Local history of the United States Life-Saving Service on Fire Island reaches back to the War of 1812, when William Baker organized the first team of volunteer surfmen to patrol Fire Island for British war ships. After the war, increased ship commerce and travel along the East Coast led to many shipwrecks and lost lives; in the approach to New York Harbor alone from 1839 to 1849 there were 338 shipwrecks. As the need for water rescues grew, philanthropists established the Life-Saving Benevolent Association of New York and built ten life-saving stations on Long Island, including three on Fire Island, and additional stations were later added along the United States' coasts, including more on Fire Island. In 1871 the U.S. Congress organized this network into the USLSS. Over 44 years, 400 men served in the USLSS at seven Fire Island rescue stations and rescued 7,000 people from 721 stranded ships. In 1915 the USLSS merged with other federal government agencies to form the U.S. Coast Guard. Four generations of William Baker's family served as surf-men and keepers at the Lone Hill, Fire Island, Bellport, and Point O'Woods life-saving stations, becoming known collectively as the Baker Boys, and it is believed that a member of the Baker family took part in nearly every rescue in the waters off Fire Island between the Bellport and Fire Island life-saving stations.
