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“Live-Saving” Exhibit Opens at Door County Maritime Museum

Crew of the Plum Island Life-Saving Station circa 1896.

The United States Life-Saving Service was responsible for saving over 177,000 lives during its 44-year existence. The exhibit “Sufficient for Life-Saving,” which is currently on display at the Door County Maritime Museum, chronicles the work of this organization.

The Life-Saving Service played an essential role in the rich maritime history of the Door Peninsula. With Life-Saving Stations at Sturgeon Bay, Baileys Harbor and Plum Island, the service was responsible for rescuing hundreds of sailors wrecked along the peninsula’s potentially treacherous coast. The U.S. Life-Saving Service and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service merged in 1915 to form the modern day Coast Guard. The Coast Guard Station at Sturgeon Bay is still housed in the original Life-Saving Station buildings.

Throughout its existence, a monumental challenge for the United States Life-Saving Service was keeping the life-saving stations supplied with the most up-to-date equipment. Inventors continually canvassed the Life-Saving Service to present their ideas and inventions, with hopes that the government would adopt them. The ideas for new life-saving equipment were many – sometimes strange and at times laughable – and the exhibit chronicles many of the outlandish life-saving tools presented to the organization in the late 1800s

“Sufficient for Life-Saving” is on display at the Door County Maritime Museum, located at 120 N Madison Ave, Sturgeon Bay, until October 24. For more information call 920.743.5958 or visit http://www.dcmm.org.