Station Bay Head, New Jersey

Station Bay Head, New Jersey

USLSS Station #10, Fourth District
Coast Guard Station #106

 Remarks:

Prior to this, station was located on privately owned land by informal permission.  Station was also called Point Pleasant.

Point Pleasant/Bay Head (#106): Also referred to as Bayhead in the records, the station is believed to have been built in 1856 "at the head of Barnegat Bay." A remark appears that "prior to 1856, the station was located on privately-owned property by informal permission-also called Point Pleasant." The station was called Point Pleasant until the name was changed by Treasury Department Circular No. 41 effective June 1, 1883. By 1886, the name was one word. The station was rebuilt in the 1884-1885 time frame. 

Early keepers were William H. Forman (appointed 1856 for an unknown tenure), John C. Clayton (appointed at the age of 51 on March 9, 1866, he served until he resigned effective January 16, 1875), David Flemming (a 44-year-old surfman appointed February 22, 1875, he served until his dismissal January 28, 1886), Thompson B.        Pearce (appointed January 25, 1886 he remained until his resignation due to physical reasons September 19, 1909), Abner R. Herbert (he was reassigned from Mantoloking station September 20, 1909, and remained until January 25, 1916, when he was retired with thirty years of service). He was followed by Lambert H.  Parker, who was reassigned from the Atlantic City station on January 21, 1916, and later reassigned to the Shark River station on December 15, 1916. Following this, the station was one of those discontinued in 1917 with an enlisted man in charge of the station, and, in 1918, the station is carried as "auxiliary station to the Mantoloking station." In 1922, it appears in the records as "discontinued as active unit," but was apparently back in service in 1925. In 1927, Chief Petty Officer C. C. Perrine assumed command. He was followed by Chief E. V. Bunting, in 1933, upon his reassignment from the Spermaceti Cove station. 

In 1937, Bayhead station appeared on the list of inactive stations. The site was abandoned in 1946.  

No caption/date/photo number; photographer unknown.

Courtesy of Van Field.

"BAY HEAD"; no date/photo number; photographer unknown. 

Courtesy of Van Field.

No official caption; 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.