Station Eaton's Neck, New York
USLSS Station #38, Third District
Coast Guard Station #94
|
Location:
|
On Eatons Point, at Eatons Neck Light, east side entrance to Huntington Bay; 40-57' 10"N x 73-24' 00"W
|
|
Date of Conveyance:
|
1875
|
|
Station Built:
|
1849
|
|
Fate:
|
Still in operation
|
Remarks:
Not a lot is known about this station, one of the first, believed to have been built on a site on the "eastside entrance to Huntington Bay, Long Island Sound" in 1849. However, a notation is made that the station was "open for services on November 15, 1876; it may have been rebuilt. In 1937, the station was again listed as an active station and it remained so until the beginning of World War II; it was still so listed in 1945. It is still in operation as an active Coast Guard station.
Keepers:
The first known keeper is Darius Ruland, who was appointed at the age of 49 on September 14, 1876, and who left on November 10, 1893 because he was physically disqualified. He was followed by Henry E. Ketcham, who was appointed on November 14, 1893, and served until retiring with thirty years’ service August 10, 1915. Then came William S. Terry (February 11, 1916, until November 2, 1922, when he retired with thirty years' service), George S. Weyant (reassigned from Jones Beach station November 2, 1922, then reassigned to Amagansett station June 2, 1924).
The station was listed as "discontinued as an active unit" from 1922 forward and no keeper was assigned after George S. Weyant departed until C. E. Conklin arrived on August 26, 1929 from his assignment as Assistant to the Fourth District Commander. Even though the station was carried as discontinued, he remained there until his reassignment to the Rockaway Point station on June 26, 1933. Next, Chief Petty Officer W. Leach was reassigned from the Lone Hill station in 1935, followed by Chief Petty Officer G. E. Anderson in 1936.
Crew:
Ira Chichester Austin, Surfman: 1900-1910
"Old Photo, Eatons Neck."; no date/photo number; photographer unknown.
"Old Photo, Eatons Neck."; no date/photo number; photographer unknown. The keeper and crew of the Eatons Neck Life-Saving Station, circa 1900.
"Eatons Neck Lifeboat Sta. #94 Long Island, N.Y., 3rd CG. District, 1941."; no photo number; photographer unknown.
"Eatons Neck Lifeboat Sta. #94 Long Island, N.Y."; photo dated June, 1950; no photo number; photographer unknown.
No caption/date/photo number; photographer unknown.
No caption/date/photo number; photographer unknown.
"MASCOT (FOR RELEASE)
NEW YORK (May 16, 2006) The Station Eaton's Neck Mascot 'Nate', named after Coast Guardsman Petty Officer Nathan Bruckenthal who was killed while guarding an oil terminal off the coast of Iraq, sits guard outside the station May 16, 2006. USCG photo by PAC Tom Sperduto.
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.