ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
OPERATIONS
OF THE
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE
FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1893.
WASHINGTON :
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1894.
TREASUKY DEPARTMENT, Document No. 1678. Life-Saving Service.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Page.
ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE 5
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 7
REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING- SERVICE 11
SERVICES OF LIFE-SAVING CREWS DURING FISCAL YEA R ENDING JUNE 30, 1893.. 67
VESSELS WARNED FROM DANGER 145
LETTERS OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT 157
AWARD OF MEDALS 175
TABLE OF CASUALTIES IN THE FIELD OF LIFE-SAVING OPERATIONS, SEASON
OF 1892 -'93..., 199
APPROPRIATIONS AND EXPENDITURES 243
INSTRUCTIONS TO MARINERS IN CASE OF SHIPWRECK 253
LIST OF LIFE-SAVING DISTRICTS AND STATIONS ON THE COASTS OF THE
UNITED STATES 261
DIRECTIONS FOR RESTORING THE APPARENTLY DROWNED 271
ABSTRACTS OF RETURNS OF WRECKS AND CASUALTIES TO VESSELS AT HOME
AND ABROAD DURING FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1893 277
REPORT OF BOARD ON LIFE-SAVING APPLIANCES 373
INDEX 397
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EKKATA.
Page 70, July 10, for schooner " Emma J. Ckadwick,'* read "Maggie J. Chadwick.^ Page 91, October 29, for schooner l(M. L Wilcox" read " M. J. Wilcox." Page 108, February 15, for schooner " R. H. Pettigrew," read ilB. F. Pettigrcw." Pages 112 to 128 inclusive, at top of page, under date, for "1892" read "1893." Page 122, May 10, for Ship Canal "Lake Huron," read "Lake Superior." Page 137, January 10, for "Point Alberton," read •' Point Alh>rton." Page 2 16, for District "No. 4" read "No. 5." Page 218, February 27, for bark " Alplitid," read " Alfhild."
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ORGANIZATION
OF THE
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
(In Conformity with Act of Congress approved June 18, 1878.)
SUMNEB I. KIMBALL, General Superintendent, Washington, D. C.
HORACE L. PIPER, Assistant General Superintendent, Washington, D. C.
Capt. CHARLES A. ABBEY, United States Revenue Cutter Service, Inspector of Life- Saving Stations, No. 24 State street, New York City.
Capt. CHARLES A. ABBEY, United States Revenue Cut- "I
ter Service, No. 24 State street, New York City. I Superintendents of Construe-
tion Life-Saving Stations,
Capt. GEORGE W. MOORE, United States Revenue Out- , and Lake
ter Service, No, 24 State street, New York City. J Capt. WASHINGTON C. COULSON, United States Rev-
enue Cutter Service, Room 35, Appraisers' New Building, San Francisco, California. Capt. CHARLES A. ABBEY, United States Revenue Cut-
Superintendents of Construc- tion Life-Saving Stations, Pacific Coast,
ter Service, No. 24 State street, New York City.
ASSISTANT INSPECTORS.
f Lieut. JOHN DENNETT, United States Revenue Cutter Service. First District -...
-I Post-Office Building, Room 148, or P. O. Box 1908, Boston, Second District <
L Massachusetts.
Third District Lieut, WILLIAM H. ROBERTS, United States Revenue Cutter
Service, Patchogue, New York. Fourth District Lieut. CHARLES H. McLELLAN, United States Revenue Cutter
Service, Toms River, New Jersey. Fifth District Lieut, JOHN W. Howisox, United States Revenue Cutter Service,
Onancock, Virginia.
Sixth District Lieut. GEORGE H. GOODING, United States Revenue Cutter Serv- ice, Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Seventh District Capt, HENRY T. BLAKE, United States Revenue Cutter Service,
Custom-House, Charleston, South Carolina. Eighth District Capt. ERIC GABRIELSON, United States Revenue Cutter Service,
Custom-House, Galveston, Texas.
Ninth District j Lieut. JOHN C. MOORE, United States Revenue Cutter Service,
Tenth District I Custom-House, Detroit, Michigan.
Eleventh District Lieut. HENRY B. ROGERS, United States Revenue Cutter Service,
Custom-House, Chicago, Illinois. Twelfth District Capt. WASHINGTON C. COULSON, United States Revenue Cutter
Service, Room 35, Appraiser's New Building, San Franc isco
California,
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6 ORGANIZATION.
Capt. GEORGE W. MOOEE, United States Revenue Cutter Service, on special duty, No. 24 State street. New York City.
Lieut. BYRON L. REED, United States Revenue Cutter Service, on special duty, Wash- ington, D. C.
Lieut. JOHN B. HULL, United States Revenue Cutter Service, on special duty, Wash- ington, D. C.
DISTEICT SUPERINTENDENTS.
First District JOHN M. RICHAKDSON, Portland, Maine.
Second District BENJAMIN C. SPARROW, East Orleans, Massachusetts.
Third District ARTHUR DOMINY, Bay Shore, New York.
Fourth District JOHN G. W. HAVENS, Point Pleasant, New Jersey.
Fifth District BENJAMINS. RICH, Daugherty, Accomac County, Virginia.
Sixth District PATRICK H. MORGAN, Shawboro, North Carolina.
Seventh District HIRAM B. SHAW, Ormond, Florida.
Eighth District WILLIAM A. HUTCHINGS, Galveston, Texas.
Ninth District EDWIN E. CHAPMAN, Buffalo, New York.
Tenth District JEROME G. KIAH, Sand Beach, Michigan.
Eleventh District- NATHANIEL ROBBINS, Grand Haven, Michigan.
Twelfth District THOMAS J. BLAKENEY, Room 35, Appraiser's New Building, San
Francisco, California.
ASSISTANT DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT.
Third District. — HERBERT M. KNOWLES, Wakefield, Rhode Island.
BOARD ON LIFE-SAVING APPLIANCES.
Prof. CECIL H. PEABODY, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachu- setts, President.
Capt. CHARLES A. ABBEY, United States Revenue Cutter Service, Inspector of Life- Saving Stations, No. 24 State Street, New York City.
Capt. DAVID A. LYLE, Ordnance Department, United States Army, P. O. Box 1606, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Lieut. THOMAS D. WALKER, United States Revenue Cutter Service, Revenue steamer Crawford, Baltimore, Maryland, Recorder.
BENJAMIN C. SPARROW, Superintendent Second Life-Saving District, East Orleans, Massachusetts.
JEROME G. KIAH, Superintendent Tenth Life-Saving District, Sand Beach, Michigan.
HERBERT M. KNOWLES, Assistant Superintendent Third Life-Saving District, Wake- field, Rhode Island.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, UNITED STATES LIFE- SAVING SERVICE,
Washington, D. <7., November 15, 1893.
SIR : I have the honor to submit the following report of the opera- tions of the Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, and of the expenditures of the moneys appropriated for the maintenance of the Service for that period, in accordance with the requirements of section 7 of the act of June 18, 1878. Eespectfully, yours,
Hon. JOHN G. CARLISLE,
Secretary of the Treasury.
SUMNER I. KlMBALL,
General Superintendent.
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OPERATIONS
OF THE
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
1893.
REPORT
OF THE
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
1893.
There were two hundred and forty -three stations in the Life Saving Establishment at the close of the fiscal year. One hundred and eighty- two were on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, forty eight on the coasts of the Oreat Lakes, twelve on the Pacific coast, and one at the Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky. Their distribution was as follows :
First District (coasts of Maine and New Hampshire) 12
Second District (coast of Massachusetts) 24
Third District (coasts of Ehode Island and Long Island) 39
Fourth District (coast of New Jersey) 41
Fifth District (coast from Cape Henlopen to Cape Charles) 17
Sixth District (coast from Cape Henry to Cape Fear Kiver) 29
Seventh District (coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and eastern Florida) 12
Eighth District (Gulf coast) 8
Ninth District (lakes Erie and Ontario) ". 10
Tenth District (lakes Huron and Superior) 15
Eleventh District (Lake Michigan) 24
Twelfth District (Pacific coasts 12
Total 243
The following statement shows the period, during which the stations were manned (termed the active season) and the number of surfmeii employed at each station :
Employment of surf men, season of 1892-98.
Stations. Periods of employment (all dates inclusive).
5 I
Quoddy Head, Cross Island, Crumple Is Manned from Sept. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893; 6 surf- land, Cranberry Isles, White Head, Burnt men from Sept. 1, 1892, to Nov. 30, 1892, inclu- Island, Hunniwells Beach, Cape Kliza- sive, and 7 from Dec. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893, beth, Fletchers Neck, Jerrys Point, Wai- inclusive, lis Sands, and Rye Beach.
Plum Island, Knobbs Beach, Davis Neck, Manned from Sept. 1. 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893; 6 surf- Point Allerton, North Scituate, Fourth men from Sept. 1, 1892, to Nov. 30, 1892, inclu- Cliff, Gurnet, Manornet Point, Race Point, sive, and 7 from Dec. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893, Peaked Hill Bars, High Head, Highland, inclusive. Pamet River, Cahoons Hollow, Nauset, Orleans, Chatham, Coskata, Surfside, Great Neck, Muskeget, Cuttyhunk, and Monomoy.
"(11)
12
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. Employment of surf men, season of 1892-* 93 — Continued.
Stations.
Periods of employment (all dates inclusive).
Brentons Point, Narragansett Pier, Point Judith, Quonochontaug, Watch Hill, New Shoreham, Block Island, Ditch Plain, Hither Plain, Napeague, Amagansett, Georgica, Mecox, Southampton, Shinne- cock, Tiana, Quogue, Petunk, Moriches, Forge River, Smiths Point, Bellport. Blue Point, Lone Hill, Point of Woods, Fire Island, Oak Island, Gil go, Jones Beach, Zachs Inlet, Short Beach, Point Lookout, Long Beach, Rockaway, Rock- away Point, Coney Island, and Batons Neck.
Sandy Hook, Spermaceti Cove, Seabright, Monmouth Beach, Long Branch, Deal, Shark River, Spring Lake, Squan Beach, Bayhead, Mantoloking, Chadwicks, Toms River, Island Beach, Cedar Creek, Forked River, Barnegat, Loveladies Island, Harveys Cedars, Ship Bottom, Long Beach, Bonds, Little Egg, Little Beach, Brigantine, South Brigantine, Atlantic City, Absecon, Great Egg, Ocean City, Pecks Beach, Corsons Inlet, Sea Isle City, Townsends Inlet, Tathams, Hereford Inlet, Holly Beach, Turtle Gut, Cold Spring, and Cape May.
Lewes, Cape Henlopen, Rehoboth Beach, Indian River Inlet, Fenwick Island, Ocean City, North Beach, Green Run Inlet, Popes Island, As?ateague Beach, Wallops Beach, Metomkin Inlet, Wacha- preague. Paramores Beach, Cobbs Is- land, and Smiths Island.
Hog Island
Cape Henry, Seatack, Dam Neck Mills, Little Island. False Cape, Wash Woods, Currituck Inlet, Whales Head, Poyners Hill, Caffeys Inlet, Paul Gamiels Hill, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, Bodie Island, Oregon Inlet, Pea Island, New Inlet, Chicamicomico, Gull Shoal, Little Kinnakeet, Big Kinnakeet, Dur- ants, Cape Fear, and Oak Island.
Ocracoke and Cape Lookout
Cape Hatteras and Creeds Hill.... Jupiter Inlet
Manned from Sept. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893; 6 surf- men from Sept. 1, 1892, to Nov. 30, 1892, inclu- sive, arid 7 from Dec. 1 , 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893r inclusive.
Manned from Sept. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893; 6 surf- men from Sept. 1. 1892, to Nov. 30, 1892, inclu- sive, and 7 from Dec. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893r inclusive.
Morris Island...
Santa Rosa, Sabine Pass, Galveston, Ve- lasco, Saluria, Aransas, Brazos.
San Luis
Big Sandy, Oswego, Charlotte, Buffalo, Erie, Fairport, Cleveland, and Point Marblehead.
Louisville
Sand Beach, Pointe aux Barques, Grind- stone City, Ottawa Point, and Sturgeon Point.
Thunder Bay Island and Middle Island
Hammonds Bay and Bois Blanc
\7ermillion Point, Crisps, Two Heart River, and Muskallonge Lake.
Marquette
Ship Canal
Manned from Sept. 1, 1892, to April 30, 1893; & surfmen from Sept. 1, 1802, to Nov. 30, 1892, in- clusive, and 7 from Dec. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893, inclusive.
8 surfmen from Sept. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893, in- clusive.
Manned from Sept. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893; & surfmen from Sept. 1, J892, to Nov. 30, 1892, in- clusive, and 7 from Dec. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893.. inclusive.
7 surfmen from Sept. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893, in- clusive.
8 surfmen from Sept. 1 , 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893, in- clusive.
Manned from Sept. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893; 6-
surfmen from Sept. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893, in- clusive. Manned from Oct. 15, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893; (>
surfmen for that period. Manned from Sept. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893; &
surfmen from Sept. 1. 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893. 7 surfmen from Sept. 1, 1892, to Apr. 30, 1893. Manned from July 1, 1892, to Dec. 15, 1892, and
from Apr. 15, 1803, to June 30, 1893; 7 surfmen
during each period. Manned from July 1, 1892, to June 30, 1893; 6
surfmen during entire period. Manned from July 1, 1892, to Dec. 10, 1892, and
from April 13, 1893, to June 30, 1893 ; 8 surfmen
during each period. Manned from July 1, 1892, to Dec. 10, 1892, and
from Apr. 15, 1893, to June 30, 1893; 8 surfmen
during each period. Manned from July 1, 1892, to Dec. 10, 1892, and
from Apr. 15, 1893, to June 30, 1893; 8 surfmen
during each period. Manned from July 1, 1892, to Nov. 30, 1892, and
from May 6, 1893, to June 30, 1893; 7 surfmen,
during each period. Manned from July 1, 1892, to Nov. 30, 1892, and
from May 7, 1893, to June 30, 1893 ; 8 surfmen
during each period. Manned from July 1, 1892, to Dec. 1, 1892, and
from May 3, 1893, to June 30, 1893 ; 8 surfmen.
during each period.
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 1 ,'j
surf men, season of 1892-93 — Continued.
i
Periods of employment (all dates inclusive). P
11 I North Manitou Island.
Point Betsey, Frankfort, Manistee, Grande
Manned from July 1, 1892, to Dec. 1, 1892, and from Apr. 15, 1893, to June 30, 1893 ; 7 surfmen during each period.
Manned from July 1, 1892, to Dec. 5, 1892, and
Pointe au Sable, Muskegon, St. Joseph, j from Apr. 1, 1893, to June 30, 1893; 7 surfmen Michigan City, South Chicago, Racine, during each period. Sheboygan, Two Rivers, and Sturgeon Bay Cana).
! Ludington, Grand Haven, Chicago, and Manned from July 1, 1892, to Dec. 10, 1892, and Milwaukee. from Apr. 1, 1893, to June 30, 1893; 7 surfmen
during each period.
i Pentwater, White River, Holland, South Manned from July ], 1892, to Nov. 30, 1892, and Haven, Evanston, and Kenosha. from Apr. 1, 1893, to June 30, 1893; 7 surfmen
during each period.
12 Umpqua River, Coquille River, Humboldt Manned from July 1, 1892, to June 30, 1893 ; 7 surf- Bay, and Point Reyes. men during entire period.
j Cape Disappointment, Point Adams, Cape . Manned from July 1, 1892, to June 30, 1893; 8 surf- Arago, Port Point, and Golden Gate j men during entire period. Park.
Ilwaco Beach i Manned from July?, 1892, to June 30, 1893 ; 7 surf- men during entire period.
! Shoalwater Bay Manned from July 1, 1892, to June 30, 1893; 7surf-
men from July 1 to Oct. 31, 1892; 8 surfmen from Nov. 1, 1892, to June 30, 1893.
Keepers are employed at all stations during the entire year.
Of the twelve stations in the Seventh District only two are included in the foregoing statement, the remaining ten being houses of refuge arranged and provisioned for the succor of the shipwrecked, and in charge of keepers only, no crews being employed.
STATISTICS.
During the year there were four hundred and twenty -seven disasters to documented vessels within the scope of station operations. On board these vessels were three thousand five hundred and sixty-five persons, of whom twenty-three were lost. The estimated value of the vessels was $6,414,075, and that of their cargoes $1,684,000, making the total value of property involved $8,098,075. Of this amount $6,442,505 was saved and $1 , 655, 570 lost. The number of vessels totally lost was eighty-eight. In addition to the foregoing there were one hundred and fifty -four casual- ties to smaller craft, such as sailboats, rowboats, etc., on which there were three hundred and twenty-seven persons, six of whom were lost.* The value of the property involved in these instances is estimated at $ 153,035, of which $128,345 was saved and $24,690 lost.
The results of all the disasters within the scope of the Service aggre- gate, therefore, as follows :
Total number of disasters , 581
Total value of property involved $8,251, 110
Total value of property saved $6, 570, 850
Total value of property lost $15 680, 260
Total number of persons involved 3? 892
Total number of persons lost 29
*This does not include the loss of five lives from the crew of the Massachusetts Humane Society in attempting to rescue the crew of the Aquatic, February 24, 1893, (see p. 55), nor four lost from the crew of the Cleveland Station in attempting to save two persons from drowning May 17, 1893. (See p. 47.)
14
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
Total number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations .
Total number of clays' succor afforded
Number of vessels totally lost...
*663 * 1,659
The apportionment of the foregoing statistics to the Atlantic, Lake,, and Pacific coasts, respectively, is shown in the following table :
Total number of disasters
Total value of vessels dollars...
Total value of cargoes do
Total amount of property involved do
Total amount of proj.erty saved do
Total amount of property lost do
Total number of persons on board
Total number of persons lost
Nu mber of shipwrecked per-ons succored at.ststtions.
Total number of days' succor afforded
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels...
Atlantic
and (.iulf :
coasts.
332
3,373,810
1, 078, 2-10
4, 4^2, 050
3, 208, 485
1,243,565
2, 04f>
19
542
1,419
72
Lake coasts.*
228
2,962,610
614,745
3,577,355
3, 285, 950
291,405
1,752
8
106
220
15
Pacific coast.
21
201,150
20, 555
221,705
76,415
145, 290
95
2
15
20
1
Total.
581
6, 537, 57O
1,713,540=
8,251, 110-
6,570,850
1,680,260
3, 892
29
tec,,?
tl,659
* Including the river station at Louisville, Kentucky.
fThese figures include persons to whom succor was given, who were not on board vessels embraced in tables.
The apportionment to the several districts is as follows :
First District.
Number of disasters 72"
Value of vessels $298,750
Value of cargoes ." $51,075
Total value of property $349,825
Number of persons on board vessels 414
Number of persons lost None.
Number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations 47
Number of days' succor afforded 191
Value of property saved $300, 935
Value of property lost : $48, 890
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels 8
Second District.
Number of disasters 66
Value of vessels $691,880
Value of cargoes $296,355
Total value of property $988,235
Number of persons on board vessels 451
Number of persons lost 4
Number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations , 1 00
Number of days' succor afforded 222
Value of property saved $652, 530
Value of property lost $335, 705
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels 18
Third District.
Number of disasters 35
Value of vessels $456, 395
Value of cargoes $78, 970
* These figures include persons to whom succor was given who were not on board vessels embraced in Table of Casualties.
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 15
Total value of property $535,365
Number of persons on board vessels 182
Number of persons lost 5
Number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations 41
Number of days' succor aiforded 144
Value of property saved $217,585
Value of property lost $317,780
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels 9
Fourth District.
Number of disasters 47
Value of vessels $708,480
Value of cargoes $361,730
Total value of property $1,070,210
Number of persons on board vessels 317
Number of persons lost 7
Number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations 1 07
Number of days' succor afforded 345
Value of property saved $920,005
Value of property lost $150,205
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels 13
Fifth District.
Number of disasters 36
Value of vessels $318,585
Value of cargoes $109,730
Total value of property $428,315
Number of persons on board vessels 225
Number of persons lost 2
Number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations 46
Number of days' succor afforded 179
Value of property saved $241, 790
Value of property lost $186, 525
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels 10
Sixth District.
•
Number of disasters 30
Value of vessels $650,425
Value of cargoes $115,590
Total value of property $766,015
Number of persons on board vessels 229
Number of persons lost 1
Number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations 77
Number of days' succor afforded 174
Value of property saved $609, 835
Value of property lost $156, 180
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels 9
Seventh District.
Number of disasters 17
Value of vessels $99, 30O
Value of cargoes $19,065
16
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
Total value of property $118,365
Number of persons on board vessels 85
Number of persons lost None.
Number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations 11
Number of days' succor afforded 11
Value of property saved $91, 150
Value of property lost $27,215
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels 2
Eighth District.
dumber of disasters 29
Value of vessels $149,995
Value of cargoes ] $45,725
Total value of property $195,720
Number of persons on board vessels 142
Number of persons lost None.
Number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations 22
Number of days' succor afforded 36
Value of property saved $174, 655
Value of property lost . $21, 065
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels '}
Ninth District.
Number of disasters ". 70
Value of vessels $728,120
Value of cargoes $68, 705
Total value of property $796, 825
Number of persons on board vessels 439
Number of persons lost 6
Number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations 35
Number of days' succor afforded 63
Value of property saved , $744, 565
Value of property lost $52,260
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels 3
Tenth District.
