Station Deal, New Jersey
USLSS Station #6, Fourth District
Coast Guard Station #102
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Location:
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On Deal Lake, 5 3/4 miles north of Sea Girt Light; 40-14' 00"N x 73-59' 29"W in 1880; Asbury Park - 40-13' 50"N x 73-59' 50"W in 1915
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Date of Conveyance:
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1849
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Station Built:
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1849
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Fate:
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Abandoned in 1946.
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Remarks:
Deal was one of the original stations built in 1849; it was rebuilt on a new site in 1881 which is identified merely as "Asbury Park, New Jersey." The 1882 Annual Report reports it so: "The old station at Deal Beach, New Jersey (No. 6, Fourth District), which was little more than a boathouse, and was extremely incommodious and had become dilapidated, is being replaced by a new station meeting the full requirements of the service." The station was repaired and improved in 1889.
The station was transferred to the inactive station rolls in 1938 and remained there. The site was abandoned in 1946.
The more noteworthy rescue operation include the rescue of 61 people from the Pliny, on her way from Liverpool to New York, that sank on 13 May 1882; the rescue of 48 people from the Wyndermere on 18 March 1892. Four lives were lost and seven saved when the Mary F. Reilly sank on a fishing trip on 24 August 1893.
Keepers & Officers-In-Charge:
Early keepers were Abner Allen (January 5, 1857, until he resigned effective October 1, 1877), Cornelius Vannote (a "good surfman" appointed on October 1, 1877, the end of his tenure is unrecorded), John Slocum (February 27, 1379, until his resignation on September 13, 1882), Lambert Edwards (September 5, 1882, until his death "from disease contracted in line of duty" on January 14, 1895), Benjamin Van Brunt (February 27, 1895, until his retirement because he was over 64 years of age on March 24, 1915), William Van Brunt (reassigned April 5, 1915 from Long Branch station, he served until his retirement after thirty years of service on October 15, 1919), and Charles White (reassigned from Long Branch station October 27, 1919, he served until his retirement after thirty years service on November 5, 1921). He was followed by David B. Bowen, who was transferred from the Avalon station on November 15, 1921, and retired on December 21, 1928. Then came two Chief Boatswains Mates: W. J. Butler in 1928, and E. Norton in 1935.
No caption/date/photo number; photographer unknown.
Courtesy of Van Field.
“L-S. S. 5th District Old Photo”;
no date/photo number; photographer unknown.
“No caption/date/photo number; photographer unknown.
“DEAL 1934 View of Station Dwelling from Southwest”;
photo by “H.L.T.”; Photo No. 102.
“DEAL 6-11-51”. No photo number; photographer unknown.
"U.S. COAST GUARD - DEAL - STATION #102 - 1930." No photo number; photographer unknown.
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.