Station Watch Hill, Rhode Island
USLSS Station # 3, Third District
Coast Guard Station #58
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Location:
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At Watch Hill Point, 3/16 mile north of Watch Hill Light; 41-18' 20"N x 71-51' 30"W
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Date of Conveyance
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1878
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Station Built:
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1879
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Fate:
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Decommissioned in 1947 (?)
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Station Type:
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1876-type; rebuilt as a Port Huron-type in 1907-1908.
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Keepers:
The first keeper was Joshua P. Clark, who was appointed on November 9, 1878 and served until his resignation on August 18, 1881. He was followed in turn by James A. Barber (August 11, 1881 until he was dismissed June 15, 1883), John F. Mash (July 2, 1883 until he resigned August 15, 1891), Walter H. Davis (November 23, 1891 until his retirement on October 31, 1916), Howard Wilcox (reassigned on November 13, 1916 from the Quonochontaug station and reassigned to the Office of the Third District Supervisor in Wakefield, Rhode Island on July 5, 1919), Oswald A. Littlefield (reassigned from the Sandy Point station on July 12, 1919 and reassigned as Assistant to the District Supervisor in Portsmouth New Hampshire on April 3, 1920), Amos Broadmeadow (reassigned from the Fishers Island station on May 18, 1920 and was transferred to the position as Assistant to the Third District Supervisor on April 17, 1929), and George W. Streeter (reassigned from the New Shoreham station, he retired on April 1, 1932). Next came Chief Boatswains Mate A. E. Newcomb in 1932. He was relieved by Arthur E. Larkin, newly reassigned from the Quonochontaug station on April 15, 1933, who subsequently went to the Old Harbor station on April 6, 1934. The station was next commanded by two Chief Boatswains Mates: E. F. Sanborn in 1934 and S. K. Gamache in 1935.
Remarks:
Watch Hill: The 1878 Annual Report mentions that a life-saving station was authorized to be built here by the act of June 18, 1878; and a site had been found. The Watch Hill station was built on a site "near the Watch Hill Light" in 1881. Watch Hill disappeared from the list of stations in April 1947.
"Watch Hill Point and Life Saving Station."; color postcard, no date/photo number.
"Howard Perry Wilcox, standing, 1st left about 1903-4 (Watch Hill, R.I.)"; number MVF-972; photographer unknown.
Sources:
Station History File, CG Historian’s Office.
“When Boatswain Streeter Retired.” U.S. Coast Guard Magazine. Vol. 5, No. 8 (June, 1932), p. 14.
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.