Number of disasters 64
Value of vessels $1,073,960
Value of cargoes $244, 38o
Total value of property.. ' $1,318,345
Number of persons on board vessels 592
Number of persons lost 1
Number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations 47
Number of days' succor afforded 94
Value of property saved *. $1, 206, 785
Value of property lost $111,560
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels 8
Eleventh District.
Number of disasters 94
Value of vessels $1,160,530
Value of cargoes $301, 655
Total value of property $1,462, 185
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 17
Number of persons on board vessels 721
Number of persons lost 1
Number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations 22
Number of days' succor afforded 61
Value of property saved $1, 334, 600
Value of property lost $127,585
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels 4
Twelfth District.
Nu mber of disasters 21
Value of vessels $201,150
Value of cargoes $20,555
Total value of property : $221,705
Number of persons on board vessels 95
Number of persons lost 2
Number of shipwrecked persons succored at stations 15
Number of days' succor afforded 20
Value of property saved * $76,415
Value of property lost $145,290
Number of disasters involving total loss of vessels 1
Besides the persons saved from vessels, forty-seven others were rescued by the life-saving crews from danger of drowning. Forty-one of these had fallen from wharves, piers, etc. Three men were rescued by a surf- man from an outlying rock where they were fishing, and had been cut off from the shore by the flood tide before they were aware of it ; two boys were found in the nighttime at flood tide on an outlying rock from which they were carried ashore in the surlboat, and restored to their father, who had reported that they were missing and requested the life- saving crew to search for them ; and one was rescued under perilous conditions from the waterworks crib off Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 20, 1893, in the lifeboat. A more extended account of this rescue ap- pears in another part of this report.
In five hundred and four instances vessels were worked off when stranded, repaired when damaged, piloted out of dangerous places, and similarly assisted by the station crews. There were, besides, two hundred and thirty-six instances where vessels running into danger of stranding were warned off by the signals of the patrols.
In the year's operations the surf boat was used six hundred and sev- enty-eight times, making one thousand and forty-four trips. The self- righting and self-bailing lifeboat was used one hundred and fifteen times, making one hundred and eighty two trips. Smaller boats were used two hundred and fifty-five times, making three hundred and seventy trips. The river life-skiffs at the Louisville Station (Ninth District) were used thirty-one times, making thirty-eight trips. The breeches buoy was used twenty-five times, making one hundred and seventy-four passages. The life car was used once, making four passages. The wreck gun was employed twenty -nine* times, firing fifty-eight shots. The heav- 2 L s
18 UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
ing stick was used thirty-two times. There were landed by the surf- boat six huudred and thirty-seven persons ; by the lifeboat two hundred and seventy-five ; by the river life-skiffs, twenty-two 5 by other station boats, two hundred and fifty seven ; by the breeches buoy one hundred and sixty-six, and by the life car eight. One came ashore hand over hand on a line which had been floated ashore on a fender, where it was secured by a surfman and made fast to a stump, the surfrnan wading out into the water and seizing the man as he let go the line and assisting him to the shore ; seven were rescued by the means of heaving lines east from the shore to the vessel, which were made fast to their bodies when they jumped overboard and were drawn ashore by the surfmen who had thrown the lines ; and nine were rescued by the surfmen going into the surf and undertow and assisting them ashore.
GENERAL SUMMARY
Of disasters which hare occurred within the scope of life-saving operations from November 1, 1871, (date of introduction of present system, ) to close of fiscal year ending June 30, 1893. *
Total number of disasters 7, 031
Total value of vessels $77,905,420
Total value of cargoes ." $35,056,009
Total value of property involved $112,961,429
Total value of property saved $85, 392, 307
Total value of property lost $27, 569, 122
Total number of persons involved f 56, 818
Total number of lives lost J656
Total number of persons succored.. $ 10, 563
Total number of da}rs' succor afforded 27, 647
LOSS OF LIFE.
The shipwrecks attended with loss of life during the year, within the scope of life-saving operations, were fourteen in number. The circum- stances were duly investigated as required by law, and a complete nar- rative of each case, as developed by the testimony and official records, is herewith given, the disasters being arranged in their chronological order.
* It should be observed that the operations of the Service during this period have been limited as follows : Season of 1871-'72, to the coasts of Long Island and New Jersey ; seasons of 1872-'74, to the coasts of Cape Cod, Long Island, and New Jersey ; season of 1874-'75, to the coasts of New England, Long Island, New Jersey, and the coast from Cape Henry to Cape Hatteras ; season of 1875-' 76, to the coasts of New England, Long Island, New Jersey, the coast from Cape Henlopen to Cape Charles, and the coast from Cape Henry to Cape Hatteras ; season of 1876-'77 and since, all the foregoing with the addition of the eastern coast of Florida and portions of the lake coasts, and since 1880 the coast of Texas.
f Including persons rescued not on board of vessels.
J Eighty-five of these were lost at the disaster to the steamer Metropolis in 1877-'78, when service waS impeded by distance — and fourteen others in the same year owing to similar causes.
§ Including castaways not on board vessels embraced in Tables of Casualties.
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 19
The clothing mentioned as having been furnished to destitute, ship- wrecked persons; was supplied from stores donated for the purpose by the Women's National Relief Association, with the exception of such articles as were contributed in a few instances of special necessity by the members of the life saving crews.
CAPSIZING OF THK SLOOP SALLY AND ELIZA.
Captain Enoch Hackett, of Bakersville, New Jersey, lost his life by the capsizing of his sloop fishing boat Sally and Eliza, on the outer bar of Great Egg Harbor Inlet, New Jersey. (Fourth District, ) in the after- noon of August 20, 1892.
The day was fair and the wind light from the southeast, but the atmos- phere was hazy and the surf along the coast was very high, the latter condition being attributed to the effect of a powerful cyclonic storm that had recently passed up the Atlantic a considerable distance offshore. Several fishing boats passed out of Great Egg Harbor Inlet during the morning, w hen the break on the bars was not especially dangerous, but as it grew heavier with the progress of the day, Keeper Willets, of the Ocean City Life- Saving Station, became somewhat apprehensive of trouble, and in the early afternoon he and his son maintained a watch on the vessels from the station, while another man ascended the station flag pole and kept lookout from that position.
A number of boats were seen to approach the bar, and after surveying the prospect, bear away to Hereford Inlet, where the entrance was not so rough. About 2 o'clock the Sally and Eliza was observed several times running toward the bar, and then, apparently not liking the looks of things, hauling away again, but finally she put about and stood in with the evident intent of making the venture at all hazards. The three men on lookout kept their eyes fixed upon her and sawr her pass inside the sea buoy without any indications of mishap, but when she had reached a point two and one-half miles from the shore and about the same distance from the station she suddenly careened and then rolled over on her beam ends.
The active season of the Life- Saving Service not having opened there was no crew on duty at the station, but Keeper Willets made all haste to gather volunteers, which he succeeded in doing, and launched the surf boat at about 3 o'clock. The capsized sloop drifted across the chan- nel and when the life-saving crew reached her was in the worst part of the south breaker. The mast was gone, and one man was found lashed to the hull. The surf was constantly sweeping over him, and as he was too nearly exhausted to help himself, it was not without much difficulty that he could be rescued. This, however, was finally accomplished by backing down to the wreck and skillfully taking advantage of the most favorable opportunity. He proved to be the only person on board the vessel at the time of the capsize except the captain who, he stated, dis- appeared when the sloop upset and was never seen again. The surf boat
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was pulled back to the station, where the shipwrecked man was sup- plied with the necessary stimulants and clothing, and in a little while was able to proceed to his home on the mainland.
The evidence shows that the surf boat with its volunteer crew reached the scene of the disaster with commendable promptness, arid the neces- sary time consumed in collecting a crew only delayed the rescue of the survivor for a short period ; while, if the station had been opened and manned, the drowning of the captain could not have been averted, since he was carried beneath the water the instant the sloop capsized, and never rose to the surface.
WRECK OF THE SCHOONER JOHN BURT.
The second disaster attended with fatal consequences was the wreck of the schooner John Burt, of Detroit, three and one-half miles south of the Big Sandy Station, (Ninth District,) Lake Ontario, September 26, 1892. Two persons were drowned, namely, William Wood, one of the sailors, and Alice Lane, the cook.
The John Burt was a three-masted schooner of three hundred and forty- eight tons gross burden, built at Detroit in 1871, and was manned on her last voyage by a crew of seven persons all told, consisting of the captain, mate, four sailors, and the woman cook. A cargo of corn was taken on board at Chicago, whence the schooner sailed with fair auspices for Os- wego, New York, on the 14th of September. Her voyage was prosper- ' ous and without special interest until the 25th, when she had nearly reached her port of destination. At nightfall of that day the vessel had the wind fair from the southwest, but during the night it steadily hauled to the westward, constantly increasing in force until the morning of the 26th, w^hen it was blowing a furious gale from the northwest and driving a dangerous sea before it. While the direction of the wind was not wholly adverse to the possibility of making port, it blew with such ter- rific power that, with a lee shore near at hand, everything depended upon skillful management and a stout vessel. Her violent pitching subjected the rudder to such an extraordinary and uneven strain, as she rose and fell, that the rudderhead gave way early in the morning, and she there- upon became almost totally unmanageable. The captain was unable to hold his course, and the vessel was rapidly driven before the gale past the harbor of Oswego. When off that port she was discovered by Keeper Chapman of the station at that point, about ten miles distant from the land, wildly careering down the lake under short sail and entirely be- yond the possibility of any assistance from his station. He therefore lost no time in dispatching a telegram to Keeper Fish, of the Big Sandy Station, which is located some twenty-five miles to the northeastward of Oswego, giving information of the appearance of the disabled vessel and her probable course.
At a quarter before 9 o'clock she was seen from the Big Sandy Station, some nine or ten miles to the southwest, under reefed foresail and two
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head sails, drifting toward the land, which, unless her course should change, she would strike about one and one-half miles north of the station. For nearly an hour after this time heavy rain squalls pre- vailed, shutting out the view, and nothing more was seen of the tempest- driven craft until about twenty minutes of 10 o'clock, when the weather lighted up, and she was again made out, still to the southwest, but only three miles distant.
Keeper Fish at once perceived that the schooner was powerless to contend with the storm, and his experienced judgment now told him that she must inevitably soon go ashore somewhere to the southward of his station. The shore of the lake at this place runs due north and south, and that portion lying south of the station, where the keeper knew the vessel must strand, is cut off from the station by a considerable stream known as the Big Sandy Creek. The first thing to be done, therefore, was to place himself and crew with the beach apparatus on the other side of the creek, where they would be in position and readiness to seize the earliest opportunity to succor the disabled vessel. The life- boat was at once launched into the creek, the handcart and apparatus were loaded into it and pulled across, where they were landed just as the schooner was seen to come up in the wind and let go her anchors, about two miles "further to the southward. The wind was still fierce from the northwest, and the schooner continued to drift toward the shore, first dragging her anchors for a few minutes and then parting thf; cables.
The life-saving crew therefore started with their apparatus cart along the shore in the same direction. The little strip of beach here narrowed in under a sharp bluff, a short distance from the edge of the water, and the entire space was constantly swept by the surf, the angry waves fre- quently rolling in until the men were submerged to their waists and almost unable to make headway. But there was no other practicable route, the country in the rear of the bluff being marshy and thickly in- terspersed with small ponds, so the patient snrfmen persistently tugged away at the drag ropes, making remarkably good time under the dis- couraging circumstances, until they reached a point about a mile and a half from the station, where they were confronted with a still more formidable obstacle. What is locally known as a u wind gap" here traversed the beach making a gully filled with water between an inland pond and the lake. It is ordinarily of small consequence, but at this time was swollen until it reached a width of two hundred and an extreme depth of some four and one-half to five feet. To attempt to ford this treacherous water was a perilous undertaking, but with a distressed vessel in plain view and human lives in jeopardy there w^as no time or disposition for hesitation, and the bedraggled life-savers forthwith plunged in, pulling their heavy burden behind them — the entire appa- ratus with the exception of only one shot line becoming thoroughly wet. When they had proceeded about half a mile beyond the wind gap they
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discovered that the schooner had stranded a mile and a half farther on and some three hundred and fifty yards from the beach. About this time (10:30 A. M.) a number of volunteers from the spectators who had gathered on the beach kindly offered their assistance with a team of horses. This timely relief was extremely welcome to the life-saving crew, who were well nigh worn-out, and not one of whom had a shred of dry clothing about him. The waves were now leaping completely over the stranded vessel, and her crew had been compelled to take refuge in the mizzen rigging.
Within five minutes the Lyle gun was placed in position, carefully sighted and fired. The dry No. 7 line, which had so fortunately escaped being wet in fording the wind gap, was used, and the projectile passed squarely through the main rigging and landed securely on deck. A better shot never was made. But none of the crew left their places in the mizzen shrouds or showed any sign of an effort to get the all-impor- tant line, apparently being deterred by fear or through ignorance of the purpose for which the line was sent to them. Ten minutes later two sailors abandoned their refuge in the shrouds and leaped into the bois- terous water. The keeper inferred that their design was to lay hold of the shot line which was still on board, with the expectation of being pulled ashore by that means, and accordingly gave orders to haul in on it. But it was no sooner clear of the wreck than he discovered that the sailors either had not been able to reach it or had made no effort to do so, and were struggling in the breakers on their way to the shore. Four surfmen, with life lines attached to their bodies, were promptly sent into the surf to assist the shipwrecked men, who were thus safely landed, although much exhausted.
While this was going on the gun was reloaded and fired with a seven- ounce charge of powder and a wet No. 9 line, but the projectile fell short of the mark. Although the schooner had been ashore only a few minutes she already gave signs of breaking up, and her crew hastened from 'the mizzen to the main rigging, the mizzenmast going by the board a little later. Two more attempts were made to get another line to the wreck, two No. 4 lines being used with live- ounce charges, but they were heavily water-soaked and each parted near the projectile. How- ever, the failure of these efforts to reach the wreck with lines made no difference in the result, for the remaining masts fell almost immedi- ately, and the hapless crew were precipitated into the water. The only remaining resource of the life-saving men was to advance as far as pos- sible into the lake, with life lines made fast to themselves to prevent their being swept away by the undertow, and endeavor to reach the sailors. In this way three of the unfortunate inen were rescued, and from them it was learned that two persons were still unaccounted for — one of the seamen and the woman cook. The latter was lost sight of in the general crash when the fore and main masts fell, and the sailor, a
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man of some sixty years, after supporting himself for a few moments on some of the wreckage, was washed off and drowned.
The loss of these lives is greatly to be deplored, but, looking back- ward over all the incidents of the disaster and of the conduct of the life-saving men, there seems to be no reason to withhold from the keeper or any of his crew entire approbation. That all the lives saved would have been lost but for the efficient service of the life-saving men is shown by the evidence, and gratefully acknowledged by the formal statement of the survivors, which is appended hereto. Watch was kept along the beach fof a long time, but the bodies of the missing persons were not found until two days later, a considerable distance from the wreck. They were viewed by the coroner, and then conveyed in the surf- boat to Little Sandy, where they were committed to the charge of the authorities.
The survivors were taken to the life-saving station, where they were provided with clothing, etc., and remained several days, taking their departure on the 2d of October.
' ' WOODVILLE, NEW YORK, September 27, 1892.
" DEAR SIR : I wish to express my heart's feeling to the captain and the gallant crew of the Big Sandy Life-Saving Station for their kind assistance toward our lives. We drifted ashore on the beach, about three and one half miles south of the Big Sandy Station, on the 26th day of September, 1892. Your gallant crew landed on the beach about fifteen minutes after we grounded, but before they got the apparatus in working order the ship broke up and let us into the lake. One man and a woman, cook, were drowned. But we can not forget the kind assistance they rendered us. They rushed into the lake and helped us ashore. If it had not been for the brave captain and his gallant crew not one of the John BurVs crew would have been alive. I think there can be no blame whatever on the life saving men.
"N. MCDONALD, Master.
"JOHN MCDONALD, Mate.
"C. V. SVEDBERG.
"JEMS MORT OLSEN. "WILLIAM FULTON. "Hon. S. I. KTMBALL,
"General Superintendent Life-Saving Service, Washington, D. 0."
SINKING OP THE SCHOONER NELLIE HAMMOND.
One life was lost October 28, 1892, from the schooner Nellie Hammond, at the entrance of Mnskegon Harbor, (Eleventh District,) Lake Michi- gan. The vessel was a small one of forty- seven tons burden, owned by her master, and sailed by him with a crew of two men. She was bound from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Muskegon, Michigan, almost directly across the lake, laden with three thousand bushels of wheat, and had practically completed the trip when an accident befell her which re- sulted in the drowning of the master, Captain Louis Michaelson.
Shortly after 6 o'clock in the evening of October 28 the man on look- out at the Muskegon Station reported to the keeper that a vessel was
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apparently approaching the harbor, whereupon the keeper took his marine glass and walked out on the north pier, upon which the station is situated, to see if he could better make out the position and purpose of the vessel. Failing to discover her he returned to the lookout tower where he had an elevation some thirty feet above the pier, and from that point discovered the lights of the schooner heading for the harbor, the north pier of which extends some seven hundred and the south about nine hundred feet into the lake, the distance between them being about two hundred feet.
In heavy weather it is always a matter of considerable difficulty to enter between the piers without accident, and as the wind was blow- ing almost a hurricane at this time the keeper believed that the possi- bility of the vessel's getting in safely was very remote. Therefore taking time by the forelock he ordered his crew to put on their life-belts and hold themselves in readiness for instant service. Then taking in his hand a heaving stick and line he started toward the end of the pier accompanied by one of the surf men, the rest of the crew following some- what in the rear. The schooner was under reduced canvas, staysail and reefed foresail, steering rather wildly, and just as she was about to enter the harbor yawed off a little and struck the corner of the south pier, almost at once, however, swinging clear and passing by the head of the pier into the channel.
There was neither outcry on board the vessel nor other intimation that anything was wrong, and the keeper therefore started back with the intention of crossing to the other pier to take the lines and assist in making her fast when she should come alongside. When some eight hundred feet inside the pierheads she took a sudden sheer and crashed with great force against the north pier, head on, then rebounded and pounded heavily along the pier. Some of the surfmen shouted to the schooner for those supposed to be on board to heave a line, but no answer was received. It was then seen that the jib boom and bowsprit had been carried away, and the keeper at once dispatched three men in a small boat with orders to board the vessel and bring her to the dock, while with the remainder of the crew he would launch the surf boat and pull alongside. On reaching the schooner the surfmen found that she was abandoned, and at once took charge of her. The deck was carefully searched to discover whether any persons who might have been injured or killed were still on board, but none were found, and as the vessel had by this time drifted to the lee side of the channel, she was there made fast to the pier, where she almost immediately sank, deck under, in about eight feet of water. Meantime a considerable number of people from the vicinity had collected on the pier, and among them two men who proved to be the crew of the wrecked vessel, one of them the captain's brother. From them it was learned that when the schooner struck the corner of the south pier as she attempted to enter the harbor
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the captain was at the wheel, and from their position in the bows they indistinctly perceived that something fell overboard.
Eunning aft they discovered that the captain was missing, and as the pier was at that moment close aboard both jumped ashore and left the vessel to its fate. This is all that can ever be known of the death of the captain. He was dressed in his oilskin suit and wore a pair of long-legged rubber boots when he was thrown overboard, and the probability is that even if he was not injured in falling, the weight of his clothing bore him swiftly to the bottom from which he never rose. His body could not be found in the vicinity, but was picked up on the beach several days later near the White Lake piers eleven miles to the northward.
The shipwrecked sailors were taken to the life-saving station, prop- erly cared for, furnished with dry clothes, and kept overnight. The next day the life-saving crew assisted in stripping the vessel, which was subsequently raised by contractors.
WRECK OF THE SCHOOXER ZACH CHANDLER.
The fourth disaster involving loss of life was the wreck of the Zach Chandler, on the 29th of October, 1892. near the Muskallouge Lake Life- Saving Station, Lake Superior, (Tenth District.)
The vessel was a large three-masted schooner, built at Detroit, Michi- gan, in 1867, measuring seven hundred and twenty-seven tons burden, and hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, to which port she was bound from Ashland, Wisconsin, with a full cargo of lumber. The officers and crew, including the cook, who was a woman, comprised eight persons, one of whom, a seaman named Frank Eichter, perished with the wreck.
It appears that the Chandler was in tow of the steamer John Mitchell, and was getting along fairly well until about 6:30 P. M., October 28, when some twenty-five miles northeast of the Muskallonge Lake Station, the the towline snapped in twain and each of the vessels was compelled to take care of herself. When Captain Skinner of the schooner was thus suddenly left to his own resources a heavy gale was blowing from the northward, and well knowing the impossibility of making headway against it. he made strenuous efforts to get sufficient sail upon his vessel to hold her head up to the wind and sea in the hope that she might weather the storm. The great age of the vessel, however, (twenty-five years,) and her heavy cargo, a part of which was carried on deck, were seriously against her. Sail after sail, her canvas was blown away until only a single staysail held its own. Plunging and rolling in the terrific sea the old hull was unable to long withstand the strain and soon sprang aleak. This misfortune proved to be the beginning of the end, which, as cir- cumstances turned out, was not to be long deferred. By 4 o'clock in the morning of the 29th the Chandler was hopelessly water-logged and a part of her deck load was swept overboard. At daylight, about 7 o'clock, she was discovered by the lookout of the Muskallonge Lake Sta- tion some nine miles offshore, with her head to the west laboring heav-
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ily and constantly driving easterly and shoreward before the resistless impact of the northerly gale. In fact she was already a wreck.
