Coast Guard - Port Aransas Museum

MARITIME ∼ COAST GUARD
Circa 1909. The property on which the 1878 USLSS was built is the
same that the current Coast Guard Station is on. The tinted card
was printed after the town name changed from Tarpon to Port A.
Circa early 1890s. The USLSS lifeboat sits on a trailer,
ready to be rolled down the station ramp to the water.
In 1876, the fashionable steamship Mary sank at the Aransas Pass. While
the ship’s company was saved through a gallant rescue by Mustang
Island ship pilots, it was a close thing. So close, in fact, that the sinking
led the Government in 1878 to establish a U.S. Life Saving Station,
USLSS, on the north shore of Mustang Island.
The Life Saving Station was destroyed by the 1919 hurricane. While a
replacement station was being built the Coast Guard--name changed
from Life-Saving Service to Coast Guard in 1915--used the house you are
standing in as temporary quarters. The replacement station opened in
1925, and it was replaced by the current station in 1976.
The postcards in the collection primarily concern the Life Saving
Station. The red arrow points to John Mercer, an early settler of
Mustang Island. His expertise as a ship pilot, and his role in the
steamship Mary rescue, earned him appointment as the first officer in
charge of the USLSS. In the next card, USLSS personnel gather by
their breeches buoy, a rescue device for moving people (one at a time)
from a grounded ship to the beach--the cannon shot the connecting
lifeline to the distressed vessel.
The USLSS was replaced in 1925 by the Coast Guard Station shown
in the next card. During World War II, the station personnel were
increased to perform war related missions. One was to monitor the food
and fuel aboard commercial fishing boats: if the supply was too great for
the registered trip, the crew came under suspicion of resupplying
German submarines. Another mission was patrolling the Mustang
Island beach to guard against the landing of spies and saboteurs.
1907
Circa 1925. This station replaced the USLSS. Card label should be
Coast Guard Station (name changed to CG in 1915).
Circa 1930s. Personnel of Coast Guard Station Port
Aransas strike a pose in their dress uniforms.