Life Saving Service and Coast Guard in Harbor Beach

Life Saving Service and Coast Guard in Harbor Beach. . , In the 1880s, Sand Beach was a very busy port city. Ships delivered supplies, and products produced in the area were shipped out. The large amount of ship traffic required that a life saving service station be built., The original station was built in 1881. The station consisted of living quarters, an equipment shed, and a dock extending into the harbor. The station was equipped with two English-model, self-righting, self-bailing lifeboats; one Beebe McLellan self-bailing surf boat; a beach apparatus consisting of a Lyle Gun for shooting a line to a ship in distress; and a breeches buoy and life car. A breeches buoy was a cork ring attached to a pair of short, canvas pants. The breeches buoy was sent out to the ship on the rope shot to the ship, a sailor got in the canvas pants of the breeches buoy and was pulled ashore. , The Sand Beach station was the first life saving crew in America to use the breeches buoy to rescue the crew of a ship in distress. , In 1909 a second life saving station was built on a crib just south of the Jenk's Company Dock. It was a 2 story, 36 foot by 48 foot building. The ground floor was for equipment and lifeboat storage. The second floor contained a sitting room and four bedrooms. , In 1915 the life saving service was combined with the United States Revenue Service and became the United States Coast Guard. , A Coast Guard Station was built in 1935 at the foot of Pack Street. An earthen causeway was built out into the lake for a four-bay garage. The station itself was built 300 yards offshore and connected to the causeway by a walkway. During World War Il, the station was used for training and housed 100 Coast Guardsmen.
, The Coast Guard boats were stored in the rear of the station on a marine railway. When making a rescue, the guardsmen climbed aboard, and the boat slid down the rails into the water. , In 1987 the station was left vacant and fell into disrepair. It was torn down in 2004. The current Coast Guard Station, located north of the Harbor Beach Marina, was built in 1987. The new structure consists of offices, bedrooms, a recreation room, kitchen, and a communications room. A large boat storage and maintenance building was built in 2008 to compliment the station's activities. The search and rescue boats are kept in the Harbor Beach Marina. Harbor Beach is proud to have hosted the life saving service and the United States Coast Guard continuously since 1881.