Plum Island Assigned Rescue Craft

1898: 34-ft Merryman type pulling / sailing lifeboat No. 248 Eager (later converted in 1906 to a motor lifeboat and later transferred to Station Milwaukee) *

1896: Beebe-McLellan type pulling / sailing surfboat No. 301*

1898: 34-ft Merryman type pulling / sailing lifeboat No. 248 Eager (later converted in 1906 to a motor lifeboat and later transferred to Station Milwaukee) *

1901: 34-ft Merryman type pulling / sailing lifeboat No. 488 Triumph (later converted in 1906 to a motor lifeboat, and later transferred to Station Kewaunee *

1923: Type H motor lifeboat No. 1954 *

1923: The Valiant’s official registration number was 1026. It was originally commissioned as a supply boat, but because it had a closed cabin it was also used for search rescue and transportation during inclement weather and winter months. The 36-foot Valiant was built at a Washington Island shipyard by George Moe (Life Saving Station Keeper at Plum and Bailey’s Harbor) in the early 1920’s. The curved hull made the Valiant an excellent icebreaker and earned it the nickname The Bull.

The Bull was used at the Plum Island Coast Guard Station until the early 1940’s, when it was decommissioned. She is on display at the Jackson Harbor Museum on Washington Island. For more information on this boat, click here.

1932: Type S motor surfboat No. 4033/CG25531 *

1933: Type S pulling surfboat No. 4088/CG25386 *

1942: 38-ft cabin picket boat No. 4221/CG38425 *

1943: One-of-a-kind 40-ft steel motor lifeboat No. 5357/CG40300 *

Read about this lifeboat here.

1942: 38-ft cabin picket boat No. 4221/CG38425 *

1944: Cabin motorboat CG25815 *

1940s: Type TR motor lifeboat No. 4835/CG36406 (transferred from another station *

1955: 30-ft utility boat-medium CG30388 *

1958: 40-ft utility boat-large CG40574 *

1980: Seasonal rescue detachment of 1-41 utility boat-large (CG41376), 1 large motor skiff *

1980s: UTB CG41489 that was on Plum Island in the 1980's and after the move to Washington Island, until replaced by a 30' UTM RHI sometime in the 90's.

She ended up in Florida, being used as a Remotely Operated Target Boat (RTB) by the U.S. Air Force on their ranges off the coast (info from Merlin E. Rick Nygren).

Washington Island resident, Lou Small told us that although 'he wasn't in the USCG, he's an EMT that made many emergency transports to mainland aboard her. She was an awesome boat.'

The Plum Island Station was replaced in 1991 by a seasonal facility located on Washington Island, is operated as a Spring / Summer seasonal rescue detachment from Station Sturgeon Bay Canal.

We'd love to add to this list! If you have a picture of the boat you served on while on Plum Island, please share it with us!

* Much of this information was compiled by Timothy R. Dring; Commander, U.S. Naval Reserve (Retired) May 2014The material was derived from official U.S. Life Saving Service and U.S. Coast Guard records.