Monomoy Life-Saving Surfboats
History
In the mid to late
1800s the United States Life-Saving Service (USLSS) employed what became to be known as the
Monomoy life-saving surfboats. In
1915 the USLSS and the United States Lighthouse Service (USLS) merged to form the United States Coast Guard. Prior to
1900 the dimensions of the Monomoy life-saving surfboats were 26 feet in length with a maximum beam of 7 feet, approximately 2.5 feet depth amidships and weighed about 2100 pounds. There were eight rowers that sat in four pairs side-by-side on fixed thwarts (benches) with a coxswain at the stern. The design was initiated and
developed from shore-based whaleboats used off the coast of Cape Cod and Monomoy Island, MA...Hence the name Monomoy!
Click on images to enlarge...
Monomoys were in service in the following local stations along the South Jersey shore:
- USLSS Station #39, Cape May Point circa 1849
- USCG station #123, Atlantic City and built 1849
- USCG station #125, Long Port and built in 1849, location where our Motor Lifeboat CG-36538 was in service
- USCG station #130, Townsends Inlet in Sea Isle City and built in 1849
- USCG station #133, Hereford Inlet in North Wildwood and built in 1849
- USCG station #137, Cape May circa 1849
- USCG station #136, Cold Spring Station in Cape May circa 1868, currently the Kiwanis meeting house
- USCG station #127, Peck Beach in Ocean City and built 1870
- USCG station #124, Absecon Inlet in Absecon and built in 1872
- USCG station #129, Sea Isle City and built in 1872
- USCG stations #132, Stone Harbor and built in 1872
- USCG station #134, Holly Beach in Wildwood and built in 1872
- USCG station #135, Cape May [four miles northeast] and built in 1872
- USCG station #126, Great Harbor Inlet and built in 1878
- USCG station #131, Avalon and built in 1894
In 2012 Kevin and Sandy Maloney of Cape May, NJ purchased five Monomoy life-saving surfboats from the United States Merchant Maritime Academy in Kings Point, NY which were then donated to the following organizations:
- Two - Cape May Maritime Museum
- One - Lewes Historical Society, Lewes, DE [https://www.overfalls.org/MonomoyLifeboat.html]
- One - New Jersey Shipwreck Museum, Beach Haven, NJ [https://njmaritimemuseum.org]
- One - Summer Youth Program in Nantucket, MA
Additional history of the Monomoy life-saving surfboats can be found on the U. S. Life-Saving Service Heritage Association’s website:
https://uslife-savingservice.org/lifesavers-duties-equipment/pulling-surfboats/
© Cape May Maritime Museum