Keeper Frahin instantly took the wise precaution to convey the surf- boat and beach apparatus to a point one and one- half miles to the east- ward of the station, where it was then believed the schooner would strike, and where everything would be in readiness for speedy service.
An hour later, about 8 A. M., the last staysail on the schooner was torn from the boltropes by the tempest, which now veered toward the west, and the utterly helpless hulk drifted rapidly down the shore with the gale and current, at a rate estimated to be little, if any, less than five miles an hour. Her fate was now plainly sealed beyond the pos- sibility of escape, and the only question in the minds of the life-savers was as to where she would strike — in all probability, on the bar, one and one-half miles still farther to the eastward and three miles from the station. The teams of horses which had been secured when the first move was made in the early morning were hitched to the boat wagon and apparatus cart, and all hands hastened with the utmost speed along the beach, keeping pace as nearly as possible with the drift of the wreck. At 9 A. M. she struck, some three hundred yards out, at the place calculated upon by Keeper Frahm, and when her keel touched the bar the beach apparatus was squarely abreast of her. Not a moment had been lost nor a mistake of any kind committed. So far all seemed well, and the life-saving crew were preparing to fire the shot line and set up the apparatus, which they expected to do and make the rescue successfully, but scarcely had the vessel fetched up, when all her masts crashed overboard, and thus set at rest all question of the use of the breeches-buoy apparatus. In five minutes there was nothing standing aboard the wreck. In less than ten minutes more the entire hull had broken up and disappeared. "Nothing of the Chandler was in sight," says her captain. So rapidly and so completely was the ruin wrought that neither could a gun be fired nor a boat launched (if the latter had been possible) before all was over.
The Chandler's yawl had been lowered under her lee as she sped along the shore, and before she stranded it got safely away with five persons on board, among whom was the woman. The schooner being still intact, the lumber and wreckage which soon encumbered the water had not yet broken loose, and owing to this good fortune the yawl had a clear sea and luckily drifted safely to the beach.
Three persons, however, still remained on the wreck — the captain, first mate, and the sailor, Eichter, who was lost. The stranding and breaking up of the vessel were practically simultaneous, and she had scarcely touched bottom when the three men pushed a raft over the side and jumped on to it. Expeditious as they had been, however, they were just a moment too late. No sooner had they reached the raft than the schooner went to pieces, and they found themselves hemmed in and blockaded by the debris of the collapsed vessel and the churning masses
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of lumber composing her cargo. Could a boat have been launched from the shore at this juncture, it would have been powerless to penetrate the immense quantities of timber furiously dashing about the helpless men, and the life-saving crew could only put themselves in readiness for a dash into the surf with heaving sticks and lines the instant the raft should drift with its attendant wreckage within possible reach. This with all dispatch they prepared to do. Meanwhile ensued the one tragic event of the day. The raft had reached a point only about halfway to the shore when poor Eichter, unable longer .to maintain his hold, was swept off by the savage breakers, and at once sank beneath them. His shipmates were struggling for their own lives and could render him no aid. Once he threw up his hands, then disappeared without a word, and was never seen to rise. It was the opinion of his companions that the unfortunate man was crushed to death beneath and among the grinding timbers by which they were surrounded ; but inas- much as no bruises were reported to have been found upon the body when recovered, it is probable that he sank to the bottom and drowned at once.
After he was washed off, the raft continued to drift shoreward with the captain and mate upon it, and about half a mile to the eastward of the wreck came sufficiently near for the surfmen to enter the water with life lines attached to them, and reach and bring the shipwrecked men ashore. Both were almost exhausted and needed restoratives, which were provided from the medicine chest, and kindly attention, which was afforded by the members of the life-saving crew. A fire was kindled in a somewhat sheltered place, and after being warmed as well as possible and sufficiently restored the men were transferred with the rest of the ship's company to the station, where they were clad in dry clothing and sheltered and supplied with food until able to depart for their homes.
The body of the lost sailor was diligently searched for, but was not recovered until three days later. It was found by a patrolman from the Two Heart Eiver Station on November 8 two and one-half miles west of that station and six or seven miles from the scene of the wreck, and was buried bv the crew.
Due credit should be awarded the crew of the latter station for their prompt and zealous efforts to reach the wreck of the Chandler and par- ticipate in the anticipated rescue. At about 8 A. M. on the 29th the lookout reported a schooner too close to the shore for safety, and the keeper at once ascended the lookout tower from which he discovered by the aid of the marine glass that the vessel was about nine miles to the westward of his station and drifting toward the beach. Although it was scarcely probable that she would strand within the ordinary scope of the operations of his station, Keeper McCormick forthwith mustered his crew, procured horses to draw the surf boat and apparatus cart, and within thirty minutes was on the way up the beach toward the disabled schooner.
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The journey was long and arduous, covering a distance of eight miles, the beach in many places being covered with water sometimes to the depth of two feet. The wreck disappeared before Keeper McCormick and crew reached the scene, but he wisely kept on his way with a view to the possibility of rendering some necessary service. Upon his ar- rival he learned from Keeper Frahm the details of the disaster and that there was nothing further to be done. After procuring dinner the Two Heart Eiver crew set out for their own station, which was reached at 6:30 P. M.
VVEECK OF THE BRITISH SCHOONER MAGELLAN.
The British three-masted schooner Magellan, of two hundred and twen- ty-six tons burden, and carrying a crew of six men, all told, was wrecked in the early morning of December 20, 1892, on the southerly end of Ship Shoals, Virginia, (Fifth District, ) and one sailor was drowned while mak- ing an effort, with the rest of the crew, to board a passing schooner which they had intercepted with their boat after abandoning their own vessel.
As the weather cleared up somewhat in the morning of the day above named, the patrolman of the Smith Island Life-Saving Station ascended the light-house tower near by, as was his duty under the rules of the station, and swept the eastern horizon for signs of distressed vessels. About half past 7 o'clock he perceived the masts of a schooner some eight miles to the northeast, evidently ashore if not already a wreck, and the information was at once imparted to Keeper Kitchens, who thereupon mustered his crew and made the necessary preparations to put out. A stiff northeast gale was blowing, driving before it a tumul- tuous sea, augmented by the flood tide, and therefore, while the keeper was ready and eager to make the best possible effort to reach the wreck, his recollection of numerous sturdy battles with a furious head sea admonished him that there was little reason in the present circumstances to expect success. Therefore, before launching his boat, he telephoned to Keeper Crumb, of the Cbbbs Island Station, situated some seven or eight miles to the windward of the wreck, informing him that there was a vessel aground on the Ship Shoals, and that he was about to go out to her. The attention of the Cobbs Island crew was at that moment fixed upon a vessel (the Robert H. Parker) aground in the vicinity of that station, but the keeper decided that if she cleared the shoal, as she seemed likely to do, he would immediately go to the wreck of which Keeper Kitchens had notified him.
As soon as the message was sent to Cobbs Island, the Smith Island crew were afloat and away, pulling with all their might. But although they made a long and powerful struggle, the odds were too great against them, and they were finally compelled to give over and return to the shore, with no design, however, of abandoning their purpose, to reach the wreck at whatever cost, either of hardship or danger. After noti- fying the Cobbs Island crew of their failure, they speedily loaded the
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surf boat upon the wagon for the purpose of proceeding up the coast to an inlet nearly abreast of the wreck, whence they hoped to reach her by a pull of about two miles. To drag the boat and wagon for six miles over the soft and water soaked land was no holiday pastime, and required great resolution as well as the exertion of strong physical power, but it was unhesitatingly undertaken and at last successfully accomplished. Arriving at the inlet, they again launched the boat and bent to their oars. On their way out they were joined by the Cobbs Island crew, who had judiciously gone down through New Inlet and thence through Ship Shoal Inlet to sea. Eealizing the dire necessity of the shipwrecked sailors, if still on board the schooner, and possibly somewhat animated by a sense of generous rivalry, both crews pulled with a will and simultaneously reached the wreck at about 1 o' clock. They had seen no persons in the rigging, and yet as they drew alongside the vessel they were surprised and not a little dispirited to discover that she was deserted. Satisfying themselves conclusively that such was the fact, or else that all hands had perished, they somewhat despondently turned shoreward. Landing on Myrtle Island, they learned from a party of oystermen that the latter had seen the vessel on the shoals at daylight with her sails set, and that about 8 o'clock the crew lowered the sails and then were seen no more. The Cobbs Island crew were now seven miles to the leeward of their station, and the sea being still too high for them to make so long a pull to windward, both crews landed on Smith Island and walked to the Smith Island Station, where they arrived about 5 o'clock P. M., the Cobbs Island crew remaining all night and returning to their own station on the flood tide early in the morning.
It was not until two days later that the men of the Life-Saving Service learned the particulars of the disaster, which were imparted to them by Captain Dixon of the Magellan, who then made his appearance in the vicinity to look after the wreck.
From his statement it appears that the Magellan took on board a cargo of coal at Newport News, Virginia; to be delivered ac Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then in company with a considerable fleet of north bound vessels, lay for several days weatherbound in the vicinity of * Hampton Bar. On the morning of Monday, the 19th of December, the wind came fair, and the fleet promptly set sail. Early in the evening the wind, which had veered to the southeast, died away, and about midnight a moderate breeze sprung up from the east-northeast, accompanied with rain. An hour later it was blowing hard, and soon after Captain Dixon, then about twenty-three miles above Cape Charles, tacked ship and headed southwest by south, with the intention of returning inside the capes. In this movement for safety he acted, as was subsequently ascertained, in harmony with the rest of the fleet, nearly or quite all of which ran back before the wind for refuge in Hampton Roads. He shaped a course that he judged would take him clear of the dangerous shoals lying between Hog Island and Cape Charles, and as his vessel was a staunch one he entertained no doubt of safely getting to shelter.
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At 4 A. M., the wind having rapidly increased, he stowed all his light sails and reefed down the spanker. He was now driving before a full northeast gale, but experiencing no trouble, and was still without apprehension of disaster, when about an hour later he suddenly found his vessel hard and fast on the bottom. With the hope of forcing her over the shoal, he pursued the almost uniform expedient of keeping all sail set, but without success. For some two hours she pounded heavily on the hard sand bottom, tearing off her shoe or heel, which came up alongside, and soon after springing the foremast at the deck. The sea, which was gaining violence every moment, broke over the schooner fore and aft, she rapidly filled with water, and was soon a helpless wreck.
When daylight broke the outlook toward the land afforded no hope of escape in that direction, for, between the wreck and the low-lying islands there rolled an interminable line of seething breakers. Captain Dixon well knew that the Magellan's yawl could never live to pass that frightful barrier and reach the land, and he did not know of the existence of a life saving station on Cobbs Island to the windward of him, whence a lifeboat might possibly come to his rescue. He was aware that there was a life-saving station on Smith Island, eight miles to the leeward, but he could not believe that relief could reach him under existing conditions from that direction in time to be of service, if indeed at all. To remain longer upon the wreck was, in his judgment, to extremely jeopardize if not to certainly sacrifice the lives of all on board. With the information in his possession, and under all the circumstances, there seemed to be but one alternative, and that was for all hands to embark in the boat, which the sailors were very anxious to do, and make for the open sea where some passing vessel might perhaps pick them up. This, apparently their last resource, was decided upon with- out further delay ; the yawrl was got under the lee of the wreck, the six shipwrecked men clambered into her and pushed off — four sailors at the oars and the captain at the helm.
A vessel was at that moment visible running down the coast very close inshore, and the men gave way heartily, hoping that they might succeed in reaching her. As they drew nearer to her, however, they observed that she was steering wildly and rolling deeply, her decks awash and her crew at the pumps. Upon hailing her they were told that she was in a sinking condition and could not be brought to the wind. This vessel was undoubtedly the one seen ashore from Cobbs Island about daybreak. The forlorn castaways were now forced to turn their course toward a more distant sail, which they could vaguely make out through the rain and mist. As they approached closer to her she was found to be a large schooner loaded with a cargo of firewood piled high above the deck, and evidently having hard work to keep her course. To board a vessel under full headway is at best a dangerous maneuver, but to try in some way to get on to this one, although a des- perate enterprise, was apparently the last hope of safety for the despair-
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 31
ing men, and they determined to make the venture. The helmsman standing behind and below the towering deck load was totally unable to see the boat of the shipwrecked men, and was steering by signals from a man stationed at a sufficiently elevated position forward. In any event it was plainly impossible for the schooner to luff, and the eager little company in the yawl found themselves almost directly under her forefoot. Believing his boat was about to be crushed under the prow of the schooner now plunging down into the hollow of the sea, Captain Dixon shouted for his men to jump for their lives. Instantly he and four of the five others sprung for the headgear of the schooner, and all but one succeeded in laying hold of the bobstay or the martingale, whence they finally climbed on board. The fifth man, William Mohar, seaman, seized a loose rope above his head that proved to be the flying jib sheet, which, unfortunately, was not belayed on board and therefore unrove through the block, letting him drag in the water and dash against the bow of the vessel, thus breaking his grasp of the rope. The heavily laden schooner, almost unmanageable, ponderously staggered onward, while poor Mohar drifted aft and disappeared forever. There was still one man left in the boat, Thomas Landry, the mate of the Magellan. He had not been quick enough to jump for the schooner with the rest, and as she drove past, he saw his shipmate throw up his hands and sink. When Landry recovered from the excitement of the moment he found himself alone and helpless upon the open sea. In the rush for the schooner's rigging his shipmates dropped their oars into the water and the stern of the yawl was smashed by the collision. He, however, contrived in some way to get her head to the sea, and bailed her out from time to time as well as possible until two hours later, when another southward bound schooner came along and with much difficulty took him on board and carried him to Norfolk, where the other surviving members of his crew were found.
William Mohar, the lost sailor, was drowned at sea while engaged with his shipmates in an effort to board a passing vessel, but the vessel to which he belonged, and which was abandoned by its crew, was wrecked within the scope of life-saving operations, and two life-saving crews, as in duty bound, went to her aid, therefore the case appears to be a proper one to be noticed in this branch of the annual report, and Mohar is counted in the summary of lives lost during the year.
WBECK OF THE SCHOONEE EDITH BEEWIXD.
The Edith Benvind, of Philadelphia, a four -masted schooner of seven hundred and seventy three tons register, carrying a crew of nine men all told, was stranded on the Outer Middle Ground south of the Smith Island Station, (Fifth District,) eastern shore of Virginia, in the after- noon of January 1, 1893, and during the night drifted over the shgal and sank in five fathoms of water, becoming a total wreck. About three hours after the stranding one of the crew, who had taken refuge
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aloft with his shipmates, fell from the rigging and was drowned. The Berwind was bound from Tampa, Florida, to Baltimore, Maryland, heavily laden with a cargo of eleven hundred tons of phosphate rock. She sailed from Tampa on the 22d of December, 1892, and passed through a severe gale before getting out of the gulf. Bad weather constantly followed her course up the Gulf Stream until the 30th of December, when she was off Cape Hatteras. At that point a moderate breeze and a com- paratively smooth sea prevailed, and Captain McBride believed that he would soon safely enter the quiet waters of Chesapeake Bay. At 8 o'clock A. M. on the 1st of January he was off Currituck Beach, only thirty-three miles below Cape Henry, with a fair southerly wind behind him and apparently good prospects ahead. But before 12 o'clock, noon, he ran into a dense fog and lost sight of the land. The wind was now rather brisk but still something less than a gale, and as the schooner was at last nearing home and making a good run, the captain, who was a man of large experience in coastwise navigation, held his course, taking the precaution, however, to furl his lighter sails.
From the moment the fog was encountered the run was necessarily made by dead reckoning. No sound had been heard of the fog whistle on Cape Henry, nor of that on Cape Charles, but by 3 o' clock in the afternoon the captain estimated that he was well above Cape Henry, and therefore hauled in for Chesapeake Bay. As a matter of fact the freshening wind, which now amounted to a gale, had carried him so far beyond his reck- oning that when he hauled aft his sheets and headed to the westward he was north of Cape Charles, and the shoals of the Outer Middle Ground were close under his lee. Breakers ahead were suddenly discovered, and almost at once the Bencind went aground, the sea immediately breaking on board. A panic seems to have taken possession of the sail- ors, and it was only by the most resolute action that the captain could maintain his authority.
With the idea that the vessel might be forced over the shoal by the sails they were kept standing, and, as had been calculated upon, she ultimately cleared the bottom but only to sink a few minutes later in deep water, leaving her deck just awash. Before the schooner cleared the shoal the yawl had been lowered and, while two sailors were in it, was capsized with them and their luggage. The half- drowned men were with no little difficulty pulled back on board the vessel, and the yawl was left where she was, fastened by the painter, which some- time afterwards parted and let her go adrift.
From the moment the schooner stranded she pounded with terrible force and, although a new vessel, only three years old, her dead weight cargo of phosphate rock soon crushed her bottom out, and when she slipped into deeper water the sea began to batter her upper works to pieces. As soon as it was realized that she was sinking, the crew were sent aloft to cut the halyards of the sails, which were thus allowed to run down, and then all hands went into the forward house, where they
UN1TKI) STATKS LIFE-SAVIN<; SKliVICE. 33
remained a few minutes, and about 6 o'clock took to the foreriggiug. It was now dark, and about an hour later Charles Haiues, who had charge of the donkey engine used for raising the sails and handling heavy cargo, descended from his position near the crosstrees for the purpose of talking with the cook, who was standing on the light-box below. Haines had been active and efficient about the deck during the day, and was a strong man, but the cook says, as he stood alongside of him in the rigging he appeared weak and discouraged. His hold upon the shrouds seemed to be feeble, and the cook, with a pathetic touch of humanity that often distinguishes these humble men, says that he put his arms around him ki and tried to cheer him up,'' but a moment later he seemed to entirely collapse. Being a heavy man, the cook could not hold him in place, and he fell headlong into the water on deck where he drowned without an outcry, his body soon being swept away into the surf. The captain and crew state that at this time and, indeed, during the entire night, the masts were shaking and swaying with such vio- le'nce that it was only by the exertion of their utmost powers that any of the men were able to keep their places.
The fog bank continued so thick and impenetrable that neither the patrolmen of the life-saving station nor any other persons on shore could have discovered the wreck from the time she struck the shoal until the approach of daybreak, when the weather began to clear up. It is the duty of one of the morning patrols of the life-saving station to ascend each morning to the gallery around the outside of the light-house tower on Smith Island, near the station, and sweep the horizon for signs of wrecks or distressed vessels, and at about half past 7 o'clock A. M. Surfnian Wilkins was at the proper place engaged in the performance of this important service. Two or three times he walked around the gallery and discovered nothing to seaward except a three-masted schooner standing on her course opposite the station, but at last he in- distinctly made out an object in the vicinity of the Outer Middle Ground that appeared to the naked eye to be a small vessel standing on the wind. Hastily covering the point with his marine glass, he discovered what he says seemed to be "a bunch of something in the port forerig- ging," but he ''could not make out what it was." Keeper Kitchens was at once apprised of the facts, and, after surveying the object for a moment, said, as stated by Wilkins, he thought there were men in the rigging, and that he would go out to them.
No time was wasted in the discussion of probabilities or expedients, but forthwith the keeper turned out his crew, launched his surf boat, and all hands heartily pulled away to the rescue. The wind, which was southerly when the schooner stranded, was now blowing a stiff breeze from the west-southwest, and as the wreck lay six miles to windward of the station, the crew had before .them a long pull against a heavy head sea. Now and then at frequent intervals the waves half filled the boat, but she was a self-bailer and speedily cleared herself; two oars were 3 L s
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snapped in twain, but new ones instantly replaced them. When half way to the wreck the life-savers were discovered by the son of Captain McBride, who shouted to his father that he could see "a black speck away off on the water." "Do you see it now?" eagerly asked the father a few minutes later. Upon being assured that the speck was still visible and that it now seemed to be "a boat with six men at the oars and one standing up steering and sculling," the almost exhausted old man devoutly exclaimed, u Thank God, it is the life-saving crew ; we are saved at last!" While the emotions of the shipwrecked men may not be expressed in words, they may, perhaps, be imperfectly realized when it is stated that two vessels had already passed within easy dis- tance without seeing them, and their last hope of rescue had almost expired.
