Through the Wreck of the Metropolis, on January 31, 1878, an Act was Passed by Congress

The United States Lifesaving Service (USLSS) was created by the United States Government in 1872 in order to protect lives and shipping interests along the coast. In 1874, the first lifesaving stations were built along the North Carolina coast. These stations housed a staff that consisted of a keeper and crew of six, manning the stations during the active storm season from December to March.

It took two major maritime disasters off the coast of the Outer Banks before the Lifesaving Service would receive an overhaul. The first was the disaster of the Huron, which wrecked on November 24, 1877, a mere three miles from the Nags Head Lifesaving Station. Since the station’s season hadn’t started, it was closed and locked up. A total of 103 lives were lost in this disaster. The second was the wreck of the Metropolis on January 31, 1878. Though surfmen from the lifesaving stations responded, the distance between the stations, as well as errors made by the surfmen, resulted in the loss of 85 lives. As a result of these disasters, an act was passed by Congress on June 18, 1878, authorizing an additional 30 stations to be built around the country. Eleven of these stations were designated for the North Carolina. The active season was extended to September 1-May 1. It was later extended again to August 1-May 31. In hopes of attracting more qualified people, the keeper’s salary was increased and they were given the power of inspectors of customs. Despite these early growing pains, the Lifesaving Service became an honored way of life on the Outer Banks, and it is an important part of the local heritage.

By the time the U. S. Lifesaving Service merged with the U. S. Revenue Cutter Service to form the U. S. Coast Guard in January 1915, North Carolina was home to a total of 29 stations. Among these stations was the Pea Island Lifesaving Station, which housed the nation’s only all black crew.

The Foundation for the United States Lifesaving Service

Was laid as far back as 1785, when the Massachusetts Humane Society was founded, with the goal of saving human lives in peril from the sea. The society constructed small huts as “houses of refuge” to provide shelter for shipwrecked mariners along Massachusetts shore. In 1807, the Humane Society also launched the first lifeboat and established the first lifeboat station at Cohasset, Massachusetts. Soon, additional lifeboat stations began popping up along the Massachussetts coast. In 1848, the government allocated $10,000 for the purchase of surfboats and other lifesaving equipment, to be used along the New Jersey coast. Throughout the 1850s, the government continued to provided funds and more stations were set up along the New Jersey and New England coast lines.

Sources

U. S. Lifesaving Service Wreck Reports and Payroll Records

* Noteworthy

1862 – Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University.

1929 – The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.

1946 – Yugoslavia’s new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).

1953 – A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom

1958 – The first successful American satellite detects the Van Allen radiation belt.