Fort Lauderdale House of Refuge
USLSS Station #4, Seventh District
Coast Guard Station #208
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Location:
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7 miles north of New River Inlet; 26-08' 00"N x 80-06' 00"W
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Date of Conveyance
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1875
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Station Built:
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Unknown
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Fate:
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Destroyed by the Hurricane of 1930
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Remarks:
The Fort Lauderdale site was reserved from the public domain for lifesaving purposes, by Executive Order dated August 2, 1875. The original site comprised approximately 14 acres. The first keeper was Washington Jenkins of Biscayne Bay, Fla., appointed October 7, 1876. He remained until January 2, 1883.
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."
By 1928, accretions had increased the area to approximately 18.9 acres, but 4 acres were covered by the canal or inlet. As of 1929 the station was listed as a House of Refuge under the operational control of "Base Six."
Coast Guard Base Six was located on the southern end of the Fort Lauderdale Site, north of the New River Inlet, out through in 1922. The Base was established in accordance with Coast Guard Headquarter’s Letter of June 9, 1924, and was occupied by 33 men from the Coast Guard Cutter Yamacraw in September 1924. The muster roll shows that the first commanding officer was C.G. Porcher.
Keepers:
Washington Jenkins was appointed keeper on 7 DEC 1876 and resigned on 27 NOV 1882.
Edwin R. Bradley was appointed keeper on 2 JAN 1883 and resigned on 30 JUN 1883.
John Thomas Peacock was appointed keeper on 3 SEP 1883 and transferred to Station Biscayne Bay on 12 FEB 1885.
Charles W. Coman was appointed keeper on 13 MAY 1886 and resigned 6 OCT 1888.
Dennis O'Neill was appointed keeper on 31 OCT 1888 and resigned on 28 APR 1890.
John H. Fromberger was appointed keeper on 29 DEC 1894 and resigned on 21 MAY 1906.
R. S. King was appointed keeper on 28 APR 1906 and left on 11 JUN 1906.
James B. Vreeland was appointed keeper on 26 MAY 1906 and left in 1915.
Charels Skogsberg was appointed keeper in 1915.
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.