Blog
Documentaries
Tour the Station
Tour the Station: Second Floor
The living quarters of the crew, a small bunk room as well as an additional office.
Tour the Station: Kitchen
A look at the food and methods of preparation, as well as the appliances utilized by the crew at the station.
Tour the Station: Keeper’s Office
The room of the keeper, or manager of the station, as well as an overview of their responsibilities and reasoning behind the room's placement.
Tour the Station: Aux. Boat Room
A look at additional boats, as well as hunting equipment and other tools used to find food.
Tour the Station: Boat Room
An in-depth look at the main room of the station, containing the rowboats, rope, lanterns, flares, and other lifesaving equipment.
Tour the Station: Dining Room
An overview of the activities and games crew members would play, such as checkers and a music box.
Tour the Station: Introduction
A short introduction to and overview of the Ocean City Lifesaving Station and its history.
Martha Coston Signal Flares
Watch for the story of Martha Coston, who developed the signal flares that are still used by the US Navy today. After finding earlier works of her deceased husband, Coston spent ten years testing and refining her process of night flares before patenting it in 1859. If...
Comical Rescues
Three tales of "Comical Rescues" from the Ocean City Life Saving Station including one about the surfmen in a low-tech row boat who rescued a high-tech Navy Submarine stranded on the sand bar in the Great Egg Harbor Inlet....
The Telephone in the Kitchen
Ocean City Life Saving Station tales of daily life of the Surfmen and commonly asked questions of visitors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC_huNjF12k
Boats, Buoys and Cars
Watch for some great explanations of the various types of rescue equipment used and on display at the Ocean City NJ Life Saving Station. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssmFN3J-Zm0&feature=youtu.be
The Natucket 26 Hour Rescue
The Natucket 26 hour Rescue - Walter N. Chase and his six man Coskata life saving crew battled heavy seas to rescue A British three masted schooner, H.P. Kirkham, sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Saturday, January 16, 1892, bound for New York. The Kirkham carried...
The Sindia – A Reading
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r8mvkfDGgU&feature=youtu.be The following is an excerpt from a recently discovered unpublished work, written by one of the surfmen at The Ocean City Life Saving Station who witnessed the wreck of the 329 foot 4-masted sailing ship...
Traveling the Oceans
Traveling the Oceans was a way of life in the later 1800's. The hazards from this form of travel made the Lifesaving Service indispensable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDu57PGZur8&feature=youtu.be
The Rescue
This episode is a dramatic recreation of a beach shipwreck, the Surfman's response, the deployment and use of the breaches buoy, and the Surfman's wives helping on the beach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFmFp1svlfs&feature=youtu.be
Sindia
John Loeper's presentation about the Sindia Story on the anniversary of the wreck December 10, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLJdE38nEDw&feature=youtu.be
The Different Types of Rescues
The natural power of the ocean presented a danger to any vessel that came too close to shore. "The men in this station had to patrol, they had to patrol the beach. There were 3 stations in Ocean City, one in Longport and one in Strathmere. If they came across a wreck...
The Surfboat
In order for the men of The Life Saving Service to protect lives and cargo; a wide range of skills, technology and equipment was always at the ready. On the front line of these efforts was the surfboat. Every station had at least one and they varied in design in...
You Have to Go Out
During the active years of the Ocean City US Life Saving Service – from the 1880’s to around 1915 – a strict set of rules and regulations were set in place to assure successful missions protecting lives and cargo. Life Saving Station scholar Richard Boonisar guides us...
The Men of the Life Saving Service
The mid eighteen hundreds saw the advent of regular ocean travel up and down the Jersey coast; much of it between the busy ports of New York and Philadelphia; and with it came frequent encounters with the shallow shoals and the windward shore, leading to dire...
History of Water Lifesaving in New Jersey
In a time before highways and runways, ocean going vessels provided much of the transportation for passengers, cargo and immigrants coming to America. Hundreds of vessels a day would pass Ocean City’s shoreline; which at times could be a very dangerous place. Locked...