Station Charlevoix, Michigan
Coast Guard Station #258
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Location:
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On south side of Pine River entrance to Charlevoix Harbor, 1/8 mile east of Charlevoix South Pierhead Light;
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Date of Conveyance
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1899
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Station Built:
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1890
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Fate:
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Turned over to the GSA in 1969
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Remarks:
Coast Guardsman Earl Cunningham lost his life on 8 February 1936 in the performance of duties. Cunningham, a Boatswain’s Mate Second Class died while trying to save two of five fishermen marooned on an ice floe in Lake Michigan. He volunteered to take a smallboat out to the floe, after Coast Guardsmen had rescued three of the fishermen earlier. He reached the floe and took the two off, but heavy wind, snow, and choppy waters prevented his boat from escaping shore. One man escaped to tell the story, but Cunningham and the other man were found four days later, frozen to death. In his memory, an apartment building on Governors Island has been named after Earl Cunningham.
Keepers:
Frank Fountain was appointed keeper on 12 JUN 1900 and transferred to Station Kenosha on 4 MAR 1908.
Allen A. Kent was appointed keeper on 10 FEB 1908 and transferred to Station South Manitou on 24 AUG 1910.
Eli E. Pugh was appointed keeper on 1 AUG 1910 and transferred to Station Ludington on 9 MAR 1913.
Frank Partridge was appointed keeper on 21 FEB 1913 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 Unpublished manuscript, compiled circa 1977, CG Historian’s Office collection.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.