981.
  • Pouliot, Richard A., and Julia A. Shipwrecks of the Virginia Coast and the Men of the Life-Saving Service. Greenville, Md.: Tidewater Publishers, 1986.
  • Rattray, Jeanette E. Ship Ashore! A Record of Maritime Disasters off Montauk and Eastern Long Island 1640-1955. New York: Coward-McCann, 1955.
  • Rusco, Rita H. North Manitou Island: Between Sunrise and Sunset, Sheridan Books, 1991.
  • Ryder, Richard G. Seashore Sentinel: The Old Harbor Life-Saving Station on Cape Cod, published the author, 2009.
  • Shanks, Ralph, and Lisa Woo Shanks. Guardians of the Golden Gate: Lighthouses and Lifeboat Stations of San Francisco Bay. Petaluma, Calif.: Costaño Books, 1990.
  • Shanks, Ralph, and Janetta T. Shanks. Lighthouses and Lifeboats on the Redwood Coast. Petaluma, Calif.: Costaño Books, 1978.
  • Small, Isaac: Shipwrecks on Cape Cod. Chatham, Mass.: Chatham Press, 1967.
  • Stackpole, Edouard A. Life Saving Nantucket. Philadelphia: Stern-Majestic Press, 1972.
  • Stick, David. Graveyard of the Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1952.
  • Stonehouse, Frederick. Wreck Ashore: The United States Life-Saving Service on the Great Lakes. Duluth, Minn.: Lake Superior Port Cities, 1994.
  • Thurlow, Sandra H., and Deanna Wintercorn Thurlow. Gilbert’s Bar House of Refuge: Home of History. Stuart, Fla.: Sewell’s Point Company, 2008.
  • Tongue, Stephen D. LANTERNS & LIFEBOATS: A History of Thunder Bay Island. Alpena, Mich.: Sarge Publications, 2004.
  • Tougias, Michael J., and Casey Sherman. The Finest Hours; The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue. New York: Scribner, 2009. (SS Pendleton rescue).
  • Trapani, Robert, Jr. Indian River Life-Saving Station . . . Journey Along the Sands: The U.S. Life-Saving Service Years, 1876-1915. Virginia Beach, Va.: The Donning Company Publishers, 2002.
  • Weatherford, Carole Boston. Sink or Swim: African-American Lifesavers of the Outer Banks. Wilmington, N.C.: Coastal Carolina Press, 2000.
  • Webber, Bernard C. Chatham: The Lifeboatmen, Orleans, Mass.: Lower Cape Publishing, 1985.
  • Wolcott, Merlin D. “Great Lakes Lifesaving Service.” Inland Sea: The Quarterly Journal of the Great Lakes Historical Society, Vol. 18, 1962, pp. 14-21.
  • Wolff, Julius F. Jr. “The Coast Guard Comes to Lake Superior, 1874-1875.” Inland Sea: The Quarterly Journal of the Great Lakes Historical Society, Vol. 21, 1965, pp. 14-21.
  • Wright, David & David Zoby. Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
  • Wood, Vincent L. Plum Island Recollections: Views and Reminiscences of Life on Plum Island c. 1900. Newbury, Mass.: Newburyport Press, 1995.
  • York, Wick. “Saved! The History of the Life-Saving Service in Maine.” Island Journal: The Annual Publication of the Island Institute, Vol. Two, 1985, pp. 56-59.

Images of America, Arcadia Publishing Series, Charleston, S.C.

(While technically not reference works, the USLSS/USCG themed books in this series include rare images of current and former USLSS and USCG stations, boats, equipment, and personnel.).

