Station Ditch Plain, New York
USLSS Station #7, Third District
Coast Guard Station #65
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Location:
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On ocean side of Long Island, 3-1/4 miles west southwest of Montauk Point Light.
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Date of Conveyance
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1854
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Station Built:
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1855; rebuilt 1886
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Fate:
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Turned over to the GSA in 1956
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Remarks:
This station is believed to have been built in 1856; one hundred years later it was turned over to the GSA. A new site was acquired in 1886 and a the station was "reconstructed and enlarged." The original position of this site is given as "three and one-half miles southwest of Montauk Light." This was later modified by adding the words "abreast of Great Pond" to the description.
Keepers:
The first keeper was Patrick Gould, appointed in 1856 for an unknown tenure. He was followed by Samuel T. Stratton, who served from 1872 until 1877. Records indicate the appointment of a Samuel T. Stratton on July 1 1878, but the end of his appointment and how his appointment is related to the previous ones is also unrecorded. The next recorded keeper is Frank S. Stratton (appointed October 9, 1880 and resigned September 20, 1892). Then came William B. Miller (appointed September 16, 1892 until his resignation due to physical reasons December 2, 1903) and Carl H. Hedges (appointed November 28, 1913 until his retirement due to incapacitation August 15, 1916), Russell C. Miller (acting only, never appointed keeper), and Knowles H. Smith (appointed November 20, 1918 until his retirement February 25, 1924). The position of keeper was left vacant until 1928 when Chief Boatswains Mate F. D. Warner arrived.
The station was listed as inactive in 1934, but was back on the active list in 1935. In 1937, Chief Boatswains Mate E. M. Pike was in charge. The station boathouse was demolished during the hurricane which swept the Atlantic coast in September of 1938. Unlike many, the station remained open continuously until the outbreak of World War II and was still in operation in 1945. The station disappears from the list of active stations in January 1956.
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.