Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-01-24
The Guardians of Our Coast.

With such record it is no longer marvel
| that the American life saving institution has
| taken so firm hold Of the public heart The
territory which it guards-ten thousand or
more miles-is divided into twelve districts.
| The Atlantic coast presents one long success
ion of varied dangers, beginning with Maine
where the capricious currents are forever
playing sly games about the narrow capes,
reefs. sunktn rocks, and peaks of islands
half submerged, paving the coast like the
| teeth in a sharks jaw, taking i'm Cape Cod,
that great arm Of sand forty miles outward
and upward, with its half sunken, ever.shift-
ing sand-bars, the islands and the rough,
rocky points on the Rhode Island coast
dreadful to mariners--and the long, un-
peopled six hundred miles of beach from
Montauk Point, Long Island, to Cape Fear,
North Carolina, terminating with the arid
coral formation of the coast of Florida, Ave
hundred miles in extent. The great lakes, =
group of enormous inland seas with twenty.
five hundred miles of American coast-line.
| are subject to sudden and violent gales,
which pile up seas so stupendous that anchor
ed vessels are swept fore and aft often
causing their complete dcstruction; while
others, running for shelter in harbors, miss
the narrow entrances, and are blown helpless
ly upon Jutting piers or the still more
dangerous beach. The stations consist of
three classes. severally denominated life-sav-
ing stations, life boat stations, and houses of
refuge. Each of the twelve districts is pro-
| vided with local superintendent, who must
be resident of the district and famiiarly ac-
quainted with its inhabitants. His compensa.
tion is one thousand dollars per annum, with
the exception of those on the coasts of Long
Island and New Jersey, " no. having too many
stations to look after to attend to other bust
ness, are paid fifteen hundred dollars apiece
These officers are required to give from twenty
to thirty thousand dollar bonds as disbursinp
agents, being ntrusted with the payment of
the men under them, in addition 70 their gen.
eral duties. They are responsible for the Sc
lection of the keepers of the stations-a duty
requiring much knowledge and excellent
Judgment-who are not, however, confirmed
without the acquiescence of the inspector w no
is supposed to have no local interests or
prejudices. The crews are chosen by the
keepers. The keepers and crews are exam
incd by a board of inspectors, consisting of
| an officer of the revenue marine, surgeon of
the Marine Hospital Service, and an expert
| surfman whose qualifications are well known,
to determine by judgment wholly impartial
their character, good health and general fit
ness. This board is empowered to dismiss
all incompetent men on the spot, and require
the keeper to employ others without DELAY
The whole work is under constant inspection.
An officer of the revenue marine, Captain
James II. Merryman, is the chief inspector,
and assigns from his Office in New York an
| assistant inspector TO every district The
stations are visited frequently, and the men
| examined in the exercises of the apparatus
drill, and obliged TO give verbal reasons for
every step in their operations. They are
trained with their lfe-boats in the surf, in the
use Of the life-dress, in saving drowning per-
sons by swimming to their relief, in the
methods OF restoring the partially drowned,
and in signaling. Everything in and about
the station moves with military precision
When wreck is attended with loss Of life, a
| rigid examination follows to see if any of the
men have been guilty Of misconduct and neg
lect of duty. The keepers are empowered 10
protect the interests Of the government from
smuggling, and they guard all property that
comes ashore from a wreck until its riphtfnl
| owner appears. They are charged with the
| care and order of the stations and the boats
and apparatus and they must keep accurate
accounts Of all receipts and expenditures,
journalize all transactions, and maintain all
necessary correspondence with superior off,
GERS. Thus it appears they must possess a
certain amount of education and high intep-
rty, as well as surfmanship, intrepidity and
commanding qualities. They are paid four
hundred dollars each per annum. The crews
receive forty dollars per month during the
active season. which upon the sca-coast IL
from September | to May !, and upon the
| lakes from the opening to the close Of naviga-
tioD or from about MAY to December l5.--
MARTHA J. LAMB, in Ha,per's Haga zine for
February.