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[Illustration: _Frontispiece._      THE LIFE SAVERS.      _Page 185_]




    THE LIFE SAVERS

    A STORY OF THE UNITED STATES
    LIFE-SAVING SERVICE

    BY
    JAMES OTIS
    AUTHOR OF "AN AMATEUR FIREMAN," ETC.

    [Illustration]

    NEW YORK
    E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
    31 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET




    COPYRIGHT, 1899
    BY
    E. P. DUTTON & CO.

    The Knickerbocker Press, New York




[Illustration]




CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER.                         PAGE.
      I. INTRODUCTORY                  1
     II. A BOY AND A DOG               9
    III. BENNY'S STORY                23
     IV. ON PATROL                    40
      V. FROM THE "AMAZONIA"          60
     VI. ROUTINE DUTY                 80
    VII. SAVING LIFE                  98
   VIII. FLUFF A HERO                115
     IX. OFFICIAL PERMISSION         134
      X. THE UNIFORM                 155
     XI. THE STRANDED STEAMER        172
    XII. IN THE SURF                 187
   XIII. "NUMBER EIGHT"              204
    XIV. THE WRECKERS                222
     XV. LIVELY WORK                 239
    XVI. CAST ASHORE                 259
   XVII. A LETTER                    278
  XVIII. A CONSULTATION              298
    XIX. THE DECISION                313




THE LIFE SAVERS.




CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.


The development of the American Life-Saving Service covers nearly a
century.

    "... The initiatory movement was the organization by a few
    benevolent persons of the Massachusetts Humane Society in
    1786. In attempting to alleviate the miseries of shipwreck
    on the Massachusetts coast, small huts were built; and in
    1807 the first life-boat station was established at Cohasset.
    The Society depended upon voluntary crews, but so much was
    accomplished of value that some pecuniary aid was received, as
    time wore on, from both State and general governments.

    "The magnificent work of the Coast Survey, begun in earnest in
    1832, absorbed the resources of Congress for a decade and a
    half, during which period nothing was attempted in the way of
    life-saving except through voluntary societies. A few public
    vessels were, indeed, authorized in 1837 to cruise near the
    coast for the assistance of shipping in distress, but it was
    through the movement in aid of commerce, which extended to the
    lighthouse system.

    "In 1847, five thousand dollars were appropriated by Congress
    toward furnishing lighthouses on the Atlantic with the
    facilities for aiding shipwrecked mariners. The money, after
    remaining in the Treasury two years unused, was permitted to be
    expended by the Massachusetts society upon Cape Cod.

    "In the summer of 1848, the Hon. William A. Newell, then a
    member of the House of Representatives from New Jersey, incited
    by some terrible shipwrecks on the coast of that State, induced
    Congress, through his eloquence, to appropriate ten thousand
    dollars for providing surf-boats and other appliances 'for the
    protection of life and property from shipwreck on the coast
    between Sandy Hook and Little Egg Harbor.' During the next
    session a still larger appropriation was obtained. Twenty-two
    station-houses were erected on the coasts of New Jersey and
    Long Island, and although no persons were paid or authorized
    to take charge of them, and they were manned by extemporized
    crews, their value in several cases of shipwreck was so great
    that Congress made further appropriations from year to year,
    and stations and life-boats gradually multiplied.

    "Through the pressure of a shocking event in 1854--the loss
    of three hundred lives off the New Jersey coast--a local
    superintendent was employed, a keeper assigned to each station,
    and bonded custodians placed in charge of the life-boats, which
    had been repeatedly stolen; but the absence of drilled and
    disciplined crews, of general regulations, and of energetic
    central administration rendered the record of the institution
    unsatisfactory, and its benefits checkered by the saddest
    failures.

    "In the year 1871, Sumner I. Kimball succeeded to the head of
    the Revenue Marine Bureau of the Treasury Department, under
    the charge of which were the life-saving stations. He made
    it his first business to ascertain their condition. Captain
    John Faunce was detailed to make a tour of inspection, and was
    accompanied a portion of the way by Mr. Kimball himself. The
    buildings were found neglected and dilapidated, the apparatus
    rusty or broken, portable articles had been carried off,
    the salaried keepers were often living at a distance from
    their posts, some of them too old for service, and others
    incompetent, and the volunteer crews were in a quarrelsome
    temper with each other and with the coast population.

