A must read for anyone who LOVES WILDWOOD NEW JERSEY. . .

Numerous recorded drownings occur in North Wildwood, Wildwood and Wildwood Crest from 1885 up until World War II. There are more than four dozen men, women and children written about in newspaper articles who perish innocently in the surf off Holly Beach, North Wildwood and Wildwood from 1895 until 1912. In this early period, there are few paid professional municipal lifeguards. Bath houses, piers and hotels hire private lifeguards; this is not a preventative lifesaving measure, but a response to public necessity. Visitors are drowning in the ocean surf.

The expansion of lifeguard forces in the 1920s seemed to move toward protecting lives and preventative lifeguarding. Captain Frank “Dutch” Hoffman is hired in this wave of Wildwood lifeguards. Hoffman’s life on the beach and his experiences in the water will guide him to become a proponent of preventative lifeguarding in Wildwood, NJ.