Station Absecon, New Jersey
USLSS Station #28, Fourth District
Coast Guard Station #124
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Location:
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At Chelsea, 2-3/4 miles southwest of Absecon Inlet, and 7-1/4 miles north, east by east of Great Egg Inlet; 39-20’ 45” N x 74-27 27” W in 1878; 39-20’ 50” N x 74-27’ 40” W in 1915
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Date of Conveyance:
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1849
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Station Built:
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1872
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Fate:
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Turned over to GSA in 1955
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Remarks:
In 1849 William Chamberlain leased to the U.S. a tract of land to be used for life-saving purposes. It does not appear from the file whether this land was ever used for such purposes. The land is not described definitely enough so as to be located or identified. There was also a 20-year lease of a tract of land in 1878 as well as a 50 year lease in 1855. Neither of these tracts of land were used for long because the file discloses that in 1884 the Absecon Station was then occupying a parcel of land owned by one John Trenwith, who objected strenuously to such use. After negotiations with various land owners in the vicinity for over ten years, the U.S. acquired title in 1894 to a tract of land containing ½ acre of land from the Atlantic City Land Company. In 1957 the property was transferred to the United Cerebral Palsy Association for public health purposes.
Keepers:
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Thomas Rose was appointed keeper on 22 November 1872 and left in 1876 (?)
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William W. Eldridge was appointed keeper on 24 November 1876 and he left in 1877.
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Isreal L. Blackman was appointed keeper on 3 September 1879 and he resigned on 13 March 1885.
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Joseph L. Galskill was appointed keeper on 2 April 1885 and he resigned (unfit) on 7 September 1899.
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Aaron B. Steelman was appointed keeper on 28 August 1899 and was dismissed on 20 March 1905.
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Timothy B. Parker was appointed keeper on 14 April 1905 and left in 1915.
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Joseph H. Riley was appointed keeper in 1915.
"Absecon, Old Photo, Station No. 124"; no date/photo number; photographer unknown.
“Absecon”; no date/photo number; photographer unknown.
Courtesy of Van Field.
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: Costaño 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.