St Joseph has a Coast Guard station built on the site of this Lifesaving Service station from 1874

Joseph Napier, a station keeper for the

United States Life-Saving Service The United States Life-Saving ServiceDespite the lack of hyphen in its insignia, the agency itself is hyphenated in government documents including: and was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian eff ...

founded the lifesaving station at

St. Joseph, Michigan St. Joseph, colloquially known as St. Joe, is a city and the county seat of Berrien County, Michigan. It was incorporated as a village in 1834 and as a city in 1891. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 7,856. It lies on the shore ...

in 1876. He operated the station for many years and was credited with many dangerous and heroic rescues. Napier was born in

Ashtabula, Ohio Ashtabula ( ) is the most populous city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. It lies at the mouth of the Ashtabula River, on Lake Erie, northeast of Cleveland. At the 2020 census, the city had 17,975 people. Like many other cities in the ...

, the son of a Great Lakes

ship's captain A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficient operation of the ship, inc ...

. Prior to joining the Life-Saving Service, he was

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

harbormaster A harbourmaster (or harbormaster, see spelling differences) is an official responsible for enforcing the regulations of a particular harbour or port, in order to ensure the safety of navigation, the security of the harbour and the correct opera ...

, and a ship's captain himself. While in Chicago, in 1854, Napier led the rescue of the crew of a wrecked schooner, and was awarded an inscribed gold watch. The duties of a station-keeper included recruiting and training a boat crew of local volunteers, and, when vessel was a risk, to lead the boat crew in rowing to stricken vessels to rescue their crews. The station-keeper and his crew were expected to try to rescue mariners even if it meant rowing into gale-force winds, shattering waves, and dangerous currents. The rescue boat would be kept on a wagon in a special boat house. During a rescue the crew would tow the wagon with the boat to the nearest relatively safe place to launch. In one heroic rescue, on his crew's third transit to a stricken schooner, Napier was thrown overboard and seriously injured his leg. He was nevertheless able to lead his crew to rescue the last two stricken seamen. Napier was awarded the

Gold Lifesaving Medal The Gold Lifesaving Medal and Silver Lifesaving Medal are U.S. decorations issued by the United States Coast Guard. The awards were established by Act of Congress, 20 June 1874; later authorized by . These decorations are two of the oldest me ...

for his heroism. After retirement, Napier continued to live in St. Joseph on a street that bore his surname. It was named Napier Avenue in honor of his older brother Nelson Napier, who was captain of the PS ''Alpena'' when she sank on Lake Michigan with no survivors in October 1880. Joseph Napier died at his home in 1914 at the age of 88.

USCGC ''Joseph Napier''

In 2010 when the Coast Guard decided that all the new

Sentinel class cutters The Sentinel-class cutter, also known as the Fast Response Cutter or FRC due to its program name, is part of the United States Coast Guard's Deepwater program. At , it is similar to, but larger than, the lengthened 1980s-era s that it replaces. ...

would be named after Coast Guard personnel who had been recognized for their heroism Napier was one of those to be honored. The fifteenth cutter in the class will be named the USCGC ''Joseph Napier''. She will be homeported in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Napier, Joseph 1820s births 1914 deaths People from Ashtabula, Ohio Businesspeople from Chicago United States Life-Saving Service personnel People from St. Joseph, Michigan Recipients of the Gold Lifesaving Medal