Litchfield enquirer., 1858-12-16
Whole No. 175O.

A HERo.-The recent courageous and even desperate act of Capt Brooks, Keeper of he Faulkner's Island Light House, in rescung the captain, his wife and crew, from wreck, Tn Long Island Sound, deserves more than passing notice. It will be remembered that
 Faulkners Island itself is more than two miles from the main land, and that its only iil-
 lla6ltants are the keeper of the lighthouse and
 his family, Capt. Oliver N. Brooks. The wreck lay upon Goose Island, some two miles from ! this but Capt. Brooks could see with his glass, the persons in the rigging, and the sea dashed into unusual fury, making breach high over its decks, and threatening instant destrus- ton. It Was too sad sight for the brave man to endure and provided as he was by Government with nothing but q smaIl sailboat, to go between the island and the mainland, he would have been fully justified ;n leaving them to fate horrible to thnk of Ills wife was Oil shore, and he was alone with his family of little children but telling them of tue peril he was about to assume-a fearful peril from which he might never return-he kissed them, aud calling uIon God to protect them and bless h.s eudeayor, he jumped into his frail skf, and steered boldly into the storm and inc pillows. TAose on board saw the attempt, diiu tSfu HI aSoIy NOHutItu Ut UuiUs ness predicted it's failure, and grieved at what they considered all unnecessary sacrifice. But still the brave man, relying upon Providence, kept up his heart and hopes, aud although every Wave threatened him with destruction, he reached at last the wreck, and hailed the dcsrondiny crew with words of cheer. By the most skillful management of his boat, now shooting past, and once over the very wreck itself, he at last managed to pick them of, one at a time and then turned for the shore. But it was only by constant battling aud tre- mendous efforts that the boat was kept above water, and at last reached the island, with it's
 inmates exhausted and nearly dead with fuu- ger and exposure. On the shore, waiting for their father, were the little children of Capt. Brooks, who, with tears. and screams of joy, Saw the boat tossed violently upon the land by the angry waves with its overtasked load of rescued mariners, who were Immediately trans tered to the lighthouse residence, and made welcome and comfortable A gentleman f.l- miliar with the circumstances, and also with the dangers of the sea, assures us that it was the most daring feat he ever read of, that the boat was entirely unfit for such service, anu that nothing but unrivaed coolness, great skill as boatman, and the hand of Proyi- dence over all, made the effort successful.
 Capt. Brooks thought it at least an equal
 chance that he should be lost although, with a proper life or surf boat, he wouldn't have hesitated an instant about going to the wreck when he first discovered the danger, and might have saved the life of the 'itte girl the captains child of three years--who fell from his exhausted arms into the sea, half an hour before Capt. B. reached the wreck. We have known Capt. Brooks for several years as one of the most faithful men in the lighthouse service, and means will be taken to call the-at- tention of the Government to his merits, and hope that he may be provided with boat suitable for the kind of service he is so fre- quently called upon to enter. There should be also, at such an exposed point, an assistant keeper for had Mir. Brooks been lost in his effort to save the crew of this vessel, there would have been missing to the mariner ip Long Island Sound, on that night. the ever- steady beacon-ght of Faulkner's Island. If ever hero deserved the public reward of bra- very, that man is Oliver N. Brooks, the soli- tary watcher on sea-grt island.
 Ne,c Hdrea Register.