This station was established and manned in 1883 by Captain Kelley and
a crew of trained surfmen. The station is three and one-half miles
northwest of Cape Cod Highland Light, and its approximate position as
obtained from the latest coast survey charts is latitude 42° 03′ 55″
longitude west 70° 06′ 50″. From Provincetown the station is about five
miles distant. The eastern end of the dreaded Peaked Hill Bars extend
along the coast at this station, and from wrecks that have taken place
on these bars the crew of the station have made many daring rescues.
The surfmen at this station exchange checks with the surfmen from the
Highland Station on the east and the Peaked Hill Bars Station on the
west.
The patrol is about one and one-half miles each way, the shortest
patrol on the entire coast of Cape Cod. The station is supplied
with two surf-boats, a practice-boat, three beach carts with guns,
breeches-buoys, etc., and a life-car.
[Illustration: HIGH HEAD STATION.]
The practice-boat came from the Peaked Hill Bars Station, and is the
one which was capsized at the wreck of the schooner _C. M. Trumbull_
at the time the late Captain Atkins, keeper of the Peaked Hill Bars
Station, and two members of his crew lost their lives. A surf-boat and
beach cart are kept in a house near the beach to be near at hand in the
event of disaster. The horse kept at the station is owned by Captain
Kelley, and is employed by the government during the winter season, to
help drag the apparatus at the time of a wreck.
Capt. Charles P. Kelley, keeper of the High Head Station, with his
crew of life savers, have taken thirty-seven persons ashore in their
surf-boat during the twenty years that Captain Kelley has been in
charge. The breeches-buoy has not been used in active service within
the patrol of the station, however, since Captain Kelley assumed
command. From the schooner _Laura Brown_ five men were rescued and the
vessel saved; from the brig _Emily T. Sheldon_ eight men were taken
ashore, the vessel becoming a total loss. The schooner _Oliver Ames_,
which stranded near the station, was saved with her crew of seven.
From the schooner _Plymouth Rock_, which became a total wreck near
the station, the crew of six were saved. The crew of the _Abbie H.
Hodgman_, five in number, were saved and the vessel floated. The sloop
_Red Rover_, which was a total wreck, had her crew of two men rescued.
The schooner _Lucia Porter_, with a crew of six men, were saved by the
crew of this station, as was the schooner _William H. Oler_ and her
crew, eight in number.
[Illustration: HANNAH E. SHEWBERT.]
From the schooner _Jennie C. May_ three persons were taken ashore, the
vessel finally becoming a total loss. The schooner _Carrie Richardson_
had her crew of four men taken off by the life savers, the vessel
becoming a total wreck, and from the schooner _Job H. Jackson_, which,
also, became a total wreck, the life savers, under Captain Kelley,
rescued the crew of four men.