LEWES DELAWARE OLD TIMERS
CAPTAIN JOHN STEEL
WINGATE
RETIRED COAST GUARD
Captain John Steel
Wingate, age 77, one of the last of the old regime of
Life Saving Service and
sailing vessel Coast Guard men, of Lewes, died in Beebe
Hospital at Lewes. He
was born June 29, 1872 in Lewes to John M and Eliza Jane
Pettyjohn Wingate. 3
May 1892, age 19, he married Abbie Hazel in Lewes and they
had a son, Urbon Poynter
Wingate, born August 18, 1894 . Abbie died in 1936 and
retired Captain Wingate married on June 29, 1937 to Kathryn
W. Short.
In 1895 at age 23 he
joined the Life Saving Service at Lewes, which became the
U. S. Coast Guard
Station, served at Cape Henlopen and Rehoboth stations until 1909
when he became Captain of
the Cape Henlopen Station until 1929. He retired the Coast
Guard in 1932, serving
37 years.
During his years in the
Coast guard and Life Saving service lifeboats were operated
by man power with oars
and he participated in many rescues of windjammer crews off
Cape Henlopen. He was on
duty, April 13, 1926 when the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse fell into
the sea and recalled the incident often. His most daring
rescue was the schooner
Sarah W. Lawrence that
floundered on Hen and Chicken Shoals February 10, 1909, her
crew of 10, including the
captains wife who caught the blame of the incident because a
woman on board a sailing
ship was considered bad luck. This rescue lasted five hours in
the worst weather he ever
experienced . He often spoke of the 1900 snowstorm when
the port of Lewes was
blocked from early February until March 20th.
After retirement at his
Pilot Town home H e spent a lot of time caning chairs and
hanging wall paper.
Captain John Steel
Wingate is survived by his son Urbon Poynter Wingate , a
granddaughter, Charlotte
Jane Howarth and great grandchildren.
The Rev. Dr. William
Leishman of Lewes Presbyterian Church officiated his funeral
and burial in the Lewes
Presbyterian Churchyard.
Abstract: Wilmington
Morning News, Thursday , February 9, 1950
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