  • Barbo, Theresa Mitchell, and Captain W. Russell Webster. The Daring Coast Guard Rescue of the Pendleton Crew. 2013.
  • _____. The Pendleton Disaster off Cape Cod: The Greatest Small Boat Rescue in Coast Guard History. 2010.
  • Borsvold, David. Ashtabula. 2003.
  • Cann, Donald J., and John J. Galluzzo. The Coast Guard in Massachusetts. 2011.
  • Claflin, James W. Lighthouses and Life Saving Along Cape Cod. 2014.
  • _____. Lighthouses and Life Saving Along the Connecticut and Rhode Island Coast, 2001.
  • _____. Lighthouses and Life Saving Along the Maine and New Hampshire Coast, 1999.
  • _____. Lighthouses and Life Saving Along the Massachusetts Coast, 1998.
  • Coyle, Gretchen F., and Deborah C. Whitcraft. Tucker’s Island. 2015.
  • Evans-Hylton, Patrick. Lighthouses and Lifesaving Stations of Virginia. 2005.
  • Ewing, Wallace K., and David H. Seibold. Maritime Grand Haven: Coast Guard City USA. 2006.
  • Field, Van R., and John Galluzzo. New Jersey Coast Guard Stations and Rumrunners. 2004.
  • Hairr, John. North Carolina Lighthouses and Lifesaving Stations. 2004.
  • Hanable, William S. Lighthouses and Lifesaving on Washington’s Outer Coast. 2009.
  • Hendrickson, Dyke. New England Coast Guard Stories: Remarkable Mariners. 2020.
  • Panayotoff, Theodore J., and Michael R. Pittavino. Lighthouses and Life Saving at Oswego. 2018.
  • Peterson, William D. United States Life-Saving Service in Michigan, 2000.
  • Pinyerd, David. Lighthouses and Lifesaving on the Oregon Coast. 2007.
  • St. Germain, Paul. Lighthouses and Lifesaving Stations on Cape Ann, 2013.
  • Thomas, Stacy and Virginia. Guarding Door County: Lighthouses and Life-saving Stations. 2005.
  • Thurlow, Sandra, and Timothy Dring. U.S. Life-Saving Service, Florida’s East Coast. 2016.
  • Veasey, David. Guarding New Jersey’s Shore: Lighthouses and Life-Saving Stations, 2000.

References for Young Readers

  • Carbone, Elisa. Storm Warriors. New York: Dell Yearling, 2001. (Fiction book based on the true story of the African American surfmen assigned to the former Pea Island U.S. Life-Saving Station on the North Carolina Outer Banks.)
  • Drysdale, William. The Beach Patrol: A Story of the Life-Saving Service. New York: Wentworth Press, 2019. (Juvenile fiction).
  • Floherty, John J. Guardsmen of the Coast. Providence, R.I.: Lithograph Company,1935. (Available online from the Internet Archive; www.archive.org).
  • Giambarba, Paul. Surfmen and Lifesavers. Centerville, Mass.: Scrimshaw Press, 1967.
  • Janes, Edward C. When Cape Cod Men Saved Lives. Garrard Publishing Co., 1968. (Juvenile fiction).
  • Lincoln, Joseph C. Rugged Water. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1924. (Available online from the Internet Archive; www.archive.org). (Juvenile fiction).
  • Locklear, Rebecca. Exploring the U. S. Life-Saving Service, 1878-1915: 17 Student Workshops with 120 Activities. Skaket Books and Art, 2019.
  • Marshall, Charles. Surfmen. Tucson. Az.: Fireship Press, 2013. (Fiction book based on the lives and duties of surfmen serving on the Outer Banks of North Carolina).
  • Owens, James E. U. S. Life Saving Coloring Book, Schiffer Publishing, 2010.
  • Rand, Edward A. Fighting the Sea; or Winter at the Life-Saving Station, Project Gutenberg eBook. 2014. (Available online from the Internet Archive; www.archive.org). (Juvenile fiction).
  • Ransom, Candice. Rescue on the Outer Banks. Minneapolis, Minn.: Millbrook Press. 2002.

Other

  • U.S. National Archives and Records Administration; correspondence files of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the U.S. Coast Guard, Records Group 26. General correspondence archives are held at the main NARA facility in Washington, D.C.; logbooks for individual stations are held at regional NARA facilities depending on the geographic location of the station; blueprints of buildings and boats are held by the NARA II facility at College Park, Md.