    "Then commenced that vigorous prosecution of reform which has
    crowned the humane work with unprecedented success. Making the
    most of slender appropriations, and in the face of perpetual
    discouragements, this one man, the chief of a bureau, pushed
    on by philanthropic impulses and guided by unerring judgment,
    brought a complete and orderly system into effect. It was
    not the work of a day, nor of a year. It required patience,
    sagacity, and rare powers of organization and government. He
    knew no office hours, working day and night at what many were
    pleased to consider a hopeless task. In his brain originated
    the idea of guarding the entire coasts of the nation through
    the planting of a chain of fortresses to be garrisoned by
    disciplined conquerors of the sea. It is a matter of public
    record, and generally known to the country, that through
    his practical devotion to the cause this has been so nearly
    accomplished.

    "In reorganizing what there was of the Service, he prepared
    a code of regulations for its absolute control. The duties
    of every man employed were minutely defined. The lazy, the
    careless, and the unworthy were dismissed, and men chosen
    to fill their places with sole reference to integrity and
    professional fitness. Politics was abolished. That is, experts
    in the surf were regarded as of more consequence to drowning
    victims than voters of any particular political ticket. The
    station-houses were repaired, and increased in numbers as fast
    as the means afforded by Congress would allow; the appliances
    for life-saving were restored, and improved from year to year
    through the best inventions and discoveries in this or any
    other country, and a rigid system of inspection and of patrol
    was inaugurated....

    "The record of the first season on the New York and New Jersey
    coasts, where the new system first went into actual operation,
    showed that every person imperiled by shipwreck was saved.
    Consequently a commission, consisting of Mr. Kimball, Captain
    Faunce, and Captain J. H. Merryman, of the Revenue Marine,
    surveyed in 1873, by order of Congress, the vast and varied
    coasts of the oceans and lakes, investigating personally the
    characteristics of the dangerous localities, and holding
    consultations with underwriters, shipowners, captains of
    vessels, and veteran surfmen. The report of this commission
    placed before Congress a minute account of the disasters to
    vessels on every mile of coast for the previous ten years; a
    bill based upon it, prepared by Mr. Kimball, became a law June
    20, 1874. It provided for the extension of the field of this
    great national work of humanity; for the bestowal of medals
    of honor upon persons risking their lives to save others; and
    empowered the collection and tabulation of statistics of
    disaster to shipping, which, by reference to the periodicity of
    marine casualties, aided in determining the points most needing
    protection, and in various other ways benefited both government
    and maritime interests....

    "The life-saving stations on the Atlantic seaboard are now
    within an average distance of five miles of each other, each
    crew consisting of a keeper and six surfmen. At sunset two
    men start from each station, one going to the right and the
    other to the left. They are equipped with lanterns and Coston
    signals, and each pursues his solitary and perilous way
    through the soft sand, in spite of flooding tides, bewildering
    snowfalls, overwhelming winds, and bitter cold....

    "The night is divided into four watches. The keeper is required
    to register in his log-book the name of each patrolman, his
    hours on patrol,... the direction and force of the wind at
    sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight, together with the events
    of each day. This record is sent to the chief of the Service at
    Washington at the end of every week....

    "The stations consist of three classes, severally denominated
    life-saving stations, life-boat stations, and houses of
    refuge. Each of the twelve districts is provided with a local
    superintendent, who must be a resident of the district and
    familiarly acquainted with its inhabitants....

