Virginia Beach Surf & Rescue Museum facts for kids

U.S. Coast Guard Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location in Virginia Show map of Virginia Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Atlantic Ave. and 24th St., Virginia Beach, Virginia
Area	less than one acre
Built	1903 (1903)
NRHP reference No.	79003304
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	July 11, 1979

The Virginia Beach Surf & Rescue Museum is a special place. It helps us remember the exciting history of the sea in Virginia. It also tells the stories of brave people who worked for the United States Lifesaving Service and the United States Coast Guard. These heroes protected ships and saved lives along the Atlantic coast.

How the Revenue Cutter Service Helped the Nation

In 1790, the United States Congress asked Alexander Hamilton to build ten special ships called cutters. These ships had an important job: to collect taxes from foreign ships visiting American ports. These taxes were called custom duties. For a while, these cutters collected 92% of the young nation's money! This money even helped pay off the country's debts to other nations.

The job of the Revenue Cutter Service grew over time. They also helped protect the country when there were dangers. During emergencies, the Revenue Cutter Service would work with the United States Navy. This is still a practice today. The way the United States Coast Guard is set up, with its officers and ranks, is similar to the Navy for these kinds of emergencies.

In 1878, a new law brought the Revenue Cutter Service and the United States Life-Saving Service together. Their goal was to help people whose ships had crashed. This teamwork was a big success! Sumner I. Kimball, who was in charge of the Life-Saving Service, said that the Revenue Cutter Service made their work even better. He believed that the brave spirit of the men in these services made them so successful. Later, the efforts of both services helped create the United States Coast Guard.

The Brave United States Life-Saving Service

On December 14, 1854, the United States Congress passed a law to better protect lives and property from shipwrecks. However, the Civil War slowed down the creation of the United States Life-Saving Service.

In 1870, a terrible storm caused many deaths at sea. Newspapers called for changes to stop such tragedies. So, in 1871, the United States Life-Saving Service was officially formed. It was part of the Treasury Department. A lawyer named Sumner Increase Kimball was put in charge. By 1878, there were so many Life-Saving Service stations that it became its own separate agency.

Kimball brought much-needed order and rules to the USLSS. Before him, it was mostly run by volunteers. Only the "keepers" of the early stations were paid a small amount. The rest of the crew were unpaid volunteers. Thanks to Kimball's leadership, more and more Life-Saving Service stations were built. They were needed to rescue people from shipwrecks, especially along the dangerous coastlines of the Northeast.

The USLSS served the United States for 44 years. During this time, they helped 28,121 ships and saved an amazing 178,741 lives!

Life-Saving Stations and Their Equipment

By November 1889, there were 265 life-saving stations across the United States. These stations were open during the "active season," usually from October to March. This depended on how much help was needed in that area.

Each station had a "keeper" who was in charge. The keeper and the "Surfmen" were responsible for patrolling the beach and watching for ships in trouble. They patrolled 24 hours a day during the active season.

The stations had special equipment to help with rescues:

• A surfboat: A strong boat used to reach ships in rough waters.
• An apparatus cart: A large cart used to carry equipment.
• A Lyle gun: A cannon that fired a line to a ship in distress.
• A breeches buoy: A life-saving device that looked like a life ring with shorts attached. It would slide along a rope to bring people from a ship to shore.

The Virginia Beach area had five stations: Cape Henry, Seatack, Dam Neck, Little Island, and False Cape. These stations were about two to five miles apart.

The Surfmen would patrol the beaches in all kinds of weather. Even when storms made it hard to see from the watchtower, the Surfmen would walk the beach. They would walk towards the next station and meet a Surfman from there. They would exchange a special metal "check" to prove they had completed their patrol. This made sure everyone was doing their job. If a station was very isolated, they used a "patrol clock" to record their patrol times.

If a Surfman saw a ship in trouble, they would light a Coston flare. This flare signaled to the ship that help was coming and alerted other Surfmen at the station. The Surfmen would then quickly get the apparatus cart ready. They would pull and push the heavy cart, which weighed over 1,400 pounds, through wet sand and strong winds to reach the shipwreck. If needed, they would use the surfboat, which was also on a wheeled cart. Once they arrived, the station keeper would decide the best way to rescue the people.

