Station Gloucester, Massachusetts
Coast Guard Station # 23
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Location:
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Old House Cove, westerly side of Gloucester Harbor, 1 1/4 miles north northwest from Eastern Point Light; 42-35' 30"N x 70-41' 10"W
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Date of Conveyance:
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1899
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Station Built:
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1900
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Fate:
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Still in operation as of 1977
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Remarks:
This station was completed and put in operation in 1901. The original position for this station was given as "Old House Cover, westerly side Gloucester Harbor." The station was discontinued in 1934 as a result of requirements to retrench in the face of budget reductions, but was back on the list of active stations in 1935. The station remains in operation.
Keepers:
Its first keeper was Nelson F. King, who was appointed on December 10, 1900 and reassigned to the Coast Guard Cutter Davey on May 11, 1921. He was relieved by Richard E. Ryder, who was reassigned from the Orleans station and served here until reassigned to the Chatham station on March 28, 1925. The next officer in charge is shown as Chief Petty Officer H. Acker in 1927, followed by Chief A. Hilton in 1931. Chief Acker returned again in 1932. This time he was relieved by Chief M. M. Pigott in 1934 who, in turn was relieved by the newly-commissioned George A. Joseph who arrived from the Point Allerton station on August 2, 1935.
From The Boston Herald, August 30, 1984
LOBSTERMEN PLUCKED FROM SINKING BOAT
The Coast Guard rescued three people aboard a sinking lobster boat off Gloucester yesterday, making it the third vessel in trouble in two days. Petty Officer First Class Lance Jones said: "At 5:39 this morning we had a Mayday from the 36-foot lobster boat Lagosta out of Hampton, N.H. They reported losing their steering just before hitting the Blynman Bridge in Gloucester. The three were taken off the boat by a (Coast Guard) 41-footer. They were able to beach the boast. It’s missing part of the transom, torn off in the accident."
Jones said two fishing vessels 80 miles apart sank within 30 minutes of each other Tuesday afternoon, but all aboard were rescued safely by nearby boats. He said the New Bedford-based Lucky Lady, with 170 pounds of lobster aboard sank in 96 feet of water, southwest of Martha’s Vineyard. The 44-foot lobster boat reported it was sinking at 3:24 p.m. The three people on board were rescued by the fishing vessel Sandpiper after spending about half an hour in a life raft. Jones identified them as owner-skipper Robert McCarthy, 23; his brother William, 22, and Nick Violet, 20, all of New Bedford.
Jones said the Katherine C, a 40-foot fishing trawler, reported at 3:46 p.m. it was sinking 8 miles east of Eastern Point in Gloucester and later went down in 300 feet of water.
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.