Station Amagansett, New York
USLSS Station #10, Third District
Coast Guard Station #68
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Location:
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On ocean side of Long Island, abreast of Amagansett, and 13 5/8 miles west southwest of Montauk Point Light; 40-58' 05"N x 72-07' 24"W in 1878; 40-58' 00"N x 72-08' 20"W in 1915.
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Date of Conveyance:
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1877
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Station Built:
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1849
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Fate:
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Disestablished 1937
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Remarks:
Amagansett station was built in 1849 at a site given as "abreast of the village." The original location became undesirable and, in 1880, another site was acquired; from the 1878 Annual Report: "The new station mentioned as desirable to be built at Amagansett has not been erected, it being thought that the old station might answer for another year." Then, in 1880: "The necessity for reconstruction was stated, but, to accomplish this end, enough could not be spared from the means at the command of the service which more pressing wants required until the past fiscal year, when the work was undertaken, and a new and comfortable station is now near completion." In 1902, yet another site was acquired.
The station was disestablished in 1937 and a revocable permit was granted to the Navy to use the station site as a naval radio direction finder station. In the 1938 Register, the station is carried as an inactive station.
Keepers:
The first two keepers were Charles B. Barnes, who was appointed in 1853, and Samuel Stratton, who was appointed in 1856, both for an unknown tenures. They were followed by Charles J. Mulford (appointed at the age of 40 with experience as a surfman and fisherman on July 2, 1869 and serving until some time in 1879), Joshua B. Edwards (appointed April 10, 1879 until his resignation August 16, 1883), Madison F. King (appointed August 16, 1883 until May 12, 1886), Jesse B. Edwards (June 7, 1886 until his death "from disease contracted in line of duty" on July 21, 1910), Samuel B. Loper (appointed September 20, 1910 until his retirement with thirty years service February 10, 1921). No keeper is listed following Mr. Loper; in the 1924 Register, the station is listed as "discontinued as an active unit," but in 1925 it is back as an active unit with George S. Weyant as the keeper (reassigned from Eatons Neck station June 2, 1924 and served until reassigned to the New York Division offices on January 21, 1927). He was followed by Chief Boatswains Mates W. B. Cobb (until 1928) and E. W. Suydam (until 1930) and Chief Petty Officers Warren Barnes (until 1937).
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.