MONOMOY STATION.
The Monomoy Station is another of the original nine stations erected on Cape Cod when the United States Life-Saving Service was extended to these shores. It is located two and one-half miles north of Monomoy Light. Its approximate position as obtained from the latest coast survey charts is latitude north 41° 35′ 25″, longitude west 69° 59′ 10″. When the station was manned, March 20, 1873, Capt. George W. Baxter, of West Harwich, was placed in command. He resigned on account of ill-health in 1882, and his successor was Capt. William Tuttle. His death occurred July 1, 1899, and the late Capt. Marshall W. Eldredge was appointed to fill the vacancy Aug. 4, 1899. Captain Eldredge perished in an attempt to rescue five persons from the stranded barge Wadena, March 17, 1902.
MONOMOY STATION.
The patrol north of this station is about two and one-half miles, the surfmen meeting and exchanging checks with the surfmen from the Chatham Station. The patrol south is about one and one-half miles, the surfmen meeting and exchanging checks with the surfmen from the Monomoy Point Station.
There is no more dangerous stretch of coast on Cape Cod than off Monomoy. Disaster follows disaster in that region, and the work of the life savers is attended with the greatest peril at all times.
The following disasters have occurred at the Monomoy Station since Captain Ellis has been in command: Schooner Elwood Burton, of New York, stranded on the Handkerchief Shoal, the life savers rescuing her crew of six men in their surf-boat. Five men, the crew of the barge Paxinos, which had struck on Pollock Rip, were rescued from a sinking boat by the Monomoy crew. They were later placed aboard the barge, which was soon floated by the life savers. From the schooner Dora Mathews, which stranded on the beach near the station, three men were taken ashore in the breeches-buoy. A number of other crafts which met with disaster along the shore were assisted by Captain Ellis and his crew.
CAPT. SETH L. ELLIS, KEEPER OF MONOMOY STATION.