Station Indian River Inlet, Delaware
USLSS Station #3, Fifth District
Coast Guard Station #142
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Location:
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On beach, 1 1/2 miles north of Indian River Inlet and 10 7/8 miles north of Fenwick Island Light; 38-37' 50"N x 75-03' 40"W in 1915.
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Date of Conveyance:
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1875
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Station Built:
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1876
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Fate:
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Turned over to the GSA in 1963
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Remarks:
Built in 1876, the structure of Indian River Station is one of the oldest eastern coast U.S. Lifesaving Service buildings still standing in its original location. After having kept watch over the coast for 86 years, the station closed and the property was turned over to the state of Delaware in 1962. This came after the station had been rendered dysfunctional by the storm of March 1962.
A new station was dedicated at Indian River Inlet on 27 March 1964; construction was completed in April of the same year. At that time, the station had one 40-foot utility boat, one 30-foot utility boat, and one 36-foot motor lifeboat. A crew of 15 Coast Guardsmen was commanded by Master Chief Boatswain’s Mate Malachi M. Thorington. A new Operations Center and Station Office was built in 1981. Then, the station had one 44-foot MLB, two 41-foot UTB, and two high speed outboard UTL. The station was now manned by one officer and 36 enlisted men.
In order to assure adequate coverage of the operating area to the north, Station Indian River mans a Sub-SAR Unit at Roosevelt Inlet, Lewes, Delaware six months of the year. In the fall of 1983, construction of the new Operations/Barracks building at Roosevelt Inlet was completed.
Keepers:
James Raymond was appointed keeper on 8 January 1876 and resigned on 8 October 1883.
Washington A. Vickers was appointed keeper on 10 October 1883 and transferred to the Bethany Beach Station on 26 August 1907.
George P. Hickman was appointed keeper on 17 September 1907 and left in 1915.
Nathaniel F. Quillen was appointed the acting keeper in 1915.
Photographs:
No caption/photo number; photographer unknown; photo dated 1964
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.