    "The stations are visited frequently, and the men examined
    in the exercises of the apparatus drill, and obliged to give
    verbal reasons for every step in their operations. They are
    trained with their life-boats in the surf, in the use of the
    life-dress, in saving drowning persons by swimming to their
    relief, in the methods of restoring the partially drowned, and
    in signalling. When a wreck is attended with loss of life,
    a rigid examination follows to see if any of the men have
    been guilty of misconduct or neglect of duty. The keepers are
    empowered to protect the interests of the government from
    smuggling, and they guard all property that comes ashore from
    a wreck until its rightful owners appear. They are charged
    with the care and order of the stations, and the boats and
    apparatus; and they must keep accurate accounts of all receipts
    and expenditures, journalize all transactions, and maintain
    all necessary correspondence with superior officers. Thus
    it appears they must possess a certain amount of education
    and high integrity, as well as surfmanship, intrepidity, and
    commanding qualities...."--_Harper's Magazine_, February, 1882.

At the close of the year 1894 the total number of stations in the
Life-Saving Establishment was 247. Of this number, 182 were situated
on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, 51 on the coasts of the Great Lakes,
13 on the Pacific Coast, and 1 at the Falls of the Ohio, Louisville,
Kentucky. Their distribution by life-saving districts was as follows:

    First District (coasts of Maine and New Hampshire)      12

    Second District (coast of Massachusetts)                24

    Third District (coasts of Rhode 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 River)                                         29

    Seventh District (coasts of South Carolina,
        Georgia, and Eastern Florida)                       12

    Eighth District (Gulf Coast)                             8

    Ninth District (Lakes Erie and Ontario, including
        Louisville Station)                                 12

    Tenth District (Lakes Huron and Superior)               15

    Eleventh District (Lake Michigan)                       25

    Twelfth District (Pacific Coast)                        13
                                                           ---
            Total                                          247

--Report of the United States Life-Saving Service.

[Illustration: THE LIGHTHOUSE NEAR THE STATION.      _Page 8_]




[Illustration]




CHAPTER II.

A BOY AND A DOG.


It was on the afternoon of December 23d, in the year 1893, that one of
the life-saving crews in the First District was completely prepared for
work, although neither vessel nor wreck was to be seen.

The wind was from the northeast and the driving sleet and snow shut out
from view all that portion of the rocky coast save in the immediate
vicinity of the station. During the afternoon the gale had increased in
force until it was what a mariner would call "stiff"; the sea had risen
with equal pace, and every indication confirmed the prediction made
among the surfmen, that an ugly winter storm was at hand.

At such a time the gallant life-saving crews along the coast are ever
ready for, and expecting, the signal which calls them to their perilous
work; but not ordinarily do they stand by their apparatus as on this
afternoon, for, fortunately, many a winter tempest fails in its harvest
of death.

At noon on this day information was sent to the station that the
patrol several miles down the coast had sighted a large ship so nearly
inshore that, under the adverse condition of wind and sea, she could
not tack, and there was not sufficient room to wear. Unless her course
was speedily changed, so ran the information received,--and in the
teeth of the fierce northeast tempest and the shoreward heaving of the
tremendous sea that seemed impossible,--it was certain she must strike
somewhere nearabout this particular station.

From the moment such information was received the patrol on the beach
had been doubled, and, knowing full well how difficult it would be,
under all the circumstances, for any craft to escape the perils to
which it was said this ship was exposed, the crew were keenly on the
alert for the first token of wreck.

At seven o'clock in the evening no further news of the vessel had been
obtained; therefore the men whose mission it is to save life understood
that the ship was still fighting against the gale, and knew full well
every moment gained by her increased the chances of escape, even though
it had seemed impossible she could weather the point.

Half an hour later Surfman Samuel Hardy, breathless and panting,
literally burst his way into the station, as he cried:

"Joe Cushing has just lighted his signal!"

All members of life-saving crews carry, while patrolling the shore on
the lookout for signs of danger to others, what is known as a "Coston
signal," an ingenious contrivance which can be lighted by concussion,
and, therefore, may be displayed regardless of the weather.

No further information was necessary; the crew knew full well that the
ship previously reported as being in peril, and which had made such a
gallant fight against the elements, had at last been conquered.

Before Sam Hardy could take his station at the beach-wagon, in which is
transported all the apparatus necessary for the work of the crew when a
wreck is close inshore, Joseph Cushing arrived:

"She has struck just off the west spit!"

"Then it is the ship?" Keeper Thomas Downey asked; and before the
question could be answered he gave in rapid succession the orders
necessary for beginning the work of rescue.

