The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-02-11

Il
live in very rough water, there Ia invaria.
bly, great danger that few people will
reach the land.
Here, then, fs where the Life-Saving
Service begins. The station crew, having
discovered the ship, are supposed TO be on
the shore with all their appliances to help
her. These they have dragged from the
station on a cart with PREDETERMINED
wheels, and are ready for work. If the
sea is not breaking in waves that are too
big to be surmounted by suriboat, they
try and reach the ship by that means.
The surfboat Is very light, strongly.built,
clinker.seamed, round.bottomed affair,
sharp pointed at either end, well supplied
with sheet.iron air tanks and cork pad
ding, so that 1t cannot be sunk. The men
pick 1t up, and each being well clad in
cork jackets, rush into the sea and try and
make through the surf TO the vessel. In
the great majority OF instances this plan
works well enough, and the vessels crew
are safely landed in the surfboat. This is
the boat with which nearly all the Allan
tic stations are supplied. But there are
many times when no boat can be launch.
ed, as the water Is so furious even q
duck could not live in 1t, and the
very fish are hurled ashore by its
violence and rage. 'other means OF
communication must be had. That OF
ropes and life car is resorted to. A
small cannon, loaded with o long projec-
tile weighing "a pounds, to which is tied a
rope the size Of q clothes line, is aimed
over the ship and fired. The ball passes
over the vessel, carrying with it the line
that has been carefully freed OF all fouls
in the packing box. This rope is seized
by the crew OF the distressed vessel, and
by 1t they haul large cable from the
shore to the ship. The cable Is made fast
high up on the masts. tits then frightened |
by the life saving crew who have hitched
1t to anchors buried in the sand. The
shore end is elevated by props and the
life car is launched. This is a metallic box,
sharp.pointed and round, big enough to
hold half q dozen people and Is water
tight. tits hauled from the shore TO the
ship by ropes, like sliding door in its
grooves. The people once in 1t and the
hole through which they crawled closed,
they are sure TO reach the shore, no mat
ter howwild the surging waters are that
have to be traversed.
The attendant also exhibited the first
ball ever fred 10 relieve wrecked vessel.
1t was at the wreck OF large French en-
igrant steamer on the New Jersey coast in
1856. Ry means OF the line OF commune
cation this established POI lives were saved
which otherwise would certainly havej
been lost, as all the boats had left the ship
and been destroyed, and nothing was to
be seen OF the ship the next morning but
a few timbers sticking out OF tho sand.
I o0baI tho ottan1oOt hnuy far n rnnn
could be fired out to sea by the cannon
used in the Service. He said six hundred
yards; but, said he, 10 vessels in 20 that
come ashore strike within half that dis.
lance OF land.
Having finished with the lie car, we
next turned to the self-righting, self.bail-
ing English lifeboat, which is used on the
lakes and in harbors where deep water
can be obtained l had often wondered
how boat could be made to right and
empty itself OF water il capszed. The
model seen here explained at glance.
The boat is large one, sharp at both
ends, provided with two sheet iron air
chambers and solid floor OF cork. The
keel is OF iron, and weighs about 1000
pounds. The boat is Interchangeable be-
cause OF the cork and air chambers.
1t rights Itself, when tapped over,
by means OF the heavy keel, and
balls itself because it is so buoyant that
the floor OF cork is two inches above the
water even when heavy laden, there being !
four large valves which let the water out
rs soon as the boat turns right side upand {
rises to the surface Of the water. l am j
told that there is an instance on record {
where one of these boats were turned end
over end by what the surfmen call "tur.
bine checker" wave, eight times, yet the
crew, By fastening themselves to the
boats, escaped uniniured, got through the
surf, took off eleven persons from strand
ed ship and landed them all in safety.
There is another instance where one 'of
these boats was cast on the rocks and Ii
had its keel torn Of and It's bottom {
smashed flat, yet the crew continued /
on their course and saved the lives OF
twenty people.