Biscayne Bay House of Refuge, Florida
USLSS Station #5, Seventh District
Coast Guard Station #209
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Location:
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6 miles north of Norris Cut; 25-54' 10"N x 80-08' 00"W
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Date of Conveyance:
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1877
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Station Built:
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Unknown
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Fate:
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Destroyed by the Hurricane of 1926
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Remarks:
The Biscayne Bay House of Refuge was designated as Station 5, District 7, of the Life-Saving Service. According to the 1879 "Annual Report of the Life Saving Service" these houses of refuge along the east coast of Florida "contemplate no other life saving operations than affording succor to shipwrecked persons who may be cast ashore, and who, in the absence of such means of relief, would be liable to perish from hunger and thirst in that desolate region. Crews of surfmen are not needed here, but the keepers and members of their families are required to go along the beach, in both directions, in search of castaways immediately after a storm."
After the station was destroyed during the 1926 Hurricane, the House of Refuge site was exchanged by authority of Congress, for a site on Causeway Island in Miami Harbor for the use of the Coast Guard. The old site was conveyed to the City of Miami for use as a public park.
Keepers:
William J. Smith was appointed keeper on 7 OCT 1876 and left in 1877.]
Edward Barnott was appointed keeper on 3 AUG 1877 and resigned on 25 NOV 1882.
Hannibal D. Pierce was appointed keeper on 2 JAN 1883 and resigned on 1 DEC 1884.
John Thomas Peacock was appointed keeper on 12 FEB 1885 and he was dismissed on 9 JUL 1890.
William H. Fulford was appointed keeper on 12 JUL 1890 and resigned on 21 APR 1902.
Clayton J. Gates was appointed keeper on 17 MAY 1902 and resigned on 29 OCT 1902.
William Rea was appointed keeper on 29 OCT 1902 and transferred to Station Gilbert's Bar on 2 JAN 1903.
Axel H. Johansen was appointed keeper on 2 JAN 1903 and transferred to Station Sullivan's Island on 31 MAY 1905.
Vincent O. Caste was appointed keeper on 8 JUN 1905 and resigned on 20 SEP 1906.
Orlando A. Quarterman was appointed keeper on 12 SEP 1906 and was still serving in 1915.
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.