Indian River House of Refuge
USLSS Station #1, Seventh District
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Location:
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16 miles north of Indian River Inlet; 27-40' 00"N x 80-21' 20"W
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Date of Conveyance:
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1875
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Station Built:
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1876
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Fate:
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Replaced in 1885 with the Indian River House of Refuge in 1885. License granted to Vero Beach, Florida, in 1940 to use the site for park and recreation purposes.
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Remarks:
According to the 1879 "Annual Report of the Life Saving Service" these houses of refuge along the east coast of Florida "contemplate no other life saving operations than affording succor to shipwrecked persons who may be cast ashore, and who, in the absence of such means of relief, would be liable to perish from hunger and thirst in that desolate region. Crews of surfmen are not needed here, but the keepers and members of their families are required to go along the beach, in both directions, in search of castaways immediately after a storm."
Replaced by the Indian River Inlet House of Refuge in 1885.
Keepers:
John Houston was appointed keeper on 9 OCT 1876 and he resigned on 16 DEC 1881.
P. A. McMillan was appointed keeper on 16 DEC 1881 and no other information is available.
A. W. Masters was appointed keeper on 12 OCT 1882 and resigned on 6 APR 1885.
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 Unpublished manuscript, compiled circa 1977, CG Historian’s Office collection.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.