Spermaceti Cove Station No. 2

Sandbars, shallow waters, and winter storms off the New Jersey Shore were a constant danger to early sailing vessels. In a storm, wind and waves could destroy a helpless grounded ship, its cargo, and crew and passengers.<br><br>Commerce in and out of New York Harbor made the waters off Sandy Hook the busiest in the country. Surfmen stationed on Sandy Hook rescued hundreds of passengers and crew from ships wrecked along the coast. The Spermaceti Cove station, built in 1894, replaced an earlier one near the same site.<br><br><b>U.S. Life-Saving Service</b><br>During the 1870s, the United States Life-Saving Service (USLSS) was officially established to patrol the coast and rescue people stranded by shipwrecks. By 1900, forty-two Life-Saving Stations were operating along the New Jersey coast. In all, over 270 stations were built along the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf, and Great Lakes shorelines. When the U.S. Coast Guard was established in 1915, it assumed the search and rescue mission of the U.S. Life-Saving Service.