After two hours of sturdy work the station boat was alongside the wreck. At the stern the vessel was sunk to the sheer- poles, nearly three feet above the rail, but the bows were occasionally visible as the waves swept past. Four of the crew were in the crosstrees on the fore- mast, one about halfway down the rigging, and the other three still lower down, just above the light-box. Spars and dangerous masses of wreckage were thrashing about in the water, while, to quote the graphic words of the keeper, "booms and gaffs were cutting and sheering all over her." Fortunately, although it was January, the night was not very cold, but the men were wet, benumbed, and stiffened by their cramped position and exposure for sixteen hours aloft, with scant clothing, and their physical resources had already been severely taxed. To get them all safely into the surfboat was an enterprise requiring much skill and sound judgment. The keeper worked to windward, dropped his anchor, and then backed in toward the wreck, carefully paying out his line until sufficiently near to throw a rope into the rig- ging. By this means, and with careful management, all possible mis- haps were avoided, and in a few minutes all the castaways were taken over the stern, one at a time, into the surfboat. On the homeward pull the wind was favorable, and in a little less than four hours from the time of their departure for the wreck the crew were back at the station with the rescued men, all of whom except the captain, who was some sixty years of age, were able to walk from the place of landing without assistance. Their water-soaked garments were replaced by dry clothing — some of it from the private stores of the surfrnen — a warm dinner was prepared for them, and after it was eaten (their first food for twenty-four hours) they were put to bed in the sleeping quarters where they could rest and recover their depleted energies. On the fol- lowing day they declared themselves able to travel, and were accord- ingly taken to the mainland, where passes to Baltimore were secured for them, and they took their departure, leaving behind them profuse ex- pressions of gratitude for their timely rescue, and also a commendatory letter, hereto annexed, addressed to the General Superintendent.
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVINO SKUVICE. 35
The service performed on this occasion by the Smith Island crew was energetic, skillful, and deserving of generous commendation. "Could you have reached the Bet-wind in the nighttime if you had known she was there,'' inquired the investigating officer as he was about to close his examination. "We should have tried it," was the prompt and satisfactory reply. With such men, to try means to succeed, or to prove that success is beyond the compass of human effort.
' ' SMITH ISLAND STATION, VIRGINIA,
•" January 3, 1893.
"DEAR SIR: This is to praise this life-saving station, Captain Hitchens and his good crew, for their hospitality to wrecked and dis- tressed seamen. 1 have not the ability neither can I gather the words to speak of Captain Hitchens and his natural kindness toward wrecked people. The schooner Edith Beruoind stranded off here the evening of the first. All hands remained in the rigging until 10 A. M., when this noble crew came and rescued us, eight all told. One of nine was drowned. To-day we start for our homes. 1 ' Very truly, yours,
"R. W. McBRiDE, 1 ' Master Schooner Edith Berwind. -Mr. S. I. KIMBALL."
WRECK OF THE NORWEGIAN BARK ALICE.
Four lives were lost on the 6th of February, 1893, at the stranding of the Norwegian bark Alice, near the Long Beach Station, (Fourth Dis- trict,) New Jersey. The Alice was of nine hundred and seventy-seven tons burden, hailing from Arendal, Norway, and bound in ballast from Dunkirk, France, to New York. She carried, besides the captain and two mates, a crew of thirteen men before the mast. The weather on the night of February 6 was stormy and exceedingly dark, a thick fog pre- vailing, and a tolerably high sea running, although the wind was not heavy. The vessel was more than fifty miles out of her course, and at about 9:30 P. M. ran ashore, one and three-fourths miles northeast of the life-saving station above named, and some two hundred and fifty yards from the beach. The tide was falling, and the bark stuck hard and fast where she stranded. No signal of distress was made on board, and the wreck was not sighted through the thick darkness until about an hour after stranding, when she was feebly made out by the patrolman returning from the northward to the station. Keeping along the beach as near the edge of the water as possible, he suddenly perceived what seemed to be the faint glimmer of a light to seaward. Pausing for only an instant to make sure that his eyes were not at fault, he flashed his red Coston light for the purpose of informing the ship's company that the wreck was discovered, and then waited a moment for a response. Re- ceiving none he burned another signal, and hastened away to give the alarm at the station.
A half hour later the life-saving crew were abreast of the wreck, and as soon as the Lyle gun could be got into position, and aimed as well as
36 UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
possible for the dimly indicated mark, it was fired. A few minutes later the surfman holding the shore end of the shot line began to feel the pull- ing at the other end, which showed that the shipwrecked men were drawing upon it, thus giving assurance that notwithstanding the diffi- culty of sighting the gun at so indistinct an object the very first shot had proved successful. The whip line was then bent on to the shot line, and appears to have been properly made fast on board the wreck when received. The hawser was now hauled out to the bark by the life-saving cre\>, but no signals came back, and as the darkness was too dense for the keeper to see what was being done on board he waited what he deemed to be a sufficient length of time, and then hauled in on the whip which brought the hawser back again to* the shore. The ship's people had failed to make it fast as directed by the tally board, and nothing was now to be done but to send it back to them. This was a laborious undertaking for the reason that there was a very strong current running up the shore, but it was ultimately accomplished with the -efficient as- sistance of the crew from the Ship Bottom Station, who had been sum- moned by telephone when the first news of the wreck was received ut the Long Beach Station, and arrived shortly after the gun was fired. When the hawser reached the bark the second time it was properly secured, and the apparatus was soon in place ready for operations. Everything now worked smoothly, and the entire crew on board the wreck, eleven in number, were taken ashore by an equal number of trips of the breeches buoy. Five persons, however, were missing. One of these, Peter Erland, as subsequently appeared, was ordered to take charge of a boat that had been dropped astern fastened by the painter, which suddenly parted letting the boat go adrift. As soon as the sailor discovered that the boat had broken loose, he made a strong effort to pull back to the bark, but broke one of the rowlocks and was then com pelled to let his boat drive away before the wind. Fortunately she finally drew inshore and struck the beach some sixteen miles to the northward, not far from the Island Beach Station, and Erland safely reached the land. He was met a few minutes later by a patrolman from the station just named, where he was taken and properly cared for.
By the captain's order, the four.other men had got into another boat, which was lowered and hauled alongside, with the purpose of abandon ing the vessel very soon after she struck, and while waiting for the rest of the crew to join them, were capsized and drowned, their shipmates, still on board the vessel, having been unable to save them.
This unfortunate and, as it appears, wholly unnecessary loss of life was due to the error of judgment involved in the determination to try to reach the shore in the ship's boats, in the nighttime, without suffi- cient knowledge of the situation, and while there was apparently no danger of the ship immediately breaking up. The excellent seaman- ship and well-known self-reliance of Norwegian sailors probably led them to believe that they, could safely make the land, and their haste
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 37
to do so may have been in some measure due to the knowledge that the Alice was a very old vessel, (built in 1865, ) and therefore not likely to withstand much severe pounding. It is generally easy to point out a mistake after a transaction has been completed, and it is undoubtedly true that in this instance the captain acted upon his best judgment in the trying situation as he saw it, but it is nevertheless entirely clear that if he had decided to stand by the vessel awhile longer every soul on board would have been saved, as more than a week elapsed after the disaster before the bark went to pieces.
The bodies of the lost sailors were subsequently recovered and buried. One was found by a surfmau of the Ship Bottom Station, one by the wife of the keeper of Harvey Cedars, and two by surfmeu of the Loveladies Island Station, all these stations lying to the northward and the latter some twelve miles from the locality of the disaster.
WRECK OF COAL BARGE RELIANCE.
In the forenoon of the 20th of February, 1893, a large coal barge called the Reliance, belonging to the Heading Railroad Coal and Iron Company of Philadelphia, was cut adrift between Montauk Point and Block Island in a gale of wind by the steamer having her in tow, and some few hours later drifted ashore on the wrest side of Block Island, Rhode Island, where she went totally to pieces within an hour. There were five per- sons on board when the steamer abandoned her — three men, a "boy, and a woman — four of whom appear to have been washed overboard and drowned while the helpless barge was wallowing in the sea before she stranded. The fifth (one of the men) was torn away from his hold in the main rigging a little later, about ten minutes after she struck the bar.
The following details of the melancholy disaster have been collected from the testimony of upward of twenty witnesses and such other reliable information as could be obtained, namely, the report of the collector of customs, superintendent of the line to which the barge belonged, report of investigating officer, etc.
The Reliance was loaded with one thousand four hundred and fifty tons of anthracite coal, and was bound from Philadelphia to Boston. She was rigged with two lower masts and sails, but was not designed to be a seagoing vessel wholly dependent on her sails, the custom being to take such vessels in tow of powerful steamers employed for the pur- pose. The towing steamer in this case was the Panther, belonging to the same company as the barge. The night of the 19th of February was passed in tempestuous weather off the eastern end of Long Island, and on the morning of the 20th the master of the steamer rounded Montauk Point with the gale heavy from the westward and Block Island not far away to the eastward. The tremendous waves constantly board- ing the vessels had smashed some fourteen feet of one side of the deck
38 UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
house of the steamer, letting a good deal of water below, and in order to repair the damage she wras slowed down and hauled up head to the sea. The barge astern had her foresail set and was signaled to take/ it in, but before the three men were able to get it down forged ahead so far that the slack of the towing hawser dropped down near the stern of the Panther, causing the captain to become alarmed lest it should foul the propeller. Therefore he appears to have at once given orders to cut the hawser, which was done, leaving the heavy half- manned barge to the mercy of the storm. Being unable to take care of herself, she fell off into the trough of the sea. There were not men enough on board to get her under even what short sail she carried, and she drifted helplessly to leeward toward the west shore of Block Island as fast as the wind and sea could drive her. At about fifteen minutes before noonday the south patrol of the Block Island Life- Saving Station discovered her half or three-fourths of a mile offshore and so completely smothered and obscured by the falling snow and the huge waves of "solid water n which rolled over her that he "could see only her mastheads and could not tell what kind of a vessel she was." He was at this time about one- fourth of a mile from the station, whither he hastened to turn out the crew. As the barge plunged onward toward the shore she could be made out more distinctly in the lulls of the storm, and was seen by a considerable number of people, who were questioned by the investigat- ing officer as to the number of persons discernible on board. No wit- ness places the number higher than four, and nobody claims to have seen more than one after she struck, the conclusion being that the others were already overboard and drow^ned.
The instant that notice of the disaster was delivered at the station by the patrolmen the beach apparatus was run out and taken to a point on the shore where it was believed the vessel would strike, and a request was made by telephone for the assistance of the crew of the New Shoreham Station, located on the other side of the island. The people on the barge appear to have got one of her anchors out, but it stayed her progress only slightly until the cable broke, when she drifted with increased velocity shoreward, and at 12 o'clock, noon, (only about fifteen minutes after she was first seen,) stranded nearly four hundred yards from the beach. She was really breaking up before she struck, and the moment she held fast the terrific force of the waves, now beating with almost inconceivable fury upon a fixed object, began to tear her rapidly into fragments. Added to this unfortunate condition, as related to the pos- sibility of getting a line to her, were the facts that the wind amounted almost to a hurricane, and that the distance was very great, dead to windward.
Nevertheless there was a man on board, and if it was within the range of human power he must be saved. Keeper Ball therefore trained his gun and fired a line toward the. vessel, but it fell short. Several more shots were made during the succeeding few minutes, but none of them
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SEKVK 1>.
•
reached the wreck. While this was being done the man before observed near the wheelhonse made an effort to reach the main rigging and, although nearly washed overboard, succeeded. He held on there for a few minutes, when the mast went by the board, and the next moment the barge split from stem to stern in two parts which drifted to the shorer and all was over.
So far as the evidence show's the only persons on board when she struck the bar was the man referred to, and a careful review of all the circumstances and testimony makes it as nearly conclusive as any un- denionstrable thing can be that no means known to any life-saving service could have rescued him within the few brief minutes while the hull held partially together.
The state of the weather is described by one of the witnesses, not con- nected with the Life-Saving Service, as a "hurricane;" another says •'I wish to say that the gale was the heaviest westerly gale I ever saw and I have lived on the island sixty-seven years ;" another says "a man could hardly stand up" on the beach. The observer of the signal sta- tion of the United States Weather Bureau, located on the east side of the island, where the gale was perhaps less felt, furnishes a report stating that the wind attained a steady force of sixty miles an hour, and between 12 and 1 o'clock midday reached a maximum of sixty-six miles an hoar, while the thermometer ranged from ten to fifteen degrees above zero.
Of the twenty-two witnesses whose testimony was taken only four ventured to say that they thought an attempt might have been made to use the surf boat, three of them qualifying their opinion with the state- ment that they had "never seen it done in such a surf." All the rest agree in the opinion that no boat could have been launched, adding that even if one could have been and could have remained afloat, it would have been powerless to get to the vessel in the face of the wind and sea and dangerous wreckage.
The overwhelming weight of the testimony is that the Life Saving Service did all that could have been done to save the only person who was lost after the barge came within range of the station operations. Lieutenant W. EL Roberts, United States Ee venue Cutter Service, who made the investigation, says in his report "it is niy belief, sustained by the evidence, that it was a physical impossibility to get a boat to the imperiled barge."
WRECK OF THE SCHOONER NATHAN ESTERBROOK, JR.
At about 1 o'clock on the morning of February 20, 1893, the surf mail having the patrol to the northward from the Little Kinnakeet Station, (Sixth District,) North Carolina, discovered a large vessel, which proved to be the schooner Nathan Esterbrook, Jr., of New Haven, Con- necticut, ashore two and one-half miles north- north east of the life saving, station, and about three hundred and seventy-five yards from4 the shore.
40 UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
*
The vessel was of seven hundred and thirty-one tons burden, having on board a cargo of guano valued at $35,000, and was on a voyage from New York City to Savannah, Georgia, carrying a crew of nine men all told. The wind was from the southwest, and although strong, was favorable for the schooner, and while it was intensely dark the weather was not stormy, but the master had in some way missed his calculations, and almost before he was aware of his peril, ran hard aground as stated above. The tide was falling and the surf was heavy.
The patrolman no sooner saw the lights of the schooner than he knew she was stranded, and he therefore made his way with all possible haste to the life saving station, wrhere the crew were aroused and at once prepared to go to the wreck. While the apparatus cart was being run out, and some extra articles that the keeper thought might be found necessary were being loaded into a horse cart belonging to him, he tele- phoned to the Gull Shoal Station, some five miles to the north of his own, and also to Big Kinnakeet, some six miles to the southward, informing them of the stranding and requesting their presence at the scene. Then he went to the top of the lookout and burned a red signal to the ship- wrecked men to let them know that preparations were in hand for their rescue. The life-saving crew then harnessed themselves to the appa- ratus cart and started off, the keeper going ahead and making faster time with his own cart loaded with the medicine chest, blankets, life belts, extra shot lines, etc. Not long afterwards he met the Gull Shoal crew and sent some of them with a horse to assist his men who were behind with the apparatus cart. No time was unnecessarily con- sumed, but the extreme darkness of the night and the condition of the beach were such that a considerable period was required to get abreast of the wreck with the apparatus, which was not accomplished until nearly 3 o'clock.
The Lyle life gun was- immediately brought into requisition, carefully sighted by the lights of the schooner which were still burning, and a moment later its friendly shot went whizzing through the air toward the mark. The distance was great, and the darkness so impenetrable that the eye could not follow the flight of the projectile, but the fact subse- quently appeared that notwithstanding the difficulties of the situation both the keeper and the gun had done their work well. It is true the shot did not rest on board the vessel, but it reached her fairly and would have proved entirely successful had it not happened to strike the heavy forestay and rebound into the water. After waiting a sufficient length of time and finding that the line was not being hauled aboard, the keeper knew that the shot had failed, and promptly prepared to try again. The second projectile was fired with a larger line and a heavier charge of powder, but fell short. Upon the third trial the same weight of car- tridge was used, but a lighter line (of the same size as the first one), and this shot landed the line in excellent position across the foregaff, between the fore and main masts.
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The shipwrecked crew at once began hauling out the whip, and in the space of a few minutes the hawser was sent out and made fast, but unfortunately, as it later appeared, too low down. The movements of the life saving men were guided solely by the signals of a lantern on board the schooner, and they had no knowledge of what was going on there except from that source, therefore, when a signal was made that the hawser was fast they set it up, clapped on the breeches buoy and sent it forth without delay. The second mate got into the buoy, and it was about to start on its first trip shoreward when a change of conditions occurred which ultimately resulted in the only instance of loss of life which attended the wreck. Just as all was ready the wind suddenly veered from the west southwest, and began to blow a gale from the north, swinging the wreck around and thus bringing the beach apparatus hawser across the headstays. A signal to haul away was, however, shown, and the buoy was accordingly promptly pulled ashore. When it reached the beach its occupant was found to be unconscious arid was supposed to be drowned, the hawser having been made fast so low down on the schooner that the buoy was necessarily dragged through the water a large portion of the way. Efforts were instantly made to resuscitate the apparently drowned man, and he soon recovered con- sciousness, when he was transported in one of the carts to the Little Kinnakeet Station, attended by surfnien selected for the purpose, while the rest of the three crews assembled at the scene remained to complete the rescue of the eight men still on board the JEsterbrook.
The gear being fouled the keeper now determined to give over any further efforts with that method and make an attempt to reach the vessel with the surf boat. A launch was finally accomplished in face of the high wind and furious surf, but these obstacles, supplemented by a rapid longshore current, were too much for the crew, and ultimately compelled them to abandon the effort and return to the beach. It was now day- light, and Keeper Hooper signaled to the men on Jhe wreck to change the hawser and whip line to the lee bow, and while this was being done and the shore end of the gear set up over again, as was necessary, he sent a team to his station for the life car, which he proposed to use in the further operations, as perhaps under the circumstances a speedier and preferable means of getting the remaining men ashore. When it arrived the car was slung upon the hawser in place of the breeches buoy, and four trips were made with it, two men being la«ded at each trip. So many perplexities were encountered that it was well into the day when the last man was safe on the shore, and it may well be accounted a fortunate circumstance that the vessel was sufficiently strong to hold together with all spars standing until the rescue was completed.
2u> lives were lost by drowning, but the second mate, Charles Clafford, who, as before stated, was unconscious when he reached the shore, and as it afterwards appeared from his own statements and those of his ship- mates was injured before leaving the vessel, and later by being dragged
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across the headstays, suddenly failed early in the forenoon, and at about 9:30 o'clock gave up his life. From the instant he was landed to the moment of his death every possible means was adopted for his recov- ery, but without avail. Just before he expired he threw up profuse quantities of blood, and it was the opinion of his comrades, as would seem to be the fact, that his death was due to necessarily fatal internal injuries. His body was carefully dressed in clothing taken from the supply provided by the generous benevolence of the Women's National Belief Association, and then reverently interred by the life-saving men in the presence of the surviving members of the shipwrecked crew.
While the circumstances of this rescue were not extraordinary so far as the weather was concerned, they afford a fair illustration of the methods of life-saving — the breeches buoy, boat, and life- car all having been successively brought into use — and they also emphasize the value of telephonic communication between the stations, by which three crews were easily and promptly assembled under circumstances calling for a very considerable number of men.
The ship wrecked people were furnished with dry clothing, and remained at the station until the day after the wreck, when they took their depar- ture on a wr'ecking steamer for Norfolk, Virginia, leaving with the keeper the following statement expressive of their appreciation of the services of the life-saving crews :
^The schooner Nathan Esterbrook, Jr., of New Haven, Connecticut, stranded at 12:40 o'clock on the morning of February 20, 1893, about two and one-half miles north of the Little Kinnakeet Life-Saving Station. The captain and crew of the station were promptly on hand. There was no lack of duty in saving our lives. Furthermore, I wish to state that the man who died at the station was saved alive. I believe that he got hurt in getting clear of the vessel, causing his death. Every- thing was done to save his life that could be done. I am very thankful for myself and crew for the kind treatment that we received from the captain and crew of the life-saving station.
"GEO. L. KELSEY, Captain.
"A. L. DUNTON, Mate.
"JOHN MANSTON, Steward.
<*W. KREUGER, Seaman.
aT. ANDERMON, Seaman.
"F. KUHLA, Seaman.
u J. ANDERSON, Seaman.
"T. ANDERSON, Seaman." •
THE CAPSIZING OF A SKIFF.
On Sunday, April 23, 1893, two persons, Julius Falk and Martin Arrert, were drowned in Cleveland Harbor, (Ninth District,) Lake Erie, by the capsizing of a skiff. At about 1 o'clock in the afternoon of that date three young men started out in a small rowboat for a ride on the lake. They proceeded to the outer harbor and joined the many pleasure-seekers who were pulling about inside the breakwaters. After rowing around for more than an hour, one of the number, Charles
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•
• Leptak, having done all the rowing, became tired, and as his companions did not wish to go ashore just then, he headed up alongside the east breakwater and rested on his oars. As the boat was still moving Arrert, one of the occupants, rose to his feet and caught hold of an iron^riug on the breakwater to stop her headway, and in so doing lost his balance and fell against the side of the boat, rolling her down until she filled and turned bottom up, carrying, the men partly underneath her. They struggled to climb upon the. capsized craft, but as there was not suffi- cient buoyancy to sustain them, she sank with the men clinging to her. Leptak, the survivor, states that when he felt the boat going down he loosed his hold and rose to the surface, when he caught a glimpse of one of his companions who came up but disappeared again immediately. He again got on the overturned craft, now freed from overweight, and remained in that situation until picked up by the tug Alva B.
