Portsmouth Life-Saving Station Crew

Changes in the organization of the service, the migration of people to and from these stations, and the simple passage of time have made it difficult to construct a complete list of these heroes of the coast. This is the most accurate list we have available at this time.

If you have corrections, additions, or photographs that you would like to share with the park, please contact us.

 

This list was compiled from the National Archives in Atlanta, GA using records from January 1st of each year.

Crews were employed seasonally, from August 1st to May 31st, until 1917, when the station was used year-round. The surfmen are listed by their rank within the station, which could change from year to year and, at times, within the same year.

Skip ahead to the year: 1900 - 1910 - 1920 - 1930

Information on Portsmouth Village history and on visiting Portsmouth can also be found on this website.

 

1894 Crew		1895 Crew
Keeper: Ferdinand G. Terrell 1) Dennis Mason 2) Washington Roberts 3) Augustus D. Mason 4) James T. Salter 5) George R. Willis 6) George W. Gilgo Substitute: Jesse Newton		Keeper: Ferdinand G. Terrell 1) Joseph W. Robinson 2) George Dixon 3) Augustus Mason 4) Joseph Styron 5) George R. Willis 6) Dennis Mason 7) Washington Roberts Substitute: Charles Styron
1896 Crew		1897 Crew
Keeper: Ferdinand G. Terrell 1) Dennis Mason 2) Washington Roberts 3) Augustus D. Mason 4) James T. Salter 5) George R. Willis 6) George W. Gilgo		Keeper: Ferdinand G. Terrell 1) Dennis Mason 2) Washington Roberts 3) Augustus D. Mason 4) James T. Salter 5) George W. Gilgo 6) Jesse Newton 7) Joseph Dixon Substitute: Charles Styron Substitute: William Willis
1898 Crew		1899 Crew
Keeper: Ferdinand G. Terrell 1) Dennis Mason 2) Washington Roberts 3) George W. Gilgo 4) James T. Salter 5) Joseph Dixon 6) William T. Willis 7) Leonard W. Nelson		Keeper: Ferdinand G. Terrell 1) Dennis Mason 2) Washington Roberts 3) George W. Gilgo 4) James T. Salter 5) Joseph Dixon 6) Leonard W. Nelson 7) William T. Willis
1900 Crew		1901 Crew
Keeper: Ferdinand G. Terrell 1) Dennis Mason 2) Washington Roberts 3) George W. Gilgo 4) Leonard W. Nelson 5) William T. Willis 6) Daniel W. Yeomans 7) William Fulcher		Keeper: Ferdinand G. Terrell 1) Dennis Mason 2) Washington Roberts 3) George W. Gilgo 4) Daniel W. Yeomans 5) William Fulcher 6) Melville M. Pigott 7) Joseph W. Fulcher
1902 Crew		1903 Crew
Keeper: Ferdinand G. Terrell 1) Washington Roberts 2) William T. Willis 3) Daniel W. Yeomans 4) Melville M. Pigott 5) Joseph W. Fulcher 6) H.D. Goodwin 7) Alfred H. Chadwick		Keeper: Ferdinand G. Terrell 1) Washington Roberts 2) William T. Willis 3) Melville M. Pigott 4) Joseph W. Fulcher 5) H.D. Goodwin 6) Alfred H. Chadwick 7) Herbert S. Pigott

 

