Discover Delmarva: Indian River Life-Saving Station Museum
REHOBOTH BEACH, DE- The Indian River Life-Saving Station Museum offers a glimpse into the life of the surfmen and keepers, who used to patrol these beaches over 100 years ago.
Tyler Dreiblatt, the Interpretive Programs Manager, showed us around the property and said the importance of the service cannot be forgotten. “The idea behind the life-saving service was to put stations up along the coast to help shipwreck mariners and ships in distress.”
This location strategically made sense for the government to invest in building a station. The volume of ships coming through and the monetary value of them played a crucial part in the economy. Dreiblatt explained, “There were lots of ships coming up and down the coast. You know timber, agricultural products, fish, and transporting people. And there are a lot of shoals along our coast. Shoals that aren’t easily mapped. They move, they reform, and so this was an area that was ripe for shipwrecks.”
With an area primed for wrecks during a time when communication technology was not widely available, this created the need for the Life-Saving Service and this station from 1876 to 1915. Without your cell phone, how would the crew members on ships in trouble contact the life-saving service? Or better yet- How would you get to a ship miles out to sea? Dreiblatt said this was no easy task. “So ships in distress would typically light off a flare or a signal lantern. And these guys would respond typically, with a surf boat to go out to rescue paddling to and from the boat until they rescue everybody. Or they can fire off what was called a breeches-buoy. A big life ring with a pair of pants sewn onto it so they could take people off the ship that way.” The breeches-buoy was nothing fancy but just a life raft with trousers sewn onto it. As for the surf boat… this nearly 1000 pound boat, imagine, was a pain to get out to sea-
Plus, the 1500 pounds the cart weighs to wheel down to the water, which required a lot of manpower.
Through the station, you’ll find the mess hall where the tradition is to always keep the table set, to let the surfmen know there will always be a place for them here. As for the food, it wasn’t great because no one wanted to get stuck with the full-time chef’s gig! But, they made do with what the area had to offer. “Here, everybody was pretty friendly, you know. Everybody took part in the same work. Everybody took turns cooking. They would do things like play cards, play music, go hunting and fishing together, and just that strong sense of solidarity going out with the same purpose, I think, added to that cohesion,” according to Dreiblatt.
A big part of the cohesion and professionalism within this location was the highly renowned Keeper Washington Vickers… Who kept this station in check while executing high-stakes rescues, no matter where? “During 1888, there was a big blizzard, and something like 27 wrecks happened in Lewes at once. And so they had to call down here to get some reinforcements. So the keeper at the time, Vickers, took two of his surfmen and walked 14 miles up to Lewes. Manage to rescue a life-saving crew and the crew off the ship that had been iced out into the bay. Had a cup of coffee and then walked 14 miles back to continue their patrol.”
Tyler tells us they have a lot of exciting programming coming up for the summer. They’ll have live demonstrations of their Lyle Gun and Breeches Buoy multiple times throughout the summer. For more information on these demonstrations and to plan your visit. You can check out their website.