Surfinan Johnson had the afternoon lookout from the tower of the life- saving station, and his attention was devoted entirely to watching the numerous skiffs and small boats which were moving about the harbor and upon the lake in the immediate vicinity. At about twenty minutes before 3 o'clock a shout was heard, and by using the glasses the watch- man saw in the shadow of the east breakwater, partially hidden from his view by the beacon on the east pier, a skiff bottom up with one man clinging to her. He rang the alarm bell instantly, and shouted to the surfmen below that a boat had capsized. It was the work of a few mo- ments only for three men to get away in the dinghy, which swung at a boom close by ready for an emergency. Seeing this movement, the tug- Alva B, which lay at the dock in the*river between the station and the breakwater with steam up, quickly cast off her lines and ran out to aid the unfortunates, arriving just ahead of the dinghy. The man was picked up by the tug and placed in the fire room, where his wet clothes were removed. The life savers were informed that the other boatmen had been drowned, and as nothing could be seen of them, they returned to the station for grapnels and other apparatus with which to drag for the bodies. At the point where the men sank the bottom is made of the ripraps forming the foundation of the breakwater, so that considerable difficulty was met in recovering the bodies. However, in about two and one-half hours both had been found and taken to the station, where they were turned over to the coroner. Leptak, the sole survivor, was transferred by the tug to the life-saving station, and there received every possible attention. He gradually recovered from his exhaustion, and in the evening felt sufficiently restored to go to his home with friends who came to the station for him.
The distance from the station to the place where the skiff overturned is fully one- half mile, and an actual test demonstrated the fact that nine minutes were required to reach the spot with the dinghy, the men using the utmost exertion. In his testimony Leptak stated that he was in the water only eight or ten minutes, and affirmed very positively that not
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•
more than two minutes could have elapsed from the time the skiff cap-< sized until his companions disappeared from view. Neither of them could swim and both were inexperienced in boating. It is, therefore, apparent that it was entirely beyond the power of the life-saving crew to prevent the loss of these two lives.
WEECK OF THE SCHOONER BRAVE.
Four lives were lost after the annual closing of the life-saving stations on the Atlantic seaboard by the wreck of the small schooner Brave on Plum Island, coast of Massachusetts, (Second District,) May 4, 1893.
The Brave sailed from Deer Isle, about twenty-five miles east of Bock- land, Maine, May 3, 1893, loaded with a cargo of rough granite, for Boston. Massachusetts. That she had fair winds is shown by the fact that she had covered so much of her voyage in a single day. In the morning of May 4, however, a furious gale from the northeast was blow- ing at Plum Island, which the schooner had nearly reached in her course to Boston. This island is about eight miles in length, separated from the mainland by a narrow sound, the entrance to Newburyport Harbor lying to the north of it and that of Ipswich Harbor to the south. The schooner was sometime during the night caught in the gale, and may have attempted to make one of these ports, but at all events she was discovered about 9:15 o'clock in the forenoon only a little distance from the shore of Plum Island, evidently in a disabled condition and swiftly driving toward the beach, not far from the Knobbs Beach Life- Saving Station. Keeper Stevens was at the station, as all keepers are required to be during the inactive season, and fortunately a neighbor, N. K. Watson, was there also, having staid over night at the invitation of the keeper, and both men were early on the watch for signs of dis- tressed vessels. Watson was in the lookout tower and the keeper was scanning the sea from one of the mess-room windows, when they simul- taneously discovered the schooner suddenly appearing through the fog and rain, headed straight for the beach, with her jib standing, her gaff topsails adrift, and portions of her double-reefed foresail, which was torn to ribbons, thrashing about in the wind.
She was about one-third of a mile north by east of the station, and the two men could see no signs of life on board of her, but they at once ran up the beach abreast of her position, arriving just as she struck hard and fast iti the midst of the heavy breakers on the outer bar, about two hundred and fifty yards from the edge of the beach. They were still unable to see any indications of persons on board, but in a few minutes caught sight of a boat a little farther up the beach, cap- sized and dashing about in the breakers near the shore. At first they supposed that the crew had all been lost in an attempt to land in the boat, but discovering no bodies in the vicinity, they concluded, upon reflection, that the sailors might still be on board the schooner, finding refuge from the ugly seas, in the cabin. They therefore made no delay
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in setting out in opposite directions to secure assistance. Watson was sent to the northward toward his home, about one and one-half miles distant, while Keeper Stevens started southward toward the house of .Reuben Jackmaii. It was evident that valuable time was being con- sumed if any persons were still on the wreck, but there was no alter- native, because two men alone could transport neither the beach ap- paratus nor the surf boat to the scene. Wheii about half a mile on his way to Jackmau's house the keeper saw Mr. Jackniau and his grand- son, Hallett J. Rogers, a youth of sixteen years, approaching, and after beckoning them to hurry on, he turned and went back to the station. As soon as they arrived, young Kogers was dispatched for Mr. Jack- man's horses, and a few moments later Mr. Watson returned with Mr. William Trefetheren.
The shipwrecked crew had just been made out in the rigging, and the four men now assembled at the station shifted the Lyle gun. shot lines, etc., from the apparatus cart to a lighter one, and, without waiting for the horses, set out for the wreck. They were able to draw the heavy load only about fifty yards at a time without stopping to rest, and probably upward of twenty-five minutes were required to make the short journey. The only one of the number who was acquainted with the use of the gun was Keeper Stevens, but everybody lent a willing hand, and the necessary preparations to fire were soon made. Three shots were necessary to establish communication, the third landing fairly across the wreck just abaft the mainmast near the jaws of the main gaff, which was low down, the mainsail being furled. The shot line was found by one of the sailors, who reached it at very great peril, and at once began hauling on it. One of the three other men, all of whom still stuck to their refuge in the rigging, made a signal to the shore. The whip line was then bent on, and a signal made by the keeper that all was right. The three men in the rigging offered no aid to the one man standing with the utmost insecurity on the main gaff, but he nevertheless held his place with undaunted courage and pulled in the shot line as fast as he could. He was doing wonderfully well under these adverse circumstances, but when he had hauled out about forty- five yards of the whip line he was suddenly buried from sight by a tremendous breaker, which was followed rapidly by three or four others, sweeping him into the lee rigging, where he was discovered when the waves had passed, stretched out at full length, and holding on with a sailor's proverbial tenacity.
The masts had evidently been partially uustepped or broken from their fastenings before this incident, and were now swaying further and fur- ther until the mastheads would almost touch the water and then fly up to an angle of nearly forty -five degrees. The poor fellow alone in the lee rigging almost immediately disappeared in the seething breakers, and two or three minutes later both masts reeled and toppled over, car- rying with them the other three men, who had all the time remained where they were first seen in the weather main shrouds.
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Little or no hope now remained of saving any of their lives, but the keeper and his volunteer assistants scattered rapidly along the shore to succor any who might possibly drift in alive or to secure their bodies if drowned. Hone, however, were seen during the day. Between 9 and 10 o'clock the next forenoon the bodies of the captain, Joseph W. Lane, and of the mate, Edward Norton, were found on the beach, and that of the cook, Fred Thompson, in the evening of the same day. That of Sum- ner Stinsou, seaman, was recovered on the morning of the 6th of May, the second day after the disaster. They were all delivered to the coro- ner and subsequently sent to Deer Isle by order of the owner of the schooner.
The Brave was what is known as a soft wood vessel (built of hackma- tack, spruce, pine, etc.), was over twenty years of age, and the sea began to tear her to pieces the moment she stranded, her masts betraying fatal weakness and going overboard in less than two hours. Whether the lives lost could have been saved by means of the breeches-buoy if the disaster had occurred under the same conditions during the season when the life-saving station was manned with its crew is obviously a question that admits of no positive answer either way. Two things being- assumed, however, an affirmative opinion may be expressed with a tolerable degree of confidence. Assuming, first, that with a full life- saving crew on the ground at once with their apparatus, the shipwrecked crew could have hauled off the whip line, and, second, that the masts would have withstood for a sufficient length of time the strain necessary to set up and work the apparatus, it is altogether within the line of previous experience to believe that a successful rescue could have been made. Whether such a result could have been accomplished by a full crew with the surfboat is extremely doubtful in view of the conclusion of the four men who did their utmost to save the shipwrecked crew, which is emphatically adverse to the possibility of launching a boat in the sea then running. The storm is reported to have been one of the worst easterly gales of the year, and the surf was very high and furious.
At all events it is to be sincerely regretted that in this instance the station was closed under the terms of the law, and that therefore the life-saving crew had no opportunity to render the customary service, whatever might have been the insult.
The following letter was received at this office subsequent to the ^wreck of the Brave :
"GREENS LANDING, '•Deer Island, Maine, May 12, 1898.
"We wish to express our thanks to you for having such men in the Life-Saving Service as Captain Frank Stevens of Knobbs Beach Station, Plum Island, Massachusetts. We feel that Captain Stevens did every- thing that could have been done by a man placed in his position, with- out a crew, for the preservation of the lives of four of our townsmen (two of whom were members of this lodge) lost in the wreck of the schooner Brave, May 4, 1893. And while we deeply regret and respect-
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fully protest against the policy of the United States iu discharging the crews of the Life-Saving Service May 1, annually, we feel that it was through no fault of Captain Stevens that the lives of our friends were not saved. We trust that he may receive a richer reward for gallant conduct and faithful service than we can express in words.
"FOR GOOD WILL LODGE, No. 60, A. O. U. W.,
"CHAS. H. S. WEBB, Master Workman, "HENRYK HASKELL, Recorder. "Hon. S. I. KIMBALL,
" General Superintendent Life- Saving Service, Washington, D. <?."
A letter of similar import was also sent by the same persons, on behalf of the same organization, to Keeper Stevens, and by him was forwarded to the Department. It reads as follows :
"GREENS LANDING, Deer Isle, Maine, May 12, 1893.
"We wish to express our gratitude and thanks to you for the prompt and faithful manner in which you endeavored to save the lives of two of our brothers (and four of our friends) in the late gale and shipwreck of the schooner Brave on Plum Island, May 4, 1893, and we feel that it was through no fault of yours that their lives were not saved. Also to the inhabitants of Plum Island for their kind services on that occasion we extend grateful thanks.
"FOR GOOD WILL LODGE, No. 60, A. O. LT. W..
"CHAS. H. S. WEBB, Master Workman. "HENRY N. HASKELL. Recorder. "Captain FRANK STEVENS,
" U. S. Life- Saving Service, Plum Island, Massachusetts."
DROWNING OF TWO BOATMEN.— LOSS OF FOUR SURFMEN OF THE CLEVELAND STATION.
In the afternoon of the 17th of May, 1893, two young men were drowned in the outer harbor at Cleveland, Ohio, (Ninth District) and four mem- bers of the life-saving crew, while engaged with their comrades in an •effort to effect the rescue of the imperiled persons, also perished.
It is necessary to state with some detail the extraordinary conditions prevailing at the time of this lamentable occurrence in order to make apparent- the circumstances that rendered it possible for six men to be drowned within the space of a few minutes, only a short, distance from the harbor piers of a large city, in full daylight, and with ample life- saving means at hand.
The Cuyahoga Eiver, which enters Lake Erie at Cleveland, dividing the city into two sections commonly known as the east and west sides, is ordinarily a sluggish stream of small proportions, confined by piers at its mouth to a width of some 250 feet. Rain fell on Saturday, the 13th of May, and there were showers during Sunday, the day closing with a heavy thunder sjtorm. At noon on Monday the wind, which was powerful, veered to the northwest, and a steady downpour set in. Tuesday brought no cessation of the tempest, and by the night of that -day the river had risen and spread out to twice its ordinary width. When Wednesday morning, the 17th, dawned, the fourth day of bad
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weather, rain had been falling almost continuously for fifty-six hours, and in the iorenoon immense quantities of lumber from the numerous yards which line the banks of the tortuous stream began to sweep along the angry current toward its outlet. The beds of the railroads running east were inundated, and bridges were threatened, so that traffic was suspended ; work in many factories lying in the lowlands was neces- sarily discontinued, and all vessels lying in the harbor were detained awaiting a cessation of the gale, which had attained a maximum velocity of eighty miles an hour on the preceding day, and was still furious. The river now presented the spectacle of a mighty torrent, rushing along with appalling rapidity, and projecting its terrific current far into the boisterous lake. The storm is recorded as one of the worst ever known in northeastern Ohio, and multitudes of people were brought together by curiosity on the viaduct and adjacent shores to witness the exciting scene.
At a little before 2 o'clock?. M., their attention was attracted to a skiff containing two young men, who had been up along the old river bed, where they were safe enough, distributing milk to customers along the shore, and who were now carelessly making their way down the main river, where the stream was swift and dangerous. At last, apparently realizing their peril, they made a frantic effort to stem the current, and in so doing broke one of their oars. For a few moments it was still possible for them, if they had been skillful boatmen, to reach one of the piers, but they were evidently paralyzed with fear, and the frail little skiff went whirling down the river with the speed of a race horse. As they approached the life saving station, Surfman Servas hurled a life- buoy toward them with all his might, and Keeper Distel sang out for his crew to put on their life-belts and man the boat.
"It seemed but an instant," says the keeper, "before she was sliding down the ways, her bows having hardly struck the water before she swung out and shot down the river at a terrible rate before the heavy current, and she would almost stand on end as she came in contact with the seas." So swiftly had the lifeboat been got into the water. that she was, as some of the witnesses testify, only three or four hundred feet behind the skiff ; yet Keeper Distel says that when he looked about the skiff was nowhere to be seen, the fact being, as developed beyond doubt by the testimony subsequently taken, that the eggshell craft was already upset, and the men were in the water, if not drowned.
But "a large number of people," adds the keeper, u who were 'stand- ing on the east pier, kept pointing out into the lake," and he therefore pulled onward until the lifeboat was halfway between the end of the piers and the breakwater. Still seeing nothing of the skiff or men, the life-saving crew were about to pull up under the lee of the west break- water for shelter, when the keeper saw a monstrous wave approaching the boat and threatening to break over the bows. In order to meet and pass it before it should comb, the keeper shouted to his crew to pull
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. .49
hard, and as every man well knew the deadly peril of the situation there can be no doubt that they did their best. Just at the critical moment the stroke oar on the port side snapped in two, and before another could be put in its place the impending comber smashed over the starboard bow, knocked the boat upside down, and hurled its occupants into the surf with such violence that (to quote the words of the keeper) it seemed as though they "were plunged to the bottom of the lake.'7
The capsize took place right where the turmoil of contention between the waters of the lake and the river was fiercest, the waves rising to the height of ten, or, as some of the witnesses testify, twelve or fifteen feet, while every crest was laden with flying planks and timbers from the devastated lumber yards. When the life-saving men rose to the surface there at once began, among these frightful conditions, a desperate battle for their lives — a contest in whicjh four of the fearless fellows were finally vanquished. They were men in the prime of life, only two over thirty years of age, and were without exception men of experience in dangerous water. The wind and current being in nearly opposite directions, the lifeboat drifted one way and the men another, so that when they rose the most of them were some twenty feet distant from the boat, which had righted herself, and if she could have been reached might possibly have been boarded, or at least safely held on to by the entire crew, the stronger assisting the weaker. Albert Carriher, how- ever, more fortunate than any of his comrades, managed to get to the boat and lay hold of a life line along her gunwale, where he was seen by the keeper some four or five hundred yards away. Surfman Loher also saw him, as did Light-keeper Hatch, who says he clung to the boat for about five minutes. This is the last that was seen of him alive. Surf- man John Johnson, in company with George Loher, laid hold of a piece of floating lumber, but he was evidently weaker than Loher, and the latter says he il pulled him onto the plank several times," and tried to encourage him, but the poor fellow was unable to hold out, and in a little while lost his grasp and disappeared beneath the wavts. Nicholas Servas was still afloat, and wras seen by Loher after Johnson succumbed, but no other person saw him. Beyond doubt he soon thereafter gave way to exhaustion and met his death either by drowning or from the terrible blows of the floating lumber. Surfman Symouds appears to have clutched a cedar post, which was also supporting George Wilson, and both held on to it for some time. He. too, was weaker than his companion in distress, and Wilson tried to cheer his spirits, and get him to unite in an effort to work the post into smoother water under the lee of the breakwater, but as they were about to make the effort a strong wave swept over them, and Symouds was borne away around the corner of the breakwater where he was either killed by being dashed against it, or drowned from utter exhaustion. These simple shreds of information are all that careful inquiry was able to collect together re- lating to the last strenuous but fruitless struggles of the four men who 4 L s
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perished. Their bodies were afterwards recovered, and all bore the marks of blows sufficiently severe to disable if not to kill the strongest swimmers.
Frederick T. Hatch, the light-keeper on the west breakwater, wit- nessed the capsize of the lifeboat, and was the first to sound an alarm for assistance. In his testimony he says that he saw the skiff, followed by the lifeboat, about three hundred feet behind, and that when he first discovered the skiff "it was bottomside up, with one man clinging to it." The instant the lifeboat upset Hatch ran up a white flag, and as soon as he could get sufficient steam, blew a signal of distress upon the fog whistle. The t\\g Alva Jj. , under command of Captain John Hobsou, which was lying in the inner harbor, appears to have pro- ceeded promptly to the rescue, and first found Surfman Wilson upon the east breakwater. After his companion, Symonds, disappeared, as above stated, Wilson worked alongside the breakwater, where he clung to one of the ringbolts awhile to recover a little strength, and then struggled to the top of the structure, whence he was taken by the tug and conveyed to the life-saving station, the tug returning to her dock. Meantime Henry Eichter, a boat-builder, who had already made com- mendable efforts to render assistance, learned from Light-keeper Hatch that some of the surfnien had drifted into the lake, and he, therefore, Avent as fast as possible to the berth of the Alva B. and requested Captain Hobson to go out again. Volunteers to assist in taking on board the castaways, if any should be found, were called for, and a sufficient num- ber (Richter being among them) having gone on board the tug, she again steamed to the outer harbor. The sea was hollow and combing, which made so small an object as the head and shoulders of a man very difficult to be seen, but a few minutes of scrutinizing search brought into view Surfnian George Loher, who, after failing to reach the life- boat, had secured a plank upon which he managed to maintain his hold until taken on board the tug. The only other member of the life-saving crew still afloat was Keeper Distel. When he came to the surface after the capsize he struck out for the lifeboat, and succeeded in getting hold of the painter which was trailing in the water, but it was wet and slipped through his hands, and he then began helplessly drifting out into the lake. When almost exhausted he caught hold of a piece of plank that luckily came in his way and was for the time, as he says, "greatly relieved." Then he saw that the vigilant light-keeper had hoisted the white flag of distress, and could hear the fog whistle, which somewhat renewed his courage, but a moment later a raft of lumber bore down upon him, heavily pounding his right side, and he "about gave up all hope of being saved," and felt himself losing consciousness, when in a dazed sort of way he heard some one call out, "take this line." He remembers that he felt the line and instinctively obeyed the order, taking two or three turns around his right wrist, but from that instant he recollects nothing more until he regained consciousness in
I'MTED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 5
the life-saving station, where, with Surfman Loher, he had been taken as expeditiously as the tug could make her way.
It would be gratifying if the story of the misfortunes of these two faithful men could terminate here, but the painful facts remain to be recorded that George Loher lost his life a few weeks later at the post of duty, and that Keeper Distel's injuries were of such a serious and per- manent character as to finally disable him for further service in a crew of the Life-Saving Organization.
In the evening of the 30th 'of June, 1893, Surfman Loher, while making his patrol, which took him along the tracks of the railroads on the " west side," was run over and instantly killed by an east-bound pas- senger train of the Lake.Shore and Michigan Southern Eailway.
That no mistakes were made by the life-saving crew on the 17th of May is the unqualified opinion of all the witnesses of the disas- trous occurrence, and they agree that Keeper Distel was a man whose skill in the management of boats under difficult and dangerous condi- tions was of the highest order, while the attempt to rescue the two young men lost in the skiff was pronounced " a daring undertaking" for which the surfmeu are entitled to the utmost credit.
The service rendered by Captain Hobson of the tug Alva B. deserves cordial recognition. The testimony shows that the sea was very heavy, even for a vessel of the size and power of the tug, and that there was great peril involved as well as much skill required, in approaching the breakwater, where Wilson was rescued, and in safely maneuvering the tug in the extraordinary seaway among the dangerous obstacles floating on all sides in the water.
CAPSIZING OF A FISHING BOAT.
The capsizing of a fishing boat upon the shoal locally designated as the Eepublic Spit, one and three-fourths miles southeast of the Cape Disappointment Station, (Twelfth District,) Washington, on May 29, 1893, resulted in the drowning of two men. They were Paul Johnson and Victor Savo, of Astoria, Oregon.
It appears that the cat rigged fishing boat, No. 84, the property of the Astoria Packing Company, containing two men with nets and a partial cargo of salmon, while rounding the spit extending over the sunken wreck Republic, near Sand Island, encountered heavy breakers, which often rise unexpectedly and without warning in the vicinity of the Columbia River Bar, and was caught in this line of surf, and thereby filled and capsized. At the time, the surfboat containing the life saving crew from the Cape Disappointment Station was going to Sand Island to recover a boat that had drifted upon the beach at an earlier hour during the day. When some distance away from the station their attention was attracted by a signal from the watchman at the look- out station near the light-house, who directed them to the overturned craft. The sturdv strokes of the life-?aveis carried them in about ten
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minutes to the boat, which was now in the edge of the breaker, but with no signs of life about her. When the craft capsized, the grapnel, not being secured by lashings, fell into the water and anchored the boat immediately in the breaker, where the seas washed over her uninter- ruptedly. As the keeper thought the men might be entangled in the net which trailed from the derelict, he pushed the surf boat as close as possible and cut the grapnel rope. Nothing could be seen of the men. The ebb tide carried the boat and the net out to seaward and they also were lost. It was evident that the men had been unable to cling to the bottom of the overturned boat in the heavy surf to which they were fully exposed, and that they were soon washed oft' and swept into the ocean by the receding tide. The fatal result of the accident appears to have been very sudden, due probably to the anchoring of the boat by the fall of the grapnel in the worst situation possible. The misfortune wras wholly attributable to untoward circumstances that could be in no way obviated by the life-saving crew.