"Open boat-room doors!"

"Man the beach-wagon!"

"Forward!"

These commands were superfluous, for the crew, after long experience at
such work, both during tempests when human life was to be saved, and at
drill in fair weather, moved as if by instinct.

The last word had no more than been spoken before the heavy wagon
rolled down the platform to the sand, every man fully aware of the
fact that now had come the time when the span of many lives might be
measured by seconds if they faltered or delayed.

From the official report is taken the following account of the disaster:

    "It appears that the ship had been laboring heavily, the
    wind constantly heading her off after nightfall, and the
    master, although he kept up a stout heart, must have been
    well aware that he was constantly losing more and more of the
    narrow margin that lay between possible safety and inevitable
    destruction. Whatever misgivings the crew may have experienced,
    the survivor states that the first intimation they had of
    their immediate proximity to the shore was when they saw the
    breakers, and the captain, who was below at the moment, rushed
    on deck with the ominous outcry, 'She has struck!'

    "The boats were still on the bridge where they had been
    originally stowed for the voyage, their covers and lashings
    intact and the tackles unhooked, but Captain Clark instantly
    gave the order to clear them away, and, together with the men,
    set about the work. The ship lay with her starboard side to the
    waves, which the next instant lifted her farther shoreward and
    then fell crashing on board.

    "The most of the sailors fled to the mizzen shrouds, but a few,
    more daring or desperate than the rest, still struggled to
    clear the boats.

    "Another run of towering breakers was now about to leap on
    board, and the brave men were compelled to give over and
    quickly join their shipmates in the rigging. At this moment
    the red glare of the patrolman's signal gleamed through the
    darkness, and a cheer broke forth from the shipwrecked men.

    "Up to this time the master had found no difficulty in
    controlling the movements of the crew, who appear to have been
    able and obedient sailors; but now there was no longer any
    occasion for the exercise of authority, and in the dreadful
    situation it behooved every man to look out for himself.

    "Within ten minutes from the flash of the signal the great iron
    hull parted amidships, and the mainmast toppled over, carrying
    with it the mizzen-topmast. The entire ship's company, except
    the captain, were at this time in the mizzen-rigging, where
    they were able to hold on only a few minutes, when all were
    washed overboard together. The captain, when last seen was
    standing on the ladder at the quarter-deck, supporting himself
    with a hand on each rail.

    "The beach-apparatus was on the ground and ready for service;
    but the ship was only now and then faintly visible, and there
    was little reason to believe the crew's efforts would be of any
    avail.

    "However, the gun was aimed as well as possible in the
    direction of the wreck, which was discernible only as a black
    shadow that seemed a little darker than the surrounding gloom,
    and the shot was fired.

    "That the line fell across the hulk there is no reason to
    doubt. That it lodged with considerable firmness somewhere was
    conclusive to the keeper in charge, for it resisted the slight
    strain put upon it to determine whether it was fast, but no
    pull or manipulation on the offshore end could be detected, and
    after waiting in vain some considerable time for that always
    welcome sign that the line has been found by the shipwrecked,
    the life-savers hauled hard on it until it finally parted under
    the heavy strain.

    "The keeper was now satisfied that there was no living being on
    board the wreck. Nothing could be accomplished by additional
    efforts to effect communication by means of the gun, and the
    fury of the surf was so overwhelming that none of the men,
    familiar as they were with the conditions, of long experience
    on the coast, and brave as they had often proved themselves,
    even so much as entertained the thought of launching the boat.
    It was out of question, absolutely and beyond all possibility
    of cavil. The slatting of the distant sails is described as
    sounding like peals of thunder, and the crashing of blocks
    and chains as they were flung back and forth against the wire
    rigging and iron foremast, sent out volumes of blazing sparks
    that seemed like signals of distress.

    "It is the custom on occasions of this kind to build a fire on
    the shore as a beacon of hope to encourage the shipwrecked,
    and although there was believed to be nobody on the vessel,
    this would nevertheless have been done, if possible. But the
    gale blew with such force that a fire could not be