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GOLD
AND SILVER
U.S. LIFE-SAVING SERVICE MEDALS
Pointe Aux Barques and Port Austin Stations
By Capt. Ron Burkhard
The Thumb area of Michigan is unique in the fact that
there were three U.S. Life-Savings Service Stations
located on a 25-mile stretch of Lake Huron’s shoreline.
These stations were located at Harbor Beach, Pointe
Aux Barques (Lighthouse County Park), and Port Austin/Grindstone.
All three stations performed lifesaving missions. However,
two of these missions were heroic enough to earn U.S.
Life-Saving medals that were authorized by an 1874 Act
of Congress.
On April 23, 1880, Pointe Aux Barques Life-Saving Station
Keeper Jerome G. Kiah and his crew of six men set out
to answer the distress signal of the scow J.H. Magruder.
During their valiant attempt to reach the ship, their
lifeboat capsized several times in the rough seas. Despite
Capt. Kiah’s best efforts to keep his crew alive, they
all perished in the cold water. He alone reached shore,
conscious, but barely alive (he was brought back to
the station by the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse Keeper,
Andrew Shaw). His health broken, he resigned from his
post in June 1880. Eventually his health was restored.
He became district superintendent of the life-saving
stations in October 1880 and he was awarded the Gold
Life-Saving Medal on November 8, 1880. The 1880 U.S.
Census for Huron Township shows that he was 37-years-old
at the time of the tragedy and had a 30-year-old wife,
Annie. He served on as superintendent until he retired
on March 19, 1915, at 72-years-of age. The full story
of this gallant crew is told in the 1884 Portrait and
Biographical Album of Huron County, which should be
in local libraries. The U.S. Coast Guard’s website,
www.uscg.mil, also tells the story. Pick History from
the top menu, then Heroes from left menu, click to read
about Gold Lifesaving Medal, then scroll down to the
date of rescue, 23 April 1880. The last part of this
report is especially heart breaking as it relates that
these six dead men left behind 16 children and 2 wives.
Eight of these children were now without father or mother.
The district superintendent reports: “I attended the
funerals of Deegan and Pottenger, the 25th (April 25,
1880), and hope I may be spared from ever again witnessing
so sad a scene. The wives of these two brave men were
almost crazed by their great loss, and the cries of
the poor children left fatherless, were heart-rending
in the extreme.”
Despite the fact that some of the life-saving crews
lost their lives while attempting rescues, many more
lives were saved by their efforts. The master of the
J.H. Magruder stated that he had eight people on board,
including his wife and two small children. He said that
he had feared for the lives of his family and thought
his ship was lost. He commended the lost crew for coming
out in such bad weather and praised their boat handling
skills. Ironically, after observing the fate of the
Pointe Aux Barques crew, he stated that the wind changed
direction. By throwing his deck-load overboard, he was
able to reach Harbor Beach’s harbor safely.
The crew of six died on April 23. Six new crewmembers
were appointed within 15 days, starting on April 29.
Capt. Kiah was replaced on June 9, by Capt. Henry Gill
Jr. One of the new crewmembers was 26-year-old John
Frahm, who would eventually be promoted to keeper of
the Pointe Aux Barques Life-Saving Station. A 1910 picture
taken offshore from the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse,
shows him standing in the lifeboat before his crew.
As luck would have it, this was not the only time that
the Magruder was involved in a rescue attempt by a life-saving
crew. The September 19, 1895, issue of the Detroit Free
Press related how the ship met its end when driven ashore
in a gale and the Sturgeon Point Life-Saving Station
rescued its crew.
This tragic story of the Pointe Aux Barques Life-Saving
crew has special significance for me because their bodies
washed ashore in front of our home. While writing this
story, I could look out the window and see the reef
they passed over. On stormy days when the waves are
crashing ashore, I find myself looking out over the
lake and trying to imagine what it was like for them
as they took their lifeboat out into the cold raging
waters.
On November 12, 1904, Port Austin Life-Saving Station
Keeper Henry Gill Jr. and his crew of six surfmen set
out to rescue the crew of the 34-year-old steamer Wyoming.
The Annual Report of the United States Life-Saving Service
for the fiscal year 1911 says this about the rescue:
“On the evening of November 11 a gale struck the Wyoming,
laden with lumber, causing her to labor so heavily that
she started to leak badly. To increase the seriousness
of her plight, her boilers shifted, and in some way
unexplained her cabin took fire. Her whistles of distress
were heard shortly after midnight at the life-saving
station, 9 or 10 miles away. Keeper Gill and his crew
put off to the assistance of the steamer in their lifeboat
under sail. Steering for the light made by her burning
cabin they overhauled her about 2 o’clock a.m., and
on her lee side found her crew of 11 men and a woman
in the ship’s yawl boat. The woman and seven of the
sailors were taken aboard the lifeboat, and the yawl
with the four others were taken in tow. On the way to
the shore a sea struck the lifeboat broadside and pitched
it on its beam ends. All on board received a thorough
drenching, but all luckily managed to cling to the boat
as it righted. A landing was safely made at 5 a.m.”
Keeper Henry Gill Jr., John McAllister, William H. Young,
Charles W. Koehn, John H. Mockles, Johnson D. Darrah,
and William A. Gill were awarded Silver Life-Saving
Medals on June 1, 1911.
The November 25, 1904, issue of the Harbor Beach Times
makes mention of the rescue in a brief 9-line paragraph.
It says the crew rowed 32 miles through a terrific sea
to get to the Wyoming.
Seven years later, on June 30, 1911, another small paragraph
mentions the crew being recognized for heroism with
silver medals from Uncle Sam. It ends with the following
interesting information; “This affair has local significance
as Charles Koehn, now in the station here (Harbor Beach’s
Life-Saving Station), is one of the boys who received
a medal, and Charles Little, now engineer on the harbor
tug at this place, is one of the 12 people who were
saved. He was engineer on the Wyoming at the time of
the accident”.
While doing research for several life-savings station
articles, some interesting facts about the Gills appeared.
I first noticed the Gills, both Henry Sr. and Henry
Jr., in the 1870 Huron County Census. The June 12, 1880,
Census for Port Austin Township shows Henry Jr. as having
a 5-year-old son, Thomas. The county death records show
Thomas died on November 28, 1897, at 22-years-old, from
consumption of the bowels. His occupation was listed
as a life-saving surfman with a Port Austin address.
The 1900 Census shows Henry Jr. as having an 18-year-old
son, William. I believe this is the same William that
was part of the 1904 rescue. This would mean that Keeper
Henry Gill Jr. had two sons who served on his life-saving
crew. He must have been very proud of his sons; feeling
the great loss of a son’s death while being part of
the crew and the great pride of a son being awarded
a silver medal along with his father.
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