Station Castle Hill, Rhode Island
Coast Guard Station #34
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Location:
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Near the Castle Hill Lighthouse; 41° 27' 42" N x 71° 21' 42" W
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Station Built:
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1941
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Fate:
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Still in operation
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Remarks:
Noted Rhode Island Life-Saving Service historian Tim Dring wrote:
Following the destruction of the original Brenton Point station in its exposed location along the south shore of Newport, the decision was made to build a new station in a different location, with the site selected being next to the Castle Hill Lighthouse reservation on the east side of East Passage, at the entrance to Narragansett Bay. The architectural design selected was the then popular “Roosevelt style” station house, with a detached boathouse and marine railway located at the head of Castle Cove. This facility was completed and commissioned by the end of 1941. The rescue craft assigned to the station by that time consisted of: 36ft.8in. Type TRS motor lifeboat 5192/CG36453, 38ft. cabin picket boat No. 4310/CG38324, Race Point type pulling surfboat No. 2981/CG24010 (an older boat transferred in from closed Station Green Hill, RI), and dory No. 4673. With World War II and the potential for hostilities with Germany looming, the station later in 1941 re-acquired 38ft. cabin picket boat No. 2393/CG38309, which had been transferred to Station Point Judith, RI, for harbor patrol duties along with picket boat No. 4310/CG38324.
Photography:
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 Unpublished manuscript, compiled circa 1977, CG Historian’s Office collection.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.