Station Pamet River, Massachusetts
USLSS Station #9, Second District
Coast Guard Station #37
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Location:
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3 1/2 miles south of Cape Cod Light; 41-59' 59"N x 70-00' 53"W in 1878; 42-00' 00"N x 70-01' 15"W in 1915
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Date of Conveyance:
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1872 (?)
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Station Built:
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1873 (?)
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Fate:
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Discontinued in 1938
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Remarks:
The Parmet River station is one of nine stations which were erected on Cape Cod in 1872. Its position was "south three and one-half miles of Cape Highland (later Cape Cod) Light." The name had several variations; in 1883, it was called Parmet River, in 1885, Pamet River, and in 1886, it was back to Parmet River. It stabilized at Pamet after 1889. The station stood on one of the high sand dunes which line the ocean shore in Truro village. When the station was built, it stood several hundred feet back from the high water mark, but the beach was continually eroded. "Sand bars with but a small depth of water over them fringe the shore at this station, extending seaward for several hundred yards, and the history of the station records many fearful disasters on them. It was on these dreaded bars that the terrible ocean tragedy, the wreck of the ship Jason occurred, and also where the three crafts, the Powwow, Miles Standish, and the E. Pavey, were wrecked at one time. The wreck of the Jason was one of the most appalling disasters that has ever taken place on the shores of Cape Cod, twenty-six lives being lost. Of the whole crew, the ship’s apprentice was the only person that managed to reach the shore. Of the whole number, thirty-four, aboard the three ships, twelve were lost." Records mention that the station received "extensive repairs and improvements" in 1888, and somewhat less extensive improvements in 1910. The station was inactive in 1937 and thereafter.
Keepers:
The first keeper was Nelson Weston, who was appointed at the age of 27 on April 3, 1873, and remained until April 24, 1886. Then followed George W. Kelley (August 11, 1886 until he was dismissed on August 21, 1888), John H. Rich (October 26, 1888 until he resigned November 25, 1901), George W. Bowley (November 25, 1901 until he was promoted and appointed to the position of Superintendent of the Second District on July 25, 1904), Darius Weekes (September 9, 1904 until July 8, 1907), Henry I. Collins (July 2, 1907 until reassigned to the Race Point station on June 19, 1915), Frank B. Lincoln (acting until his appointment on February 7, 1916 and reassigned on November 1, 1917 to the Office of the Superintendent of the Third District in Wakefield, Rhode Island), and Edward L. Clark (acting until his appointment on September 11, 1918 and reassigned to the Orleans station on December 17, 1923). Next, Chief Petty Officer H. H. Kelley is shown as being in charge followed by Chief A. N. Ormsby, in 1932, who was commissioned on December 3,1935 and reassigned to the Woods End station.
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.