WRECK OF THE SCHOONER THOMAS W. HAVEN.
The last casualty of the year attended with loss of life was the wreck of the schooner Thomas W. Haven, June 26, 1893, one and three-fourths miles south of the Monmouth Beach Life-Saving Station, (Fourth Dis- trict,) New Jersey. The following account is from the report of Lieu- tenant B. L. Eeed, the officer detailed to inquire into the facts connected with the disaster :
"The three-masted schooner Thomas W. Haven, writh a complement of six persons, sailed from Lamberts Point, Virginia, June 22, 1893, bound for Orient, Long Island, New York, with a cargo of coal. At the out- set the vessel leaked more than usual, but there was no difficulty in keeping her free with the pumps. The voyage prospered until the morning of the 26th, when the southerly wind backed to east southeast and freshened. The leak increased and the master, having shortened sail in anticipation of bad weather, deemed it prudent, at about 5 o'clock, to bear up for Sandy Hook for shelter. The weather grew worse and the sea rose rapidly, the wind veering to east northeast and increasing in force, while rain squalls shut out all view of the land at frequent in- tervals. After standing on about six hours the master supposed he had run up the distance to Sandy Hook, but a temporary cessation of the rain showed him that he was less than two miles off Long Branch. Alarmed by the proximity of the land he endeavored to tack and stand oftshore, but the vessel would not go about. Meanwhile the leak had increased until constant pumping was necessary. A distress signal was now placed in the rigging to attract the notice of a passing steamer, but she continued on her course without response, and as the schooner was gradually drift- ing toward the shore, the only resort was to come to an anchor in the hope that she would ride out the gale in safety. Accordingly, at a quarter past 12 o'clock the starboard anchor was let go about one mile
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from the beach and all sail taken in. One of the boat davits soon be- came unshipped, and to prevent the injury or destruction of the £>oat, as well as to preserve a means of possible escape, the master caused the boat to be lowered into the water and dropped astern. The well was sounded and found to contain four feet of water. The starboard anchor held the vessel only about half an hour when the cable parted, and she drifted rapidly shoreward, being brought up for a brief interval by the port anchor which was let go about two hundred and fifty yards from the beach.
. "Although the stations upon the Atlantic coast are closed at this time for a period of four months, commonly called the inactive season, Keeper James H. Mulligan, who resides at his station (Mouniouth Beach) throughout the year, had been vigilant all the morning. While he was at dinner a boy ran in to call his attention to the schooner, after she an- chored, and he examined her from the lookout, as she lay about two miles away, and then sent a message to Sandy Hook for the information of the New York Maritime Exchange, regarding her appearance and position. The formation of the bottom, extending seaward from Long Branch, is such that the waves rolling in before an easterly wind break into a confused mass of heavy surf upon an outer bar, about two hun- dred yards from shore, and then divide into lesser billows within that line. On the flood tide the surf always becomes more dangerous and the heavy breakers are often impassable. Such was now the case and boat service to reach the schooner was out of the question.
"She immediately swung broadside to the beach, and it took but a moment to comprehend that she must inevitably come ashore.
"It was broad daylight, and the keeper had every reason to expect that the crew of the schooner would remain on board, whence they could be taken off by means of the beach apparatus, without the slightest proba- bility of mishap, and he therefore judiciously made up his mind to secure what help he could and proceed at once to the rescue with the apparatus.
"A horse belonging to Surfman Osborn, who had driven to the station, was quickly hitched to the beach cart, several fisherman lingering near by (their occupation suspended for the day) were hastily engaged, and in about ten minutes the keeper and his volunteer crew were hurrying clown the shore with the beach apparatus. When they reached the scene the vessel was riding by the port anchor just outside the heaviest breakers. The yawl with one man in her lay close under the quarter, while the rest of the crew were gathered at the rail putting baggage into the boat and preparing to embark. Signals were made immediately to warn the crew against attempting to land in their own boat, and the Lyle gun was trained for action, but they nevertheless got into the boat. It is stated in their testimony that they did not understand the signals made with the flags, and although they knew when the projectile struck the ship that the life-savers were on the beach, they dared not return on board lest all hands should be drowned in the attempt. The situation
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remained unchanged for a few minutes only, when the port chain gav£ way, and the vessel, swinging off to the southward, drifted across the bar. The painter parted and the yawl shot away from the schooner's lee toward the beach on the crest of the wave. Less than an hour had now elapsed since the vessel first anchored. During this time John Hennessey, a pound fisherman of Long Branch, had been standing by his fishing boat with a crew of six men and gradually moving down the beach in the edge of the water to keep abreast the vessel as she drifted inshore. When the yawl left the schooner's side, Mr. Hennessey promptly launched his boat to render aid in case of need, and the occasion soon came. When about fifteen yards from the beach the yawl, which was not well trimmed, broached to and capsized, throwing every- body into the water. The fishermen were on the alert and picked up the master, mate, and one sailor, but Hennessey deemed it unsafe to venture further out with his boat, so that the others, three in number, were carried seaward by the undertow, despite the fact that the life- savers ran waist deep into the surf in the effort to rescue them. Two were quickly drowned, but by a fortunate chance the third grasped a sail trailing from the wreck and drew himself on board. The vessel had now turned around and lay head on with her bow about fifty yards from the beach. A line was therefore again fired over, her by Keeper Mulligan, and the sailor, a powerful fellow, hauled off the whip line and soon afterwards was landed in the breeches buoy.
"The loss of two lives at this wreck was wholly due to the precipitate abandonment of the schooner by the crew while the keeper of the life- saving station was present on the beach with his life saving apparatus. He had signaled the crew to remain on board and landed a line across the vessel. That all would have been speedily saved by means of the beach apparatus is shown by the fact that one of the men was so rescued without difficulty after he had nearly drowned with the two who perished by the capsizing. The promptness and skill of Captain Hen- nessey in rescuing the others of the capsized crew deserves the most cordial commendation. In his testimony, taken by the investigating officer, Captain Hennessey says, 'I never thought of such a thing as going alongside the schooner with the boat. It would have been very unsafe, as she probably would have been smashed or capsized. Had they staid aboard ship as they should have done all would have been saved.' ' Keeper Mulligan ' adds Captain Hennessey, l got there promptly and did his full duty. I think no blame whatever can be attached to the Life-Saving Service for the loss of life.'
''The men who drowned were Seaman John Jacobsen, and the steward, whose name could not be ascertained. Both bodies were subsequently recovered, one on the 2d and the other on the 3d of July, and accorded decent burial. The survivors were taken to the station where they were properly cared for and their destitution, after the loss of their effects which had been placed in the yawl, was relieved."
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Mention should be made of the fact that the keeper of the Long Branch Life Saving Station, the next south of Mon mouth Beach was watchful of the incidents taking place in his vicinity on the 26th of June, and" pro ceeded with due dispatch to the Monmouth Beach Station with a view to rendering such assistance as he could to Keeper Mulligan.
In grateful acknowledgment to the Women's National Eelief Asso- ciation from whose store of clothing the shipwrecked men were reclad, the following was handed to the investigating officer by Captain Potter :
"MONMOUTH BEACH STATION, June 28, 1893. i i To whom it may concern :
"We, the undersigned, master and mate of the wrecked schooner Thomas W. Haven, recognizing the substantial benefits to distressed mariners, through the allotments of clothing placed at the various life- saving stations by the Women's National Eelief Association, desire to express our appreciation of their noble work. Our destitution after the loss of our vessel near Long Branch, New Jersey, June 26, 1893, was relieved by Keeper Mulligan of this station, who drew upon the sup- plies furnished by that organization. We feel that it is a duty, as well as a pleasure to add this testimonial to the many of the past, commend- ing the kindly offices of that order.
"W. H. POTTER, Master, UC. L. BYRON, Mate, li On behalf of crew of schooner Thomas W. Haven."
WKECK OF THE BRITISH BRIG AQUATIC. — LOSS OF FIVE MEMBERS OF A CREW OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HUMANE SOCIETY.
Under date of February 24, 1893, in the tabulated statement of " Services of Life-Saving Crews," printed in another place in this book, will be found a brief account of the operations conducted at the wreck of the British brig Aquatic, stranded and subsequently totally lost on a reef near the western extremity of Cuttyhunk Island, (Second District,) Massachusetts. None of the shipwrecked perished, but several members of a volunteer crew of the Humane Society of Massachusetts lost their lives while engaged in an effort to rescue them, and the circumstances of the melancholy occurrence were so closely related to the subsequent operations of the Life Saving Service that a brief recital of them appears to be appropriate here, both as an aid to a proper understanding of the case, and also as a fitting tribute to the courageous but unfortunate men who gave up their lives in the cause of humanity.
The Aquatic was of three hundred and sixty-one tons burden, hailing from St. John, New Brunswick, and bound from Sagua, Cuba, to Boston, Massachusetts, with a cargo of sugar. After passing Montauk Point the captain shaped his course for Vineyard Sound Light ship, lying a little to the westward of Cuttyhunk Island, and guarding on one hand the mouth of Buzzards Bay, and on the other the entrance to Vineyard Sound. By way of the latter was the Aquatic* s course to Boston, but instead of keeping to the eastward, the captain went to the northward of the light-ship, and then undertook to get back to his proper course
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by passiDg around the light-ship, between it and the reef to the east- ward, of which it is the very purpose of the light ship to warn the mar- iner. In pursuing this devious and unnecessary course Captain Hal- crow, at about 7:45 o'clock, P.M., suddenly discovered breakers under his lee. and four or five minutes later found his vessel fast upon the rocks. It was not until he afterwards went into his cabin, and, in company with the mate, examined the chart, that he had any definite knowledge of the position of the brig. The flood tide began to run soon after the vessel struck, making the sea very heavy, and the wind also somewhat increased in force. The captain then cleared away his boats ready for launching, and instructed his crew to put on their life belts, but by the time these things had been done the sea was combing over the vessel, and the captain made up his mind that the situation was too dangerous to successfully launch a boat and escape from the wreck. He then began to burn flash signals at intervals of about five minutes, to apprise the people of the neighborhood that there was a vessel stranded on the shoal.
In the testimony taken at an investigation of the case, the captain states that he did not expect any boat to come off to his rescue, but that he -'did think one might come within hailing distance and stand by" — that it was " impossible for a boat to reach the vessel on account of the sea. • •
The signals of distress burned on board the brig were seen about half an hour after she stranded by the little son of Mr. A. G. Eisener, keeper of the Cuttyhunk Light-house, who ran into the dwelling house and told his father that he saw a torch over in the direction of the reef. Mr. Eisener, w ithout delay, dispatched a messenger to carry the news to the people of the village, about midway of the length of the island, and to the United States life-saving station located at the extreme eastern end, a distance of over two miles, while he, being the keeper of the Humane Society's Lifeboat Station, No. 43, went to the boathouse (located near the light-house) and put "the boat and outfits in order for a trip." He then went back to the light-house, burned a signal to the crew of the wrecked vessel, and returned again to the lifeboat station where, in the course of some twenty-five minutes, more than a sufficient number of men had collected to make up a boat's crew.
The following-named persons were selected for the purpose : Frederick A. Akin, Isaiah H. Tilton, Josiah H. Tiltou, Hiram S. Jackson, Eugene Brightman, and Timothy Akin, Jr., the latter being placed in charge of the boat, which was thereupon manned and launched.
Mr. Eisener testifies that he considered the expedition a hazardous undertaking, but that those who went in the boat differed with him. Nevertheless, he warned them that he thought the sea too rough for an attempt to beard the wreck, and cautioned them to be careful. They appear, however, to have set out with great confidence, and evidently determined to succeed at all hazards.
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From the moment of their departure, between 9 and 10 o'clock at night, until the dawn of next day nothing whatever was seen or heard of them. All signals from the brig ceased about 12 o'clock, and almost the entire population of the island passed the remainder of the night with anxiety and misgivings. What had become of the boat was a question ominously passed from mouth to mouth, but without answer. Just as daylight broke a man with pallor on his cheeks rushed into the light house dwell- ing and told the watchers gathered there that he had just seen a body lying on the edge of the beach. Swiftly making their way to the place they gently raised the dead man's head, and washing the ice and sand from the face recognized it as that of young Fred Akin.
It was now almost certain that the boat had met with disaster, but the details were not known until ascertained, as far as within their knowledge, from the rescued shipwrecked people and the one man saved by them from the surf boat crew. Captain Halcrow, of the Aquatic, testifies that the surf boat appeared about forty feet away, abreast of the port quarter (windward side) of the brig, at about 10 o'clock P. M., and that some one in her hailed him with the question, "Are you all ready?" to which he responded by warning them to keep away from the vessel, to back their boat and come under the bow, "which," he states he "considered the only place they could approach with any degree of safety.'7 He was at that moment engaged in preparing a heaving line, and says, "When I looked again the boat had capsized-^three men were on the boat and one in the water, working toward the vessel." Although there were six in the boat, four only appear to have been seen by the crew of the Aquatic after it upset. The man drifting toward the brig was Josiah H. Tilton, (the only one who could not swim.) who finally got alongside and was hauled on board. The capsized boat drifted past the vessel and round the bows, one of the three men as it did so seizing the clew rope of the foresail, by which the men on the brig hauled him alongside and made several attempts to get him on board, but although he clung to the rope with great tenacity he could not seem to aid them in getting a line around him, and while the third attempt to save him was in progress his hold was broken by a heavy sea, which swept him out of sight. While this was transpiring the upturned surf boat with -two men still upon it drifted away in the darkness.
Tilton says that the boat first entered broken water nearly a hundred yards from the wreck, but where she lay when overturned it was smoother. A barely submerged huge rock, however, was close by, and occasionally a furious wave would break over it with tremendous power. Probably it was one of these, unnoticed and unsuspected, that lifted up the boat and rolled it over and over. As it turned upside down the first time all the crew were imprisoned beneath it, but as the second shock rolled it over again they were released. The only words spoken from the beginning to the end of the tragedy appear to have been by Captain Akin, who sang out to Josiah Tilton, (who he knew
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could not swim,) to lay hold of an oar. They were resolute, self-reliant men, and apparently accepted in silence their impending fate, from which they probably realized there could be no hope of escape.
As before stated, the unfortunate boat of the Humane Society arrived abreast the wreck at about 10 o'clock. Two hours later the boat of the United States life-saving station reached the scene, considerable time necessarily having been occupied in conveying the news of the disaster across the island, two miles or more, and the life saving crew having to pull the same distance farther than the crew in the Humane Society's boat.
When Keeper Bos worth reached the vicinity of the wreck he made a careful survey of the situation (seeing nothing of the Humane Society's boat) and concluding that the brig could not be boarded at that time, and was not likely to go to pieces, decided to pull back to the island and wait for daylight. He carried back no news of the missing boat, and nothing was known of her fate until the discovery of the body of Fred Akin, already mentioned. As soon as the body was conveyed to a place above the reach of the water and covered with a piece of canvas found near by, the islanders distributed themselves along the shore in search of the companions of the dead man, all of whom were now believed to have been drowned. The discovery soon after of the broken and battered boat only too surely confirmed their worst forebodings. A faithful search for other bodies failed to reveal any, and it was not until some days later that that of Timothy Akin, Jr., was discovered on the shore near his own home, and that of Isaiah Tilton at Gay Head, the home of his childhood. The bodies of Eugene Brightman and Hiram S. Jackson, the two others drowned*, were never found. Thus, in less than an hour from the time they left the shore with buoyant hopes and a high resolve, five of the six brave fellows surrendered their lives to the pitiless sea.
Timothy Akin, who commanded the boat, was a man of great courage and unquestionable skill as a surfman ; his companions wrere equally fearless spirits and familiar with the sea. Possibly at the last moment, with success almost in their grasp, their impetuous ardor may have refused to take counsel of discretion, but they sealed their devotion to a noble purpose with the priceless sacrifice of their lives. Better testi- mony of his heroism than this can no man give. It is gratifying to note that the people of the Commonwealth which these men honored, took care to .make liberal provision for the relief and maintenance of their bereaved families.
On the day following the disaster above narrated the crew of the Aquatic, together with the man saved by them from the capsized boat of the Humane Society, were rescued by the life-saving crew of the Cut- tyhunk Station, cordially and materially assisted by a number of the inhabitants of the village and by the tug Elsie and a lighter engaged for the service.
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DEATH OF SUPERINTENDENT DOBBINS.
Captain David Porter Dobbins, late superintendent of the Ninth Life- Saving District, comprising Lakes Erie and Ontario, died at his home in Buffalo. New York, on the 20th of August, 1892.
He was a son of Captain Daniel Dobbins, a well-known master on the lakes at the beginning of the present century, and was born at Erie, Pennsylvania, in the year 1820. At the age of thirteen he sailed on board the steamer Win. Penn, and during his youth was employed on various other vessels plying the lakes, among them the United States revenue cutter Erie. For several years during his maritime life he made ocean voyages in the winter when navigation on the lakes was suspended.
At the early age of eighteen he manifested that enterprise of char- acter for which he was always distinguished, by purchasing, rebuilding, and taking command of a schooner which he sailed in the lake trade for some years. After a rest of twelve months he again embarked in lake navigation, continuing as master of various craft until 1851, when he sold his last vessel, the propeller Troy, and abandoned the business. For many years afterwards he was engaged in insurance, acting as marine inspector for important companies, and also in various ways keeping up his interest and connection with internal commercial enterprises.
Captain Dobbins's experience repeatedly afforded him opportuni- ties, which his courageous and sympathetic nature was not slow to* seize, to aid in the rescue and succor of the shipwrecked. Perhaps his most notable service in this direction was a rescue effected under cir- cumstances of great difficulty and danger, in October, 1853, off Point Abino, Canada. In recognition of the heroism displayed on this occa- sion, Captain Dobbins and each of his comrades were rewarded by the citizens of Buffalo with a gold watch, the captain, with com- mendable pride and appreciation, carrying his to the day of his death.
In 1876 he was appointed superintendent of the Ninth Life-Saving District, and continued in the position uninterruptedly to the end of his life. He was always energetic, and faithfully performed the varied and responsible duties of a superintendent, which comprehend the adminis- tration of an entire district of which he is the general executive officer and disbursing agent. Naturally progressive and fertile in expedients, he devoted a good deal of attention to inventions of life-saving appa- ratus, several of which were commended by the Board on Life-Saving Appliances and adopted by the Ser-vice.
He was a man of excellent presence, and was everywhere recognized as genial, honorable, and generous. As a citizen he was much respected, and held prominent positions in the community where he lived. The imposing funeral obsequies paid to his memory were a just tribute to a commendable life.
60 UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
DEATH OF CAPTAIN WHITE.
Captain John W. White, of the United States Revenue Cutter Service, detailed for special duty in the Life-Saving Service as assistant inspector of the Twelfth District and superintendent of construction of life-saving stations on the Pacific coast, died on the 15th of October, 1892, at Oak- laud, California, at the age of a little more than sixty-three years, hav- ing been born in Virginia on the 29th of July, 1829.
He was appointed a third lieutenant in the Eevenue Cutter Service on the 19th of August, 1856, and was promoted at short intervals until the llth of July, 1864, when he received his commission as a captain. He had already served several years on the Pacific, and in 1865 was selected to take the cutter Lincoln to that coast. Two years later, upon the pur- chase of Alaska by the United States, he commanded the same vessel on an official mission to that Territory. In 1883. he was detailed and ap- pointed a member of a board of experts to assist the Alabama Claims Commission, organized to determine the losses inflicted upon United States shipping by Confederate cruisers, and served with efficiency in that capacity until the 27th of March, 1885. His connection with the Life-Saving Service covered a considerable period of years, terminating with his decease. He always discharged his duties with unquestionable fidelity and intelligence.
The results of some of his investigations of cases of shipwreck in- 'volviDg loss of life are .told by him in the annual reports to which they pertain with such singular clearness and graphic force of expression as to entitle him to no small credit as a wrriter.
The sincerity of his character was manifest in all that he did, and im- parted the impress of reliability to all his work. As a man he was clean of heart, a pleasant companion, gentle in demeanor, honest of purpose, and in every way faithful to a delicate and high-minded sense of duty.
DEATH OF SUPERINTENDENT ETHERIDGE.
By the death of Captain Joseph W. Etheridge, superintendent of the Sixth Life-Saving District at Beaufort, North Carolina, February 15, 1893, the Service suffered the loss o.f a competent and zealous officer. Captain Etheridge was born in Chowan County, near Edenton, North Carolina, in the vicinity of Albemarle Sound, August 14, 1839. Located by the acci- dent of birth in the vicinity of expansive interior waters communicating with the ocean, he made himself thoroughly acquainted in his youth with the bays, sounds, and coasts of his native State and acquired a nautical experience that served him in good stead in the business of later life.
In early manhood Captain Etheridge taught school in the vicinity of Edenton. During the civil wrar he served awhile as an officer in the Union Army and later as a pilot upon United States gunboats. He also served a term in the legislature of North Carolina. He followed the business of a fisherman and merchant for many years, and came in contact with a
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large number of people, whose respect and good will he enjoyed for his substantial character and kindly disposition.
