CAPT. JOSEPH C. KELLEY.
CAPT. JOSEPH C. KELLEY, KEEPER OF MONOMOY POINT STATION.
Capt. Joseph C. Kelley, keeper of the Monomoy Point Life-Saving Station, was born in West Brewster in 1873, and has been in the life-saving service for five years. When he entered the service he was assigned to the Peaked Hill Bars Station under Captain Cook. He remained there but a few months, when he was transferred to the Chatham Station under Capt. Herbert Eldredge. Captain Kelley was appointed keeper of the new Monomoy Point Station in August, 1902, although the station was not manned until Oct. 30, 1902. Captain Kelley has the distinction of being the youngest life-saving station keeper on Cape Cod, if not in the United States, having been honored with the appointment of keeper of the Monomoy Point Station when he was but twenty-nine years of age.
When a young man he was a boatman and fisherman along the shores of Cape Cod, and later became a coastwise sailor. He became accustomed to the perils incident to the work of boating along the shores of the Cape, and skilled in handling boats in the roughest water at an early age. At the Peaked Hill Bars Station under the veteran seafighter, Captain Cook, Surfman Captain Kelley received a most thorough drilling in the work of life saving, which proved of untold benefit to him when he joined the Chatham Station, and better prepared him for the responsible position he now occupies. At the Chatham Station under Captain Eldredge, Captain Kelley was No. 1 surfman. He assisted at all the wrecks that occurred along the shore there for nearly five years, demonstrating his ability to cope with the most stupendous problems of life saving. Captain Kelley has a selected crew of experienced and fearless surfmen, who in the brief history of the station have proven themselves equal to every emergency that has arisen.
THE HORSES THAT ARE KEPT ON DUTY AT MONOMOY POINT STATION.
Five disasters occurred on the shoals near the station within as many weeks after the station was manned, and in every case the vessels were saved and not a life was lost. Captain Kelley married Chestena Batchelder.