Station Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina
Coast Guard Station #186
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Original Location:
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On beach, near east end of Ocracoke Island, 1-1/8 miles west-southwest of Hatteras Inlet and 11-1/2 miles east northeast of Ocracoke lighthouse
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Date of Conveyance:
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1882
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Station Built:
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Original in 1883; second station built in 1917
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Fate:
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Transferred to the National Park Service in 1957
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Remarks:
The 1917 station washed away by sea encroachment in the 1950s. The current Coast Guard Station Hatteras Inlet is located on the southern end of Hatteras Island, North Carolina, within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The Station has a compliment of 42 enlisted personnel with a Master Chief Boatswain Mate as the Officer in Charge. The unit's building was constructed in 1962 situated on 6 acres of National Park Service land. The building contains unaccompanied personnel berthing for 6 members, temporary berthing for 7 duty watchstanders, a galley/dining room, a communications center, and a recreation room. Station Hatteras Inlet maintains administrative and operational control of the subordinate unit Station Ocracoke (small) located on Ocracoke Island.
As a multi-mission unit, Station Hatteras Inlet conducts search and rescue, boating safety, law enforcement, and marine environmental protection operations. There is a boat crew available 24 hours a day that responds to more than 150 calls for assistance annually. The station's Area of Responsibility (AOR) includes more than 2350 square nautical miles of the Atlantic Ocean, one third of the Pamlico Sound, and half of Ocracoke Island. This area includes Diamond Shoals, also known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic". To cover this area and respond to calls for assistance in any type of weather, the unit is equipped with a 44-ft Motor Life Boat, a 41-ft Utility Boat, and a 21-ft Rigid Hull Inflatable. Station Hatteras Inlet is scheduled to receive one of the new 47-ft Motor Life Boats in the near future to replace the much older 44-ft Motor Life Boat.
Keepers:
James W. Howard was appointed keeper on 25 MAY 1883 and resigned on 10 APR 1903.
David Williams was appointed keeper on 3 APR 1903 and transferred to Station Ocracoke on 5 JUN 1905.
David W. Barnett was appointed keeper on 24 MAY 1905 and was still serving 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.