The Morning herald., 1878-12-19
To the Editor OF the HERALD.

| way Icspoubipic Ior tud Opiulon VI coTTct-
pondsnts In this column
To the Editor OF the HERALD.
REsrTcrED SIR Il see that Mr.. Samuel
Townsend in your paper of the 18th inst
is again out in communication in rela-
ton to the Life Saving Stations I sncceed>
ed in establishing Oh the Delaware Sea
Coast. lie will il sit that / claimed in
your paper, the establishing Of Life Saw
ing Stations" "ali along the coast from
Cape Hsnlopen south" and he also says ::
that he @rroved that" 1 "was not the
original mover VI father of Life Saving
Stations" &c. Now again, I repeat, that ]
claimed nothing at all in your paper. /
wrote no afticle-suggested the writing Of
none and never saw the articles in the
HEHALD to which he alludes until they
appeared in print. do not pretend to
defend the HERALD. The HERALD is
abundantly able las it proved in its second
article) to defend itself, against the attack
Of Mr.. Townsend or anyone else. never
claimed in the HERALD or any other
paper so preposterous thing as being the
Inventor of Life Saving Stations" l
might as well have claimed to be the ir>
ventor of the Solar System-tbe Edison
Ligat- or the Kelley Motor. What did
do was the followiEg:-
About six years ago believing that on the
Elk miles of Delaware Sea Coast from
Cape Henlopen to Rehoboth Bay,
there was a greater loss of life from ship
wrecks, than on any similar stretch Of sea
coast in the couptrt, endeavored to get
Life Saving Stations established there. !
collected the
sTATIsTICs OF THE WRECKS
and the number Of lives lost on that coast
aad forwarded them to the Treasury De-
partment at Washington, and made for>
NAL application for the establishment Of
Life Saving Stations which department Of
the government was possessed with the
power to grant them. These wrecks
formed fearful record, and ! will! state
some of them for tine information of your
readers, that occurred in tre space of about
two months of time that ! visited this
shore, upon this piece of our State Sea
Coast that have mentioned above. They
are as follows, viz:
The schooner Mary A. Wells, the steam
ship Artizan, the bark Medway, the Nor
wegisn bark JAMS Lsssing, the br 6
Northern Light, bark from Baltimole {
loaded with lumber, a schooner from
Philadelphia, vessel loaded with lemons
and oranges, besides others. But even this
number Of wrecks is sufficient to show
the dangerous nature of our Delaware Sea
Coast. These wrecks were attended with
q dreadful loss Of life. For instance:
The bark Medway had five Of her crew
drowned, the Jams Leasing lost the captain,
his wife, daughter, and four Of her crew,
the rest were rescued from the rigging
where they were hanging, nearly exhausted,
by boat brought overland from Lewes
The captain of the vessel loaded with
oranges, I am told lost the life Of his
daughter, although have not that circum|
stance recorded in my notes. The crew oi
the brig Morning Light were rescued from
the rigging, nearly exhausted, boat was
placed 90 wheels, and the horses, driver
at the top of their speed, arrived just ir
time to save their lives. The crew of thu
ship John sidney managed to drift, they
knew not how, inside the Breakwater and i
was the only safe place they could get to
These wrecks mind, occurred at differen
times, in the space of about two months
and I have not published all. also founc
1.-TWO wreckiDg companies in existence max
Ii ing their living and money from thes'
wrecks, ard from inquiries | made, | be
llieve that had Life Saving Stations beer
there, that not single life would hay'
been lost.
The statement of these wrecks I sent OF
to Washington. Ialso bad the account o
, them inserted in several of the grea
papers of the country, amor gst them tn
New York Herald, and Philadelphia In
-. ouirer, and solicited their influence. Th'
department, Immediately after my applica
ton, sert two gentlemen down to examine
. the coast wao recommended not only the
BsTABLIsHMENT OF LIFE SAVING STATION
on the Delaware Sea Coast, where re
commended them, but a.so on the who'll
Atlantic Ssa Coast of this Peninsula
form,d d by The State of Delaware, and Por
items of Maryland and Virginia. Tn
Department then wrote to me, through
their assistant Secretary, Mr.. Harpel, tha
they had received NV application, tina
they had recommended their establishment
and that due attention would be given t
the places that I recommended. The.
were established ed, and are now ready I
save life when the necessity occurs. Nj
Townsend has now taken it into his hea