The daily gazette., 1875-04-13
THE "PEARL DIVER. "


SKETCH OF THE CAREER OF CAPTAIN
BoYNToN-HrGH COURAGE AND LOVE
oFADvENTuRE.
Captain Paul Boynton, who almost
succeeded in crossing the Straits. OF
Dover on Saturday in his life.saving
dress, has always been remarkable Tor
his loye of the sea, which was only
equalled by his love Of all kinds OF ad-
venture. From his early childhood he
exhibited an intense desire to be on or
near the ocean, and showed a great
fondness for aquatic sports, especially
for the art of swimming in which he
excelled. When only twelve years old
he saved man from drowning and
continued in the work he had so well
begun until he completed bis twenty
sixth year, up to which time he had
rescued no less than seventy per-
! sons.
After the Franco German war Cap
| tain Boynton returned to this country
and organized life saving brigade to
operate during the bathing season at
Atlantic City, N. ]. This was the man
destined to develop the capabilities OF
the newly invented life saving dress
which has just been brought into such
wide notice by his recent exploit
This dress is composed ofa pair of pan
falcons and tunic made of linda rub
Der furnished with five tubes which
may be inflated at will. This dress,
which may be doned in less time than
1t would take to put on pair of gloves
will sustain person in the water for
an indefinite peroid, and at the same
time keep the wearer perfectly dry.
After a few trials made in private,
Captain Boynton became persuaded of
the utility of the invention and deter
mined to make trial of it that would
give a convincing proof of its value.
To this end he decided that sea voy-
age would be the best way to test the
merits of the apparatus, and in Octo.
Der; 1874, he sailed from New York in
the steamship. The Queen, of the
National Line, with the declared inten-
tion of jumping overheard when 20C
miles from Sandy Hook, and trusting
to the chance of being saved by some
other vessel. In addition to the dress
he had provided himself with an India
rubber receptacle or magazine, in which
he carried o sufficient quantity of pro
, visions, ,twcnty-tour signal lights, sigma
flags. rockets, and ak, bowie knife
and double paddle, to be used to pro
pei himself through the water. Wher
he had reached the required distance
!, the Captain of the steamer protested
. against his leaving the ship, and Cap
tain Boynton was compelled to remaii
on board. Ten days later, when til,
vessel had reached the Irish coast, of
- Cape Clear, and Sc ven miles from Balti
: more, Captain Boynton determines
y that he would make his experiment
and was accordingly lowered from til
the ships side, duly equipped in hi
life-saving dress, and with three days
provision, some letters for the mai
z and the other articles in his magazine
, 1t was $50 O'Clock at night and blow
- ing gale of wind when he left tn
vessel.
To add to his peril, it began to rair
and the tide turned against him. A
about l O'Clock in the morning th
n wiRd changed and blew toward tn
= shore and he was enabled to make
-" little headway with the aid of his paC
- die, and at 8 o'clock he came in sigh
or the land. Here another difficult
was encountered as he could see n
way of making Il landing on the iror
bound coast before him. He was con
PEELED, therefore, to paddle along til
Z shore in hopes of finding place
land without being dashed to pieces O
the rocks, and at length succeeded
making out an opening where he gt
ashore without accident. He the
Of took off his dress and make his way [
le coast guard station, where he W;
I. Hospitality received. He learned th,
x he had landed some miles east of Ba
in timore. That morning he went to ski
e berreen and mailed the letters he ha
9s brought from the steamer and left ft
10 Cork, at which place he arrived ON IL
ID 21st. After giving several exhibition
hs " of his life-saving dress in Ireland, i
u proceeded to England, where his in
lie vention attracted much attention an
many trials of it were made. On til
9th instant the Queen witnessed an e:
hibition of the advantages of the life
saving dress from the deck other yacl
We in the harbor of Cowes. She was S
RS we'll pleased with the apparatus th
va she ordered full supply for the roy
he yachts the Victoria and Albert. Fl
to last exploit, crossing the Straits fro
no Dover to Boulogne-sur-Msr, was vi
tually, although not actually, su
. cess; as the darkness of the night cor
PEELED him to dcsist when five mil
from the port of his destination.