1904 Crew		1905 Crew
Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) William T. Willis 3) Melville M. Pigott 4) Joseph W. Fulcher 5) H.D. Goodwin 6) Alfred H. Chadwick 7) Herbert S. Pigott		Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) H.D. Goodwin 3) Melville M. Pigott 4) E.L. Roberts 5) Herbert S. Pigott 6) Homer Harris 7) Milton Robinson
1906 Crew		1907 Crew
Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) Matthew P. Guthrie 3) Melville M. Pigott 4) L.D. Williams 5) Herbert S. Pigott 6) Homer Harris 7) Edward H. Fulcher		Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) Mathew P. Guthrie 3) L.D. Williams 4) Edward H. Fulcher 5) Herbert S. Pigott 6) Homer Harris 7) Theodore Salter
1908 Crew		1909 Crew
Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Matthew P. Guthrie 4) Edward H. Fulcher 5) Homer Harris 6) Monroe W. Gilgo 7) Mitchell Hamilton		Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Matthew P. Guthrie 4) Homer Harris 5) Monroe W. Gilgo 6) Mitchell Hamilton 7) Simon Garish
1910 Crew		1911 Crew
Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Matthew P. Guthrie 4) Homer Harris 5) Mitchell Hamilton 6) Simon Garish 7) Monroe W. Gilgo		Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Isaac O'Neal 4) Homer Harris 5) George Dixon 6) Simon Garish 7) Monroe W. Gilgo
1912 Crew		1913 Crew
Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Isaac O'Neal 4) Homer Harris 5) Mitchell Hamilton 6) Simon Garish 7) Monroe W. Gilgo		Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Isaac O'Neal 4) Homer Harris 5) Simon Garish 6) Monroe W. Gilgo 7) Homer Howard 8) Garry Bragg

 

1914 Crew		1915 Crew
Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Homer Harris 4) Simon Garish 5) Monroe W. Gilgo 6) Homer Howard 7) Gary Bragg 8) B.G O'Neal		Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Homer Harris 4) Simon Garish 5) Monroe W. Gilgo 6) Homer Howard 7) Gary Bragg 8) Munroe Robinson
1916 Crew		1917 Crew
Keeper: Charles S. McWilliams 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Homer Harris 4) Monroe W. Gilgo 5) Homer Howard 6) Gary Bragg 7) Munroe Robinson 8) Joe Roberts		Keeper: Albert L. Barco 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Homer Harris 4) Monroe W. Gilgo 5) Homer Howard 6) Gary Bragg 7) Munroe Robinson 8) Joe Roberts
1918 Crew		1919 Crew
Keeper: Mitchell Hamilton 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Homer Harris 4) Monroe W. Gilgo 5) Gary Bragg 6) Munroe Robinson 7) Joe Roberts 8) Mervin A. Taylor		Keeper: Mitchell Hamilton 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Homer Harris 4) Monroe W. Gilgo 5) Gary Bragg 6) Munroe Robinson 7) Joe Roberts 8) Mervin A. Taylor
1920 Crew		1921 Crew
Keeper: Mitchell Hamilton 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Homer Harris 4) Monroe W. Gilgo 5) Munroe Robinson 6) Glenn B. Willis 7) Rob Robinson 8) Jesse J. Babb		Officer in Charge: W. Roberts 1) 2) L.D. Williams 3) Homer Harris 4) Glenn B. Willis 5) Roy Robinson 6) Jesse J. Babb 7) A.W. Price 8) Samuel Williams
1922 Crew		1923 Crew
Officer in Charge: W.M. Yeomans 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Homer Harris 4) Glenn B. Willis 5) Jesse J. Babb 6) A.W. Price 7) Samuel Williams 8) E.C. Fulcher Cook: Harry Dixon		Officer in Charge: W.M. Yeomans 1) Washington Roberts 2) L.D. Williams 3) Homer Harris 4) Jesse J. Babb 5) A.W. Price 6) Samuel Williams 7) E.C. Fulcher 8) D.H. Scarborough

 