The Seatack Station and the Shipwreck of the Diktator

The first Seatack station was built in 1878. The station you see today, built in 1903, is now the museum at 24th Street in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The name "Seatack" has two possible stories. One less likely story says it's from a battle during the War of 1812 where local fighters stopped a "sea attack" from the British. A more likely story is that sailors, after passing Cape Henry, would make their first turn, or "sea tack," here.

Many heroes worked at Seatack Station #2. One was Surfman John Woodhouse Sparrow. On December 21, 1900, a big storm pushed the ship Jennie Hall onto the shore. Surfmen from the nearby Dam Neck station saw the ship and alerted Seatack. Together, they worked to save the crew. The Jennie Hall was destroyed, but four sailors were saved by surfboat. John Woodhouse Sparrow even received a Silver Lifesaving Medal for his bravery! The museum has photos and stories from many shipwrecks, including the Diktator. The coast of Virginia Beach is known as part of the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" because so many ships have wrecked there.

The Seatack Station is especially famous for its connection to the shipwreck of the Norwegian ship Diktator. This happened on March 27, 1891. Surfman John L. Robinson, who worked at Seatack, later shared his amazing story of the rescue. The ship crashed around 10 AM. Captain Drinkwater, the station keeper, told his men to get the apparatus cart ready.

Robinson remembered that the storm was so bad they couldn't use the beach. They had to use a "country road" that was partly blocked by fallen trees. They traveled about 1.5 miles to reach the beach where the ship lay sideways. Waves crashed over the ship, causing more damage. The wind was so strong that the Lyle gun failed three times. The line from the gun usually goes far, but the wind kept blowing it short.

The sailors on the Diktator saw the failed attempts. So, they threw a wooden barrel with a line attached into the water. The barrel reached the shore, and the Surfmen put the line for the breeches buoy into it. The crew on the Diktator then set up the line on their ship. The breeches buoy is a life-ring with "britches" sewn onto it. It slides along a strong rope, carrying people from the ship to the shore.

The Surfmen managed to bring three crew members from the Diktator safely to the beach. But then, wreckage from the ship tangled the ropes. Time was running out as night was coming fast. The Captain of the Diktator decided he and his crew had to leave the ship soon. He lowered a small boat with four crew members. Sadly, the boat flipped over in the huge waves, and the crew fell into the cold water. They started swimming for shore, and the big waves pushed them in. The Surfmen had made fires on the beach to guide any survivors. Amazingly, all four Diktator crew members made it to the beach alive!

Robinson also described how the Captain of the Diktator made his way to the beach. The Captain survived, but his wife and their four-year-old son did not. The Captain tried to swim to shore with them. He put life-preservers on a ladder from the ship. He, his wife, and their son held onto the ladder, hoping to be washed ashore. But a wave broke over the ladder, and he never saw his wife again. He heard his son crying and told him to hold his breath for a big wave. A large wave came, and that was the last time he saw his son.

The Captain was the last person rescued from the Diktator. In total, ten people survived, but eight people drowned, and the ship was completely lost. In 1962, the town of Moss, Norway, sent a copy of the Diktator's figurehead (the carving on the front of the ship) to Virginia Beach. A plaque on it remembers everyone who was lost during the Diktator rescue. You can find this figurehead about 100 yards north of the Old Coast Guard Station Museum.

The United States Coast Guard Today

In 1915, the United States Lifesaving Service officially became the United States Coast Guard. It was formed by combining the USLSS and the Revenue Cutter Service. The Seatack Station #2 became Coast Guard Station #162. Today, the United States Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The Coast Guard stopped using the Seatack Station in 1969. The building was empty for ten years and was almost torn down. But then, people in Virginia Beach worked together to save it. They formed the Virginia Beach Maritime Museum in 1979. The museum's name changed a few times, becoming the Life-Saving Museum of Virginia in 1988, and then the Old Coast Guard Museum in 1996.

The Seatack Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. This means it's an important historical building worth preserving.

Other Coast Guard Museums to Explore

• Coast Guard Museum Northwest
• Port Orford Lifeboat Station Museum
• Sleeping Bear Point Coast Guard Station Maritime Museum
• USCGC Tamaroa (WMEC-166) (a museum ship you can visit!)

See also

• Military Sea Services Museum
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Virginia Beach, Virginia
• List of maritime museums in the United States