He was for ten years superintendent of the Sixth Life- Saving District . embracing all of the stations on the North Carolina coast, as well as those on the shore of Virginia south of Cape Henry, and proved himself vig- orous and efficient.
While on a tour of duty, making a winter's journey along the bleak and isolated coast of North Carolina, he contracted pneumonia, which ran to a speedy and fatal termination.
ESTABLISHMENT OF STATIONS.
New stations have been established and put in operation since the last annual report at Brant Eock, Massachusetts, Fort Niagara, New York, and Kewaunee, Wisconsin. A station is under construction at Ashta- bula, Ohio, and another on the coast of California, south of the present Golden Gate Park Station, as an additional protection to the entrance to San Francisco Harbor.
The station which Congress in the act authorizing the World's Colum- bian Exposition directed to be placed on exhibition on grounds to be allotted for the purpose, fully equipped with the apparatus, furniture, and appliances used in the Life;Saving Service, and subsequently pro vided should be continued as a permanent station, was duly established, equipped, and manned, and during the fair was visited by extraordinary numbers of our own citizens and foreigners, and examined with marked interest by the representatives of kindred institutions of other coun- tries. The triweekly drills illustrating the methods of rescue were a special attraction, and never failed to gather upon the lake shore enor- mous crowds of interested spectators. While thus satisfactorily serving its original purpose, it had opportunity also, on several occasions, to prove its practical utility by effecting rescues from actual shipwrecks which occurred within the scope of its operations.
The old station at the mouth of the Chicago River was erected in the earlier days of the Service, and having been designed simply for a boat- house, never was suitable for the residence of a crew or adequate as a receptacle for such life-saving apparatus as is now employed. During the continuance of the Exposition it w<as utilized as an outpost of the new station, to which two of the crew were detailed as a constant guard to look out for such accidents as might occur at the immediate harbor entrance, being connected with the main station by telephone. The con- tinuance of this plan is regarded as necessary.
REPAIR AND IMPROVEMENT OF STATIONS.
Necessary repairs and improvements have been made at various stations in need of them. The most important were upon the Surfside, Coskata, and Fourth Cliff stations on the coast of Massachusetts, and the Short Beach and Coney Island stations on the coast of Long Island.
62 UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
The Coskata and Surfside buildings were old structures, much out of repair, and also in need of enlargement in order to conveniently accom- modate the crews and apparatus. Both have been put in good condi- tion. At Fourth Cliff the sea was making dangerous inroads upon the station lot, and it was deemed advisable before making repairs to move the station to a secure position, which was done. The safety of the Short Beach Station, (Long Island, ) located near Zachs Inlet, was imminently threatened by the encroachment of the sea, and the removal of the buildings to a position beyond the reach of storm tides or probable changes in the coast line became a matter of urgent necessity. They were therefore moved to the most eligible site in the vicinity. The Coney Island buildings in the same district needed extensive repairs and some enlargement, both of which were made.
Necessary addition and repairs were also made at several important stations in the Sixth District, coasts of Virginia land North Carolina.
TELEPHONE LINES.
The telephone Tine between Cape Charles and Assateague Island, Vir- ginia, authorized by act of Congress approved May 13, 1892, and men- tioned in the last report as then under construction, was completed in the spring of 1893, and is in successful operation. The other telephone lines of the Service have been maintained in good order, and a few new connections and minor extensions have been added.
The value of this important feature of the Service, both as an aid to the efficiency of the life-saving crews, and incidentally as a means of afford- ing early and desirable information to the maritime interests of the country, is constantly being demonstrated on critical occasions along the coast, and has attracted the marked attention of officers of life-saving institutions in foreign countries.
BOARD ON LIFE-SAVING APPLIANCES.
A meeting of the Board on Life Saving Appliances was held in Boston, Massachusetts, in May. A report of their proceedings is published herewith.
THE WOMEN'S NATIONAL BELIEF ASSOCIATION.
The humane efforts of the Women's National Belief Association have continued without abatement throughout the year. Their beneficent labors have been exercised in a worthy cause and a wide field, and have merited and received fitting and grateful appreciation. The warmest thanks of the Service are due the association for its ministra tions to the needs of distressed and destitute mariners who have, in the many instances enumerated below, in which the stores of the society have been used, expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the women who con- stitute the organization and who have made such kindly provision for the hapless sailor.
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 63
The stores donated by the association were used during the year in succoring distressed and destitute persons as follows :
The crew of the sloop Vashti, near the White Head Station, coast of Maine, July 3, 1892 ; the crew of the schooner Commodore Tucker, near the Hunniwells Beach Station, coast of Maine, July 3, 1892 ; the crews of the barges Bismarck, Cherokee, and Siren, near the Oswego Station, Lake Ontario, July 16, 1892; the crew of the steamer S. Neff, near the Cleveland Station, Lake Erie, August 11, 1892 ; the crew of the steamer Western Reserve, near the Muskallonge Lake Station, Lake Su- perior, August 30, 1892 ; the crew of the schooner Lizzie Doak, near the Ludiugton Station, Lake Michigan, August 30, 1892; the crew of the sloop Flossy, near the Cuttyhunk Station, coast of Massachusetts, September 4, 1892; the crew of the British bark Casket, near the Cape Fear Station, coast of North Carolina, Sep- tember 13, 1892 ; the crew of the schooner Aunt Ruth, near the Pointe aux Barques Station, Lake Huron, September 14, 1892 ; the crew of the British schooner Princeport, near the Cross Island Station, coast of Maine, September 15, 1892 ; the crew of the schooner John Burt, near the Big Sandy Station, Lake Ontario, September 26, 1892 ; the crew of the scow Michicott, near the Manistee Station, Lake Michigan, October 28, 1892 ; the crew of the German bark Stella, near the Oak Island Sta- tion, coast of North Carolina, October 29, 1892 ; the crew of the schooner Zach Chandler, near the Muskallonge Lake Station, Lake Superior, October 29. 1892 ; the crew of the schooner L. Seaton, near the Pointe aux Barques Station, Lake Huron, November 11, 1892 ; the crew of the schooner Sooloo, near the Monomoy Station, coast of Massachusetts, November 16, 1892 ; the crew of a scow stranded near the Eockaway Point Station, coast of New York, November 18, 1892 ; the crew of the schooner Irene Thayer, near the Oregon Inlet Station, coast of North Carolina. November 19, 1892 ; the crew of the schooner Annie Vought, near the North Manitou Island Station, Lake Michigan, November 21, 1892 ; the crew of the British bark Kate Harding, near the Highland Station, coast of Massachusetts, November 30, 1892 ; the crew of the schooner Esther Ward, near the Chatham Station, coast of Massachusetts, December 27, 1892 ; the crew of the schooner Edith Berwind, near the Smiths Island Station, coast of Virginia, January 2, 1893 ; the crew of the schooner May Day, near the Jerrys Point Station, coast of New Hampshire, January 9, 1893 ; two of the crew of the sloop Gilbert H. Farrington, near the Cobbs Island Station, coast of Virginia, January 16, 1893 ; one of the crew of the Norwegian bark Alice, near the Long Beach Station, coast of New Jersey, February 6, 1893 ; the crew of the schooner William H. Jones, near the White Head Station, coast of Maine, February 9, 1893 ; the crew of the British brigantine Ellie Carter, near the Ship Bottom Station, coast of New Jersey, February 9, 1893; the crew of the schooner Elsie Fay, near the Ditch Plain Station, coast of New York, February 17, 1893; the crew of the
64 UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
schooner Douglas Dearborn, near the Cuttyhunk Station, coast of Mass- achusetts, February 20, 1893 ; the crew of the schooner Nathan Esler- brook, Jr., near the Little Kinnakeet Station, coast of North Carolina, February 20, 1893 : the crew of the schooner Glemcood, near the Point Allerton Station, coast of Massachusetts, February 22, 1893 ; the crew of the British brig Aquatic, near the Cuttyhunk Station, coast of Massa- chusetts, February 24, 1893 ; the crew of the schooner Ella M. Watts, near the Cape Henlopen Station, coast of Delaware, March 4, 1893 ;.the crew of the schooner East Wind, near the Cape Henlopen Station, coast of Delaware, March 4, 1893 ; the crew of the British steamer Wells City, between the MOD mouth Beach and Seabright stations, coast of New Jersey, March 11, 1893 ; the crew of the schooner Genesta, succored at the Lewes Station, coast of Delaware, April 6, 1893 ; two of the crew of the schooner Julia E. Whalen, succored at the Monomoy Station, coast of Massachusetts, April 7, 1893 ; two of the crew of the sloop Josie, near the San Luis Station, coast of Texas, April 14, 1893 ; the crew of the schooner Keivaunee, near the Kacine Station, Lake Michigan, April 20, 1893 ; the crew of the schooner Index, near the Fletchers Neck Station, coast of Maine, April 21, 1893; the crew of the schooner Addie J., near the Burnt Island Station, coast of Maine, May 20, 1893 ; two persons from the catboat Lilac, near the Cleveland Station, Lake Erie, June 1, 1893 ; two persons from the sloop Sea Gull, near the Holland Station, Lake Michigan, June 10, 1893; two persons from the abandoned schooner Pride, succored at the Grande Pointe au Sable Station, Lake Michigan, June 11, 1893; the crew of the schooner Fleetwing, near the Point Betsey Station, Lake Michigan, June 25, 1893 ; and the crew of the schooner Thomas W. Haven, near the Long Branch Station, coast of New Jersey, June 26, 1893.
Clothing was also furnished to a woman rescued from drowning near the Cleveland Station, Lake Erie, July 24, 1892 ; to a boy rescued from drowning near the Thunder Bay Island Station, Lake Huron, August 11, 1892; to two men rescued from a capsized boat near the Erie Station, Lake Erie, September 1, 1892 ; to three men capsized in a sail- boat near the Erie Station, Lake Erie, September 4, 1892 ; to three per- sons on a catboat near the Erie Station, Lake Erie, September 25, 1892 ; to an insane man who attempted to drown himself near the Monrnouth Beach Station, coast of New Jersey, January 25, 1893 ; for the burial of two of the crew of the barge Reliance, near the Block Island Station, coast of Ehode Island, February 20, 1893 ; to a destitute wayfarer near the Eehoboth Beach Station, coast of Delaware, March 20, 1893 ; to a sailor at the Assateague Beach Station, coast of Virginia, March 29, 1893 ; to three men capsized in a sailboat near the Wachapreague Station, coast of Virginia, April 6, 1893 ; to a person succored at the Galveston Station, coast of Texas, April 14, 1893 ; to a man from a capsized skiff near the Cleveland Station, Lake Erie, April 23, 1893 ; to two persons from a capsized boat at the new Chicago Station, Lake
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 65
Michigan, May 24, 1893 ; to three persons capsized in a boat near the Erie Station, Lake Erie, May 30, 1893 ; to a person capsized in a sail- boat near the St. Joseph Station, Lake Michigan, June 4, 1893 ; and to a man rescued at the Eacine Station, Lake Michigan, June 14, 1893.
The depleted stores at eighty-five stations have been renewed by the association during the year.
CONCLUSION.
The fears expressed in former reports of threatened decadence of the Service, on account of the frequent resignations of many of the best surf- men, have been dispelled by the recent increase in their pay granted by Congress. This enactment, together with the continued observance of the law requiring that appointments ''shall be made solely with reference to fitness and without reference to political or party affilia- tions," now enables the Service to obtain the best qualified men, when- ever recruits are needed.
The frequency of dangerous tempests along the Atlantic seaboard during the months of May and August, and the special ferocity which has characterized them in recent years, causing widespread destruction of life and property, and which have now come to be expected with the regularity that has been supposed to mark the occurrence of the so-called equinoctial storms, have created an almost universal demand for the protection* which it is expected the extension of the active season of the Life-Saving Service, to embrace these months, would afford. The desire for this extension has found emphatic expression in numerous petitions of organizations representing maritime interests, and in the columns of maritime journals and the general public press of the country.
There can be no doubt that such extension of the period during which the stations should be kept open and manned would subserve the inter- ests of commerce and humanity, and it is therefore recommended.
The fidelity with which the officers and employes of the Service have discharged their duties, always arduous and often involving personal hardship and peril, deserves cordial commendation.
5 L s
SERVICES OF LIFE-SAVING CREWS.
1892-1898.
SERVICES OF LIFE-SAVING CREWS.
[Abbreviations used in this statement : bg. (brig), bk. (bark), bkn. (barkentine), sc. (schooner), shp." (ship), sip. (sloop), st. (steam), str. (steamer), yt. (yacht), Am. (American), Br. (British), Fr. (French), Ger. (German), It. (Italian), Mex. (Mexican), Nor. (Norwegian), Swed. (Swedish).]
Date.
1892. July 2
Name and nation- ality of vessel.
Station and locality.
Am. sc. Emma ! Saluria, Texas.. Clara.
July 2 Am. str. Minnie B...! Chicago, Lake Michigan.
July 3 Am. sip. yt.Vashti... White Head, Maine
Am. sc. Commodore Hunniw ells Beach Tucker. Maine.
July 3 Sailboat: no name.. Gurnet, Massachusetts....
July 3
Skiff: no name. ! Cuttyhunk, Massachu- setts.
July 3 Am. sc.yt. Nellie M.. Cleveland, Lake Erie....
July 3 Am. sc. Racine ! Pointe aux Barques,
Lake Huron.
July 3 j Am.&lp.yt. Druid ...; Chicago, Lake Michigan,
July 4 Am. HC. Cathie C. \ Muskeget,Massachusetts, Berry.
Julv 4 Am.slp.yt. Elaine... Point Lookout, New York.
(69)
Nature of casualty and service rendered.
Sprung aleak and was beached to prevent sinking; crew got ashore unaided. Keeper assisted to land effects of crew, cared for latter at station, and rendered all possible aid until vessel was re- paired and floated, four days later.
Rudder disabled ; vessel drifting near breakwater and blowing distress sig- nals. Keeper procured tug, accompa- nied her to the craft and ran line to lat- ter, which was then towed into port.
Dragged ashore during gale ; boats swamped and vessel on her beam ends with heavy seas sweeping her decks. Life-saving crew rescued entire crew of five men and cared for them at station for four days ; secured sloop from stav- ing on the rocks and dismantled her. She was subsequently floated by wreck- ers. [See letter of acknowledgment.]
Struck on a rock during foggy weather and totally wrecked ; her crew landed at Heron Island. Assisted to save wreck- age, transported crew to station, and cared for them two days. [See letter of acknowledgment.]
Anchored off station during heavy weather, where, having insufficient ground tackle, she was in danger of dragging on the rocks. Carried out heavy grapnel, thereby enabling her to weather gale in safety.
Boat, containing five boys, was driven ashore while attempting to cross from Nashawena to Cuttyhunk, having broken an oar. Keeper and one volun- teer went to their assistance and with much difficulty and danger brought them against the wind and sea to their homes.
Disabled and drifting toward breakwater. Summoned tug, accompanied her to the endangered craft, and ran line to latter, which was then towed into port. In a few moments more she must have struck against the breakwater, where both ves- sel and crew would have been lost in the heavy sea that was run nine:.
Stranded and totally wrecked. Boarded her with lifeboat after a hard struggle against wind and sea and brought ashore crew of six men with their effects. Sheltered crew at station and worked on vessel at different times for nine days, until her outfit and all the cargo that could be saved were removed.
Lost her dinghy. Recovered boat and returned it to owner.
Anchored in dangerous position; pound- ing on bottom and signaling for assist- ance. Pulled out to vessel, seven miles distant, assisted to get her under way and ran hawser to tug which towed her to safe anchorage.
Parted moorings and dragged ashore. Dredged a channel from vessel, carried out an anchor, and hove her afloat.
70
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
Services of crews — Continued.
Date.
1892. July 4
July 4
July 7
July 9
July 9
July 10
July 11
July 11
July 11
July 11
July 12
July 12
July 12
July 12
Name and nation- ality of vessel.
Skiff; no name
Am.slp.yt. Nanon..
name.
Station and locality.
Louisville, Kentucky....
Sandy Hook, New Jer- sey.
Dump scow; no Milwaukee, Lake Mich-
Am, sip. yt. Gypsy Baron.
Am. sc. yt. Chesa- peake.
Am. sc. Emma J. Chadwick.
Catboat; no name..
Am. str. Harry Cottrell.
Scow; no name
igan.
Point Lookout, New York.
Chicago, Lake Michigan.
Monomoy, Massachu- setts.
Mosquito Lagoon, Flor- ida.
Grindstone City, Lake Huron.
Grande Pointe au Sable, Lake Michigan.
Am. sc. Lottie Ma- Two Rivers, Lake Mich-
Am, st. lighter Rob- ert Wallace.
Am. str. Tacoma..
igan.
Thunder Bay Island, Lake Huron.
do
Sailboat Grey- hound.
Fishing boat; no
Bois Blanc, Lake Huron.
Cape Disappointment, Washington.
Nature of casualty and service rendered.
In danger above the cross dam of the Falls of the Ohio. Brought boat and three occupants safely ashore.
Misstayed and stranded. Carried out anchor and hove a strain on the hawser, thereby preventing her from swinging broadside to the sea and filling. Later, ran a line to a tug which hauled her afloat.
One of her crew fell overboard and, being weighted with a pair of heavy boots, was in danger of drowning. Rescued him as he was sinking for the last time and put him on board his vessel.
Capsized and sunk in thebreakers,drown- ing occupant. Keeper stripped craft, assisted to raise and haul her off the beach. Subsequently recovered body of drowned boatman and gave it over to coroner. This accident occurred be- yond scope of Service operations.
Dismasted by squall and capsized, drown- ing four of her crew. The remaining five were taken from the bottom of the capsized craft by a- tug and brought to the station, where crew cared for them and restored two of their number who were nearly unconscious through long exposure. Life-saving crew went out in tow of yacht Frolic and righted the overturned vessel, which was towed into harbor. This casualty was invisible from the station and beyond scope of Service operations.
Misstayed, compelling her to anchor ; ' when vessel swung she fetched up on Handkerchief Shoal. Assisted to get her off and piloted her into channel.
Boat,carry ing United States mail, stranded on reef; master unable to get her afloat. Boarded her, took out part of cargo, floated her, and put cargo on board.
Fast on Burnt Cabin Point Reef. Pro- cured two fishing boats, lightered deck load, carried out an anchor and, assisted by vessel's propeller, got her afloat.
Sprung aleak and listed, causing her to lose a small dwelling house which owner was having transferred to Lud- ington. Crew saved furniture and put it on board tug before house went to pieces in surf; cared for owner and fam- ily at station overnight and, the former being chilled and delirious from long exposure to the water, gave him proper medical treatment. In morning, owner having recovered, transferred him and his family to tug and ran lines to the scow, which was towed to her destina- tion.
Grounded while attempting to enter har- bor; no tugs available. Crew ran lines to pier, hove her off, and secured her alongside wharf.
Wished assistance to get to safe anchorage. Helped to raise her anchor and piloted her to place of safety.
Stopped off station and whistled for above-named vessel, wishing to tow her to Chicago. Boarded her, delivered her message to lighter, which came out and was towed to destination.
Capsized and sinking under the weight of her crew— two men and a boy — who were clinging to the side. Rescued them with surf boat, towed boatashore, bailed her out, and secured her for owner.
Swept into the breakers by strong ebb tide; boat nearly swamped, endanger- ing lives of two boatmen. Rescued lat- ter and cared for them at station, and when boat and net drifted ashore later in the day secured them.
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
'71
Services of crews — Continued.
Date.
1892. July 15
July 15 July 15
July 15
July 15
July 15
July 15
July 15
Name and nation- ality of vessel.
Am. str. D. C.Whit- ney.
Am. sc. Reindeer
Am. sc. Aloha....
Am. sc. Aunt Ruth.
Station and locality.
Nature of casualty and service rendered.
Am. str. Winslow...
Am. str. Margaret Olwill.
Am. str. City of Green Bay.
Pile, driver ; no name.
Fairport, Lake Erie
Cleveland, Lake Erie
Sand Beach, Lake | Huron.
Pointe aux Barques, Lake Huron.
Sturgeon Point, Lake Huron.
Vermillion Point, Lake Superior.
Crisps, Lake Superior....
Muskallonge Lake, Lake Superior.
July 15 i Am. sc. Mars
July 15
Am. sc. Essie M. Thompson.
Ludington, Lake Michi- gan.
White River, Lake Mich- j igan.
Lost her hawser. After a fruitless effort to recover same with a tug, master re- quested assistance of life-saving crew. Launched surfboat, swept for and re- covered hawser and returned it to ves- sel.
Wanted tug. Boarded her in response to signals and notified a tug which brought vessel into port.
Hawser parted while towing into harbor during heavy weather, causing her to drag ashore and fill. Rescued entire crew of ten men with lifeboat and worked for seven days on vessel, run- ning lines to tugs, lightering cargo, arid assisting in all ways possible until she was released.
Endangered by sudden squall while re- moving cargo from schooner Racine (see record of July 3). Assisted to se- cure her from pounding against the wreck. Later in the day. seeing her yawl making a fruitless attempt to take from the wreck one of her crew who was in peril of being swept overboard by the heavy waves, launched lifeboat and brought the man safely ashore.
Disabled machinery while towing raft of logs, compelling her to anchor in dan- gerous position. Boarded her, sent dis- patch for tug which towed steamer and raft to place of safety.
