New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-11-21
SAVING LIFE In sHIPwRECK.

In connection with the late melancholy scenes
enacted upon Deal Beach, few homely facts
should be urged upon the public attention. From
Cape May and further south for aught We know,
to Sandy Hook, the Government have, in conse-
quence of the dangerous character Of the coast,
established stations upon the beach. seven miles
apart, for the storing of life boats le-cars, NOR
tars shot, lines, and other apparatus, adapted to
the saving Of life and property. Similar stations
have been erected on the coast of Long Island by
the New.York Benevolent Life Saving Associs.
ton. These provisions are doubtless the result OF
the purest humane promptDgs and were meant to
be as effective as could be devised. Neverthe-
lees, they are in many cases fatally deficient.
Ia the first place, the parties who provide
the apparatus we have spoken Of are content to
erect q singled frame Building for its storage,
appoint man as keeper, aud then leave it all to
its fate The keeper has no salary, except when
engaged in active service at shipwrecks and the
crew-which he has to pick up as best he can from
among his fishing and farming neighbors arc
paid nothing for any service they may render,
beyond the saving of property. The consequence
is that the keeper and his crew, who have TO gain
their daily bread by their daily toll, have no time
to give to the study of the beet means Of applying
the tools put into their hands They have no time
for they cannot afford to give ito take care of
notice they may be called upon to apply to the
saving of hundreds of lives and hundreds OF
thousands of dollars worth of property. The
coast men know next to nothing Of the art Of
adjusting the mortar to proper and effective
angle, and the shot is either thrown away, from
being fired too wide, or falls short because fred
too low. Besides, as the person in charge is not
paid for taking care of the apparatus AMI keeping
it in effective order, Ii is allowed to rot and rust
and when wanted, the wires on the balls prove so
rusty that they break of ON being Tired. Thus,
in the hour of deadly need valuable time Is
lost and the life saving material exhausted. These
facts were amply verified in the case of the ship
New Era. After repeated 6rings line was at
length thrown across the vessel and made fast.
But in the dastardly desertion Of the ship by her
captain, this line parted. Subsequently, at inter-
walls through the day, other shots were fred, but
owing TO the rusted state of the wires, they
proved useless the balls breaking away, and the
lines falling back into the sea; only one, the last
lodging in the rigging, beyond the reach of the
people on board
Now, does any one believe that such state Of
things would have existed had the proper author
tiles taken measures not only to provide the ap-
paratus, but to have the coastmen trained in the
use Of the implements, at the same time employ
ing some one to keep them in an effective condi-
ton Assuredly not. And yet this same lesson
has been taught US before, again and again, with
just the same practical results as will probably
follow from the preseat catastrophe.
The coastmen complain, too that the metallic
feboats-with one Of which each station is sup
plied-sre of very little use for the surf. And
although they often drag the heavy, cumbrous
things as far as three or four miles through the
sands of the beach to the scene of the wreck.
they rarely make any use of them when the sea is
high. Indeed, the very men who in one Of their
own buoyant surf-boats, were itpossible to Launch
it, would fearlessly put off to the wreck in the
face Of the fercest tempest, would be afraid to
trust Themselves in one Of these metallic life
boats, and, as we know they have often utterly
refused to launch them, because of their liability
to overturn in the breakers. The fact is apparent
that it, instead Of using these heavy boats two or
three good surf boats or boats with the newly-in-
vented floats Col. Stanton, we're placed in each
station, and well-organized crew, engaged and
drilled to the effective use Of the mortar, We
should have to record fewer cases Of death in
connection with the shipwrecks that almost ne
cessarily take place upon our coast.