Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-07-28
THE LIFE.SAVING SERVICE.
the style of Life-Boats to be Used on u


dispatch Of July 18th: The extern
sion of the branch of revenue and
marine service known as the ife-saving
to the great lakes is move that can
but possess the greatest interest to all
connected with the freight and passen-
ger traffic of the inland seas. s. j.
Kimball, chief of the revenue and
marine service, has Just returned from
Philadelphia, where he has been test
ing, by series of experiments, new
life-boat with view of adopting it in
he service. Mr.. Kimball is busy push
ing ahead the work upon the life
stations on the lakes. He does not,
however, hope to have them completed
and in working order until next year. He
was not satisfied with the life-boat that
he examined at Philadelphia, as he does
not believe it practicable for the life
saving service. He, however, regards
it as one of the best inventions of the
day for vessels wrecked at sea. The
boat consists of two life-boats fastened
together, thus securing great breadth
OF beam without the accompanying sur
face of resistance to the water. This
double boat cannot by any possibility
be upset. 1t is self-baling, like the
English life boats, and is provided with
water-tight compartments for the
storing of provisions and fresh
water. A vessel provided with two
or three of these could guarantee, in the
opinion of Mr.. Kimball, perfect safety
to her passengers. The general adop-
ton of this boat will, he thinks, be the
means Of saving the lives of many pas
sengers OH vessels foundered at sea.
These boats are easily launched, cannot
be swamped, and will outride the heav.
lest seas. They are so provided that
large party could be cared for in them
for many days at sea, long enough, at
least, to enable them to be picked up.
There are to be two classes of boats
used on the lakes.
At the remote stations, where a keeper
and crew is stationed, light surf-boat
will be used. This is for the reason
that the English life boat is too heavy to
be transported from point to point, as
it weighs in the neighborhood of 5000
pounds, The surf-boat used on the At
lantic coast is one that can be readily
carried by four men. At such places as
Chicago, Grand Haven, St. Joseph,
Milwaukee, and all points designated as
mere life-boat station, the English life
boat, self-righting and self-baling,
Will be used. This boat will be in
charge of keeper who receives salary
of $500 year. For his crew he will
have to depend On volunteers. It will
be the business of the keeper to enroll
a certain number of men who will be
subject to his call in time of need, and
the pay Of these men is limited to 80
each for each particular service. The
crews at remote stations are paid $40
a month during the season. The press
ing need of the life service upon the lakes
can be shown by few comparative sta
tistics.
The life-saving service has been
established on the Atlantic coast for
upward of four years, and during that
time it has rescued 2,451 people from
imminent danger, and come to the
rescue of 161 vessels that were unable
to help themselves. During that time
only IS lives have been lost within the
domain of the stations, and Is Of these
were lost upon the bark Giovanni, which
was wrecked in an inaccessible locality
off Cape Cod. Of the other three lost,
two of them were killed by falling
mast, so that the ife-saving service
claims that only one life has really been
lost by them during their four years
service. The amount of property saved
is very large, and pays hundred times
the cost of the service.
At present all of the property received
by the service is restored to the owners.
IF the government were allowed rea-
sonable per cent. for salvage, then the
life service would become more than
self supporting. Upon the lakes, where
the life service has never existed, there
is loss of life in the latest reports for
the year ending June 80, 1874, of SO
lives. On the Pacific coast there
were rs lives lost in the same year.
From the success of the service on
the Atlantic coast it is reasonable to
infer that fully 80 per cent. of those lives
would have been saved had the life
saving service been there established.
Mr. Kimball says they have the great
est possible success with volunteer
crews, as the keeper always has more
than he needs. The pay is very small.
It may seem incredible that men will
risk their lives for $40, or for pit
lance Of $40 per month, but there is an
attraction about the service that never
feels the need Of men. The greatest
results have been accomplished by the
distrib .tion of gold medals. A medal
of the first class is only obtained where
man has saved life at the immediate
peril of his own.
These medals are given upon the high
est testimony Of personal valor furnish
ed to the Secretary of the Treasury
himself. They are valued by men of
the life service more than fortune, and
the struggle to get them leads to the
most daring conceivable feats. The list
of life-saving stations for the lakes are
to be increased next year, and doubled
if an appropriation can be obtained for
the purpose. The security that the
stations will contribute to lake travel
cannot be accurately calculated. The
service is in the hands of good men,
and, as conducted at present, is one of
the most valuable features of the gov
eminent
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