Broke shaft and forced to anchor; heavy gale and sea prevailing. Boarded her, and, after a hard pull, carried ashore dispatch for tug. Next morning, on ar- rival of tug, ran hawser to latter, which took disabled craft into port for repairs.
Overtaken by heavy weather while tow- ing raft of poles ; vessel let go to save herself, signaling station to secure raft. When latter came ashore, crew passed lines around it, secured it from break- ing up and, on following day, delivered it up to owner. [See letter of acknowl- edgment.]
Sprung aleak and sunk in prevailing gale ; one of her crew reached shore in her boat, the remaining five sought refuge in the frame of the derrick. Af- _ter three unsuccessful attempts to reach them with the surfboat, during which the boat was capsized by the violent seas and one of the surfmen nearly drowned, life-saving crew succeeded in pulling alongside and bringing the five men safely ashore. Three days later, assisted to pump out and raise sunken craft.
Hard aground in heavy sea and gale. Took master ashore to procure tug. and when sea moderated ran line to latter, but she was unable to haul the vessel afloat. Another attempt was made two days later, crew assisting by running lines to the tug, and the craft was re- leased.
On her beam ends, twelve miles from sta- tion, heavy seas breaking over her; crew of three men in the rigging. Launched lifeboat and succeeded in res- cuing, with great skill, the three men from their dangerous position. Part of the life-saving crew then went on board and managed to throw overboard some of the tan bark on her deck. The suc- cessful performance of this hazardous duty caused the vessel to right suffi- ciently to enable life-saving crew to sail her to Muskegon, thus saving both ves- sel and crew.
72.
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
Services of crews— Continued.
i Name and nation-
•p* A > 11 tlLUiC H.I1U IlilllU
Date- ality of vessel.
Station and locality. Nature of casualty and service rendered.
1892. July 15
July 15
Am. sc. Che en y Ames.
Muskegon, Lake Michi- gan.
Am. sc. A. R. Up- i South Haven .Lake Mich-
right.
igan.
July 15 Small boat; no Michigan City, Lake name. Michigan.
July 15 Am. sip. yt. Rogers.. South Chicago, Lake Michigan.
July 15 i Fishing boat; no Two Rivers, Lake Mich- name, igan.
July 15 Fishing boat: no do
name.
July 15 Fishing boat; no do
name.
July 15 Fishing boat: no do
name.
July 15 Fishing boat; no do
name.
July 16 ! Am. sc. Hattie M. Crumple Island, Maine.. Mayo.
July 16 i Am. sc. Eugene Borda.
White Head, Maine
July 16 | Br. barge Bismarck.. Oswego, Lake Ontario....
July 16 Br. barge Cherokee.. do.
July 16 Br. barge Siren do
July 16 ; Am. sc. Plow Boy... Erie, Lake Erie.
July 16 Am. sc. Conrad Cleveland. Lake Erie
Reid.
July 16 Am. str. Viking Thunder Bay Island,
Lake Huron.
Collided with wharf; vessel sinking. Di- rected master to steer his craft on a shoal to prevent foundering, then landed entire ciew of ten men with their per- sonal effects and vessel's supplies. Cared for crew at station and assisted in rais- ing the vessel, after which put back on board all articles removed at time of disaster.
Struck dock while entering harbor, dam- aging hull, sails, and rigging. Assisted to keep her away from the wharf, against which she was pounding, and to haul her into smooth water for repairs.
Drifting offshore, the two boys on board being unable to pull against wind and sea. Launched surfboat and towed them into harbor.
Pounded against wharf in heavy weather, carrying away her rudder. Towed her away from dock in time to prevent destruction and beached her in safe place. When weather moderated took her into harbor and pumped her out with station pump.
Unable to enter harbor against offshore gale. Towed her alongside pier.
Attempted to beat into port against head wind and sea. Took her line and towed her into harbor.
Outside harbor; trying to enter against offshore gale. Towed her in.
Making fruitless efforts to get into port ; wind offshore and blowing a gale. Took her line and assisted her into harbor.
Attempted to beat into harbor, but was unable to make headway. Towed her alongside pier.
Ran ashore during fog. Boarded her, planted an anchor in deep water and hove her afloat. Piloted her to safe an- chorage.
Dragged on a sunken ledge; leakingbadly. Manned pumps until arrival of wreck- ing steamer, then transferred deck load to latter vessel, after which wreckers pumped her out and took her into port.
Hawser parted while in tow of tug, causing vessel to go ashore three miles from station. After a perilous trip in the life- boat, during which one of the surfmen was washed overboard, rescued entire crew of eight persons. Cared for the family of the master at the station.
Vessel parted towline and went ashore at same time as the Bismarck (see preced- ing case). Landed entire crew of twelve persons, including master's family, and cared for latter at station.
In company with barges Bismarck and Cherokee, and went ashore at same time. Landed her crew of four men with lifeboat.
Mistook lights and stranded. Boarded her and ran lines to tugs, but they were un- able to haul her off. Life-saving crew worked 011 vessel for ten days, planting anchors and carrying lines to tugs, but could not release her. She was finally floated by wreckers.
Unable to raise her anchors ; vessel short- handed. Assisted to heave them up, thereby enabling her to tow into harbor.
Wanted ' assistance of life-saving crew to take three passengers from the island, the vessel being unable to make a land- ing on account of her deep draught. Transferred passengers to steamer in lifeboat.
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
>v i- rices of crews — Continued.
73
Station and locality. Nature of casualty and service rendered.
July 17
July 17
July 18 July 18
'>ie Car- White River, Lake Mich- igan.
rit- Cross Island, Maine
White Head, Maine
tiu.slp.yt. Ro^^.oy Hunniwells Beach, Maine.
Am.str. Volunteer.. Grindstone City, Lake Huron.
A m.slp.yt. Growler Chicago, Lake Michi- gan.
Am.sc.L.B.Chand- Assateague Beach, Vir-
ler. ginia.
Am. sip. yacht; no Chicago, Lake Michi-
naine. gan.
July 18 Atn.sc. Hoboken Racine, Lake Michigan..
July 19 Am. sip. Kit Carson Lone Hill, New York
Julv 19
Julv 19
Am. barge H. J. Charlotte, Lake Ontario., Mills.
Am.str. Gettysburg Grindstone City, Lake Huron.
Lighter; no name... Thunder Bay Island, Lake Huron.
Fishing boat: no Point Betsey, Lake Mich- name, igan.
July 20 Naphtha Launch Long -Beach, New York Bob.
Lost head .sails and sprung aleak dur- ing gale of previous day ; her crew ex- hausted by continuous work at the pumps. Life-saving crew manned pumps, made temporary repairs, and relieved crew until they had rested sufficiently to take their vessel into port without further assistance.
Misstayed and stranded. Piloted tug out to vessel, but latter could not be floated. When schooner was sold by master (on 20th instant), keeper piloted tug hav- ing crew on board to Machiasport.
Dismasted. Boarded her, cleared away wreckage, and made temporary repairs, after which she proceeded to her home port.
Dragged ashore. Vessel in dangerous position with sea making a breach over her. Carried out a kedge, hove her afloat, and took her to a place of safety.
Wished assistance to recover raft of logs which broke adrift from her during the gale of the 15th instant, and went ashore on Pointe aux Barques Reef. Recov- ered the hawser lost on that occasion and returned it to vessel. On 22d in- stant ran her line to a portion of raft, which was floated by steamer and towed to Cleveland.
Capsized. Two of her crew rescued by another yacht that was near by. Life- saving crew went out in tow of a tug, rescued the master, who was clinging to the overturned craft, brought boat ashore, and righted and bailed her out.
Misstayed and grounded on a shoal. Planted an anchor in deep water and on flood tide hove her afloat uninjured.
Blown against breakwater; occupant unable to manage her and boat in danger of swamping. Towed her into a slip near the station and moored her securely.
Deeply loaded; wished assistance to enter harbor. There being no tug avail- able, crew boarded vessel, piloted her in, and assisted to moor her to wharf.
Boat, having on board a picnic party, ran ashore. Keeper landed fifty passengers, thereby lightening vessel so that she floated and proceeded to her desti- nation.
Hawser parted while in tow of tug, letting barge drift ashore. Accompanied tug to stranded barge, sixteen miles from sta- tion, and ran lines by means of which she was got afloat.
Asked assistance of crew to recover por- tion of raft of logs lost by steamer Vol- unteer (see record of July 17). Gave her information as to depth of water around raft ; next morning ran lines by means of which a portion of raft was hauled afloat.
Vessel, having excursion party on board, was unable to get a line to tug which had brought her to island. Towed her out into deep water with surf boat where tug could reach her.
Had two men on board, one of whom was bleeding from the lungs and appeared to be in danger of dying. At the request of the other, the sick man was taken in surfboat and transported to his home in South Frankfort. Crew pulled nearly sixteen miles in this service.
Capsized, drowning her crew of two men ; beyond scope of Service operations. Keeper and two volunteers towed craft ashore righted and bailed her out, and held her for owner.
74
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
Services of crews — Continued.
Date.
1892. ' July 20
July 20
July 20
Name and nation- ality of vessel.
Br. barge Dakota.. Skiff; no name
Am. str. Wisconsin.
Station and locality.
July 22 Skiff; no name
July 22 j Am. tug Charley Ferris.
July 23
July 23
Flatboat; no name.
Am. sc. Lottie Ma-
July 23 j Yawl; no name
July 23 Am. sip. yacht; no name.
July 23 Am.slp.yt. Fancy.
July 24 Am. tug S. Thomas Brown.
July 24 I Sailboat Priscilla.. July 24 I Sailboat Viola
July 24 Skiff Fish
July 24
Am. tug Torrent...
Oswego, Lake Ontario
Kenosha,Lake Michigan-
Milwaukee, Lake Michi- gan.
Oswego, Lake Ontario.... do....
Louisville, Kentucky
North Manitou Island, Lake Michigan.
Chicago, Lake Michigan.
.do
.do
Watch Hill, Rhode Is- land.
Charlotte, Lake. Ontario. do....
Nature of casualty and service rendered.
July 24 Sailboat Terror
July 26
Scow; no name
July 26 I Am. sc. Mary D. Ayer.
Cleveland, Lake Erie....
Grindstone City, Lake Huron.
Racine, Lake Michigan.,
Pentwater, Lake Michi- gan.
Sturgeon Bay Canal, Lake Michigan.
Towline parted, causing her to go ashore. Ran lines for wrecking tugs, and as- sisted to get her off.
Capsized; two men clinging to bottom of boat and crying for help. One of the life-saving crew rescued them and brought boat and boatmen ashore. Stranded in foggy weather. Transferred - to a tug ninety-three passengers with their baggage, assisted to lighten her of part of cargo, then ran lines to three tugs and revenue cutter Johnson, by whose combined efforts she was floated. Overtaken by squall and beached to pre- vent disaster. Brought two occupants to station for shelter, and hauled boat up clear of the sea.
Needed assistance to get her line on board a lighter that was in shoal water. Crew ran hawser to lighter, which was then towed jnto harbor.
In danger of drifting over the Falls of the Ohio with its four occupants. Life-sav- ing crew towed them ashore. Dragging her moorings in a gale. Boarded her, got her under way, and started to bring her into- harbor, but, her foresail splitting, anchored in good holding ground, where she rode out the storm. Drifting out into the lake before offshore breeze ; the six boys on board unable to check her progress (having lost two oars) and being badly frightened. Res- cued the boys and towed boat ashore. Capsized while towing into harbor, throw- ing four occupants into the water. Res- cued the yachtsmen, one of whom being- foul of the running rigging would soon have drowned; then bailed out yacht. Disabled and drifting offshore. Notified tug, which towed her into safe anchor- age.
Ran on point of Watch Hill during fog. Took master ashore to telephone for a tug, and on arrival of latter ran her lines and assisted to release stranded vessel. Capsized. Assisted to tow craft ashore :
then righted and bailed her out. Capsized and drifting out into the lake with her crew of four men. Brought them to station and bailed out boat. Moored to breakwater during a squall : oars gone and skiff full of water. Brought boat and three occupants to station, and cared for party until storm passed. On landing at station wharf one of the party, a woman, fell over- board, but was rescued by the life-sav- ing crew.
Requested assistance to recover part of a raft of logs that had gone ashore during gale. Launched station boat and ran lines, enabling tug to recover raft. Capsized in squall ; her crew rescued by a craft near at hand before arrival of surfboat. Life-saving crew landed the men, righted and bailed out capsized boat, and turned her over to owner. Broke adrift from tug, became water- logged and finally stranded. After an unsuccessful attempt to bail her out, ran lines to a tug which hauled her off and towed her to Ludington for repairs. Leaking badly nine miles east of station: her crew exhaused, having been at the pumps nearly three days. Summoned tug and accompanied her out to the ves- sel. Manned pumps and kept schooner afloat until tug brought her into harbor where, the water gaining on the pumps, she was beached in a safe place.
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
75
N / r/r(.s of crews — Continued.
Date.
Name and nation- ality of vessel.
Station and locality. Nature of casualty and service rendered.
1892.
July 26 Fishing boat; no Point Adams, Oregon
name.
July 27 Am. tug Acme Sturgeon Point, Lake
Huron.
July 28 Skift'; no name i Big Sandy, Lake Onta- rio.
July 28 Am. sc. Samuel L. Middle Island, Lake Hu- Watson. ron.
July 28 Am. tug Conamo- Two Rivers, Lake Mich-
dore Nutt. igan.
I July 29 Am. str. City of | Fletchers Neck, Maine....
Waterville.
July 29 Am. sc. Cuba Kenosha, Lake Michi- gan.
July 31 Am. sc. I. W. Iline... Wall is Sands, New Hampshire.
July 31 ! Am. sip. Milo ' Cuttyhunk, Massachu- setts
July 31 Am. str. Huron Verrnillion Point, Lake City. Superior.
Aug. 2 i Catboat; no name..! Tiana, New York
Aug. 2 Am. sc. Thomas W. Hog Island, Virginia
Waters.
Aug. 2 Am. tug Mystic Grindstone City, Lake
Huron.
Aug. 2
Aug. 2 Aug. 4
Am. str. Viking i Thunder Bay Island,
Lake Huron.
Small boat; no Fort Point, California....
name. Am. sc. Walter ('. Burnt Island, Maine
Hall.
Capsized; boatman rescued by fishermen near at hand. Boatman and owner of boat afterwards attempted to recover the craft but were unable to bring her in against strong ebb tide. Life-saving crew, after searching for some time in the darkness, found boat, towed her into harbor, and returned her to owner.
Disabled machinery while towing raft. Pulled out to where she was anchored, eight miles distant, and brought ashore dispatch for tug which arrived later and took steamer and raft to Bay City.
Adrift in surf. Secured her and adver- tised for owner.
Stewardess dangerously ill; unable to use ship's boats for purpose of procuring physician, weather being very rough. Life-saving crew took physician on board. Finding it necessary to send to Alpena for medicines, landed master, who was going for same, and transferred him to the vessel on his return the fol- lowing morning.
Short-handed. Secured services of a fire- man, thereby enabling her to complete her voyage.
Stranded in fog. Landed her sixty pas- sengers and made an unsuccesslul at- tempt to float her. Next morning re- newed efforts and got her oft'. She then proceeded to Saco for repairs.
Stranded outside harbor piers ; pounding heavily on bottom. Took her lines ashore, hove her afloat, and brought her inside. But for the help of the life- saving crew the vessel would have gone to pieces.
Anchored close inshore, dangerously near some ledges. At master's request landed his family and cared for them at station until daybreak, when vessel got under way and proceeded to a place of safety.
Fast on the bottom. Boarded her, ran an anchor, and made sail, forcing her into deep water; then anchored her in secure place.
Broke down while towing ; signaled for help. Boarded her and carried ashore dispatch for tug, which took her into port for repairs.
Dismasted and unmanageable. Landed ten persons who were on board.
Stranded and sunk in foggy weather; crew landed in their own boat, the dis- aster occurring at night and being in- visible from the station. Cared for them at station for two days and assisted wreckers in work of stripping vessel. Crew of Cobbs Island Station boarded the schooner and sent telegrams for master.
Wished assistance to get lines to a raft that had gone ashore. Accompanied her to the place and ran her lines to a portion of the raft, repeating the service on the 3d, 5th, 7th, and 8th instants, when all the raft was finally removed. Crew then put chains, anchor, and other gear of raft on board tug.
Requested assistance of crew to land three passengers, the wind blowing fresh and the vessel having no surfboat. Landed them safely in station boat.
Drifted ashore. Hauled her afloat, took her to station and held her for owner.
Master unacquainted with vicinity, and heading his vessel directly for Harts Bar. Directed him the proper course to steer and he proceeded in safety.
76
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. Services of crews — Continued.
Date.
Aug. 5
aHty of vessel' Station and locali^
Rowboat Joseph- ine.
Aug. 5 I Skiff; no name
Aug. 6 i Am. sc. Palestine....
Aug. 8 ! Am.sc. Rose..
Aug. 9 Am. sc. Addie E.
Snow. I Aug. 10 i Fishing boat; no
name.
Aug. 10 | Sloop; no name
Aug. 10 Skiff; no name
Aug. 11 ; Am.se. Emma Mc- Adum.
Aug. 11 ( Am. sc. Andrew Lawrence.
Grande Pointe au Sable, Lake Michigan.
Racine, Lake Michigan..
Assateague Beach, Vir- ginia.
Pentwater, Lake Michi- gan.
Lewes, Delaware
Shark Ri ver, New Jersey- Fort Lauderdale. Florida.
Racine, Lake Michigan. Crumple Island, Maine- Long Beach, New York.
Aug. 11 • Am.str.S. Neff. Cleveland, Lake Erie....
Aug. 12 Am.slp. yt.TheKid Charlotte, Lake Ontario..
Aug. 12 Am.sc. Silver Lake.. Racine, Lake Michigan..
Aug. 12 , Am.sc. San Jose Umpqua River, Oregon.
Aug. 13 Am. sc. Diamond
State. Aug. 14 Am. tug. Mystic
Aug. 14 Am. str. George C. Mark ham.
Cape May, New Jersey..
Vermillion Point, Lake Superior.
Racine, Lake Michigan..
Nature of casualty and service rendered.
Boat, containing two men and their hunt- ing outfit, capsized in the heavy surf. Launched surf boat, rescued the men, and cared for them at station ; hauled boat up on beach and saved outfit.
Adrift in the lake. Recovered craft and returned her to owner.
Misstayed and stranded on Fox Shoal; vessel pounding heavily and leaking. Assisted by crew of Wallops Beach Sta- tion ran anchors and hove her afloat in time to- save her from going to pieces.
Lost her small boat. Overhauled it, brought it to station, and returned it to master of schooner.
Hard aground. Boarded her, furled sails, ran lines to tug, and assisted as oppor- tunity offered until she was floated.
Capsized, throwing her two occupants overboard. Rescued the men and righted and secured the boat.
Out of water ; stopped off station to pro- cure same but could not make a land- ing, the sea being too rough. Keeper threw a heaving line on board by means of which a supply of water from station cistern was hauled out to the sloop in a cask.
Adrift. Recovered boat and returned her to owner.
Stranded during fog; vessel leaking. Manned pumps, kedged her off', and piloted her clear of the rocks.
Stranded while attempting to enter East Rockaway Inlet; master unacquainted with channel. When vessel floated, at high water, keeper piloted her into the inlet.
Hard aground; pounding heavily and leaking badly. Launched lifeboat, and attempted to run line from tug to vessel, but found it too short. Crew then re- turned to station, procured two long lines and, by bending them together, succeeded in reaching the steamer, which was hauled afloat and towed in- side the breakwater by the tug. As she was then sinking fast, life-saving crew took off her crew of eight persons, with their personal effects, and cared for them at station, subsequently re- moving all articles of value from the wreck.
Breast line parted during squall, allow- ing her to swing against the pier, where she would soon have gone to pieces. Crew warped her out to safe anchorage and made temporary repairs.
Suction of a passing steamer parted her head lines, causing her to swing across and obstruct channel. There being no one on board, life-saving crew secured her to wharf.
Sent two men ashore in dory to purchase provisions. Assisted them to procure same, and the sea having become too rough for them to return to the vessel in their small boat, put them on board with surfboat, towing dory out at same time.
Misstayed and stranded. Carried out anchors and warped her off' uninjured.
Towline fouled a raft which she was tow- ing, causing both tug and tow to drift toward shore. Went out in response to her signals and cleared the line, en- abling her td proceed in safety.
Fast on a reef. Procured tug and ran her line to the stranded vessel which was hauled afloat undamaged.
UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
77
Service* of crews — Continued.
Date.
1892. Aug. 15
Aug. 16 AUK. itf
Name and nation- ality of vessel.
Station and locality.
Am. tug Mystic : Vermillion Point, Lake
Superior.
Am. str. Ste Maries..; Pointe aux Barques, Lake Huron.
Am. str. Push ' Chicago. Lake Michigan.
Ain. sc. Rosa Bell...; North Manitou Island, Lake Michigan.
Aug. 17
Aug. 18 Br. str. Castlefield.J False Cape, Virginia
Aug. 18 Am. str. City of Pointe aux Barques, Nicollet. Lake Huron.
Aug. 18 , Am. sc. Detroit Thunder Bay Island,
Lake Huron.
Aug. 18 Skiff Josephine ; Hammonds Bay, Lake
Huron.
Aug. 18 Pile driver;