1924 Crew		1925 Crew
Officer in Charge: W.M. Yeomans 1) Washington Roberts 2) Homer Harris 3) Jesse L. Babb 4) Samuel Williams 5) E.C. Fulcher 6) D.H. Scarborough 7) T.C. Miller 8) C.W. Midget		Officer in Charge: Joseph R. Emery 1) Washington Roberts 2) Homer Harris 3) Jesse J. Babb 4) Samuel Williams 5) D.H. Scarborough 6) T.C. Miller 7) C.W. Midgett 8) D.E. Meekins 9) Walker R. Styron 10) W. Gaskill
1926 Crew		1927 Crew
Officer in Charge: Roy Robinson 1) Willie P. Willis 2) Homer Harris 3) Samuel Williams 4) D.H. Scarborough 5) T.C. Miller 6) C.W. Midgett 7) D.E. Meekins 8) Walker R. Styron 9) Jesse J. Babb		Officer in Charge: Roy Robinson 1) Willie P Willis 2) Homer Harris 3) Samuel Williams 4) D.H. Scarborough 5) T.C. Miller 6) C.W. Midgett 7) Walker R. Styron 8) W.S. Goodwin 9) Jesse J. Babb
1928 Crew		1929 Crew
Officer in Charge: Roy Robinson 1) Willie P. Willis 2) Homer Harris 3) Samuel Williams 4) D.H. Carborough 5) T.C. Miller 6) C.W. Midgett 7) Walker R. Styron 8) Wilbur S. Goodwin 9) Washington Roberts		Officer in Charge: Roy Robinson 1) Willie P. Willis 2) Homer Harris 3) Samuel Williams 4) C.W. Midgett 5) Walker R. Styron 6) Wilbur S. Goodwin 7) Washington Roberts 8) Harvey Taylor 9) Charlie C. Edwards 10) H.W. Hriewall 11) H.W. Ritchie
1930 Crew		1931 Crew
Officer in Charge: Roy Robinson 1) Roland Styron 2) Willie P. Willis 3) Samuel Williams 4) Walker R. Styron 5) Wilbur S. Goodwin 6) Harvey Taylor 7) Charlie C. Edwards 8) Kenneth Smith 9) G.C. Quidley		Officer in Charge: Roy Robinson 1) Roland Styron 2) Walker R. Styron 3) Samuel Williams 4) Wilbur S. Goodwin 5) Harvey Taylor 6) Walter D. Barrett 7) Whelington Robinson 8) Kenneth Smith 9) William E. Whidbee
1932 Crew		1933 Crew
Officer in Charge: George H. Meekins 1) Paul Midgett 2) Kenneth Smith 3) Samuel Williams 4) Wilbur S. Goodwin 5) Harvey Taylor 6) Whelington Robinson 7) David B. Garrish 8) Walter Goodwin		Officer in Charge: Elisha G. Tillett 1) Roland Styron 2) Kenneth Smith 3) Harvey Taylor 4) Wilbur S. Goodwin 5) Whelington Robinson 6) David B. Garrish 7) Walter Goodwin 8) Thomas H. Nelson

 

1934 Crew		1935 Crew
Officer in Charge: Elisha G. Tillett 1) Troy Morris 2) Roland Styron 3) Harvey Taylor 4) Wilbur S. Goodwin 5) Whelington Robinson 6) Horatio G. Midgett 7) Walter Goodwin 8) Thomas H. Nelson		Officer in Charge: Elisha G. Tillett 1) Troy Morris 2) Roland Styron 3) Harvey Taylor 4) Horatio G. Midgett 5) Whelington Robinson 6) Walter Goodwin 7) Shanklin S. Fulcher 8) Garfield Emory
1936 Crew		1937 Crew
Officer in Charge: Julian L. Gray 1) Troy Morris 2) Roland Styron 3) Harvey Taylor 4) Whelington Robinson 5) Walter Goodwin 6) Garfield Emory 7) Kenneth Smith 8) David B. Garrish		Acting Officer in Charge: Troy Morris 1) Vernon H. Tillett 2) Harvey Taylor 3) Whelington Robinson 4) David B. Garrish 5) Meardie Pittman 6) Daily Nelson 7) Walter Goodwin 8) Lathon Willis

 

The Portsmouth Life-Saving Station was placed out of commission at sunset on June 1, 1937 in accordance with the District Commissioner's letter 601-73-701 (May 26, 1937).