Station Long Branch, New Jersey
USLSS Station #5, Fourth District
Coast Guard Station #101
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Location:
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On beach, abreast Breens Poind, 3 miles north of entrance to Deal Lake, and 8 1/2 miles north of Sea Girt Light; 40-16' 36"N x 73-58' 43"W in 1878; 40-16' 40"N x 73-59' 00"W in 1915.
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Date of Conveyance:
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1878
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Station Built:
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1849
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Fate:
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Turned over to the GSA in 1954
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Remarks:
Long Branch station was built in 1849 at a position originally given as "Greens Pond;" this was later changed to "at West End, New Jersey, on Breens Pond" when a more desirable site was found. The 1882 Annual Report mentions that the station had to be moved because "the march of town improvements made it necessary." The station was also referred to as the Greens Pond station. In the 1893 Annual Report is the mention that "after much difficulty and consequent unavoidable delay in securing a satisfactory site for the Long Branch station, which has been for several years inadequate, and is no old and dilapidated, suitable premises have been obtained, and the construction of the new building is in progress."
The early keepers who served here were Charles Green (appointed 1856 for unknown tenure), Hamilton Taber (an "experienced surfman" appointed on December 20, 1871, he was removed on March 31, 1874), Walter S. Green (appointed March 31, 1874, he served until he was removed on June 15, 1874), and Hamilton Tabor (may have been the same individual who was an earlier keeper, he was appointed on June 15, 1874, and removed effective March 28, 1876, when the "station was discontinued.") This was probably when the station was rebuilt, because Walter S. Green appears in the records again as the keeper (January 7, 1879, until his resignation August 17, 1886).
Then came Asher Wardell (appointed August 17, 1886, he served until his resignation due to physical reasons on August 31, 1904), William Van Brunt (August 26, 1904, until his reassignment to Deal station in 1915), Charles White (appointed acting commanding officer when Van Brunt left, he was assigned as commanding officer on November 10, 1915, and served until his reassignment to Deal station on October 27, 1919), and Howard M. Homer (reassigned from Montoloking station on October 27, 1919, he served until his death on February 12, 1928). Next came two Chief Boatswains Mates: Rudolph Rovers in 1928 and B. G. Irons, who was transferred from Spring Lake in 1933 and transferred to Barnegat in 1934. Warrant officer Ira B. Norton was reassigned from the Barnegat station on October 2, 1936, and served until 1938. The station was transferred to the inactive rolls "in care of Monmouth Station" in the 1938 listings. The property was turned over to GSA in 1954.
Photographs:
No caption/date/photo number; photographer unknown. Probably early 1930s.
Courtesy of Van Field.
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.