The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-12-19
LIFE SAVERS.
DAILY ROUTINE AT A UNITED
STATES STATION.
The Methodical Life Of the Grow
Severe Work In Winter
How Lives Are Saved
The Code of Signals.

Last autumn I received an invitation
to spend few days at one of the Life
Saving Stations on the "back of Cape
Cod"
Ihad been looking over an annual re-
port of the Service, and had found it full
of interest. 1t showed, for instance,
that within the limits of the coast guard
ed by the Service there were, during the
year. 2n0 disasters, involving property
valued at more than four million dollars,
OF which nearly three million dollars
worth was saved by the crews of the
stations; and that out of 1878 persons on
these wrecks, 1854 were rescued.
There are nearly two hundred stations
on the At antic, the Gulf and the Pacific
Coasts, and on the Great Lakes, and
most OF them open at the beginning of
September for eight months, with crews
of seven or eight men each.
The Pamet River Station, where I
Nstayed, was long wooden bui ding,
with two sleeping-rooms upstairs, and
below the kitchen and "boat-room." In
this room are the surf boat, the life
boat, and the cart loaded with rockets,
hawsers, lines. the Lyle gun. invented
by Lieutenant D. A. Lyle, powder, and
all the appliances for saving life and
property.
Tho life of the crew is very methodical.
During the daytime one man keeps
watch of The shore from the station,
while the others polish the brass and
steel work, or drill themselves in the
method of saving persons apparently
drowned, aud in their other duties.
They had supper about half-past four
o'clock, and just as the sun set two men
started along the beach, one in each
direction, to he gone till eight o'clock.
The Others who were to 60 out on beach
duty later in the night, soon went up to
bed, and I was left below with the
captain, or keeper, who, by the way, is
one of the best of story-tellers.
But beside his, stories, he gave me q
good deal of information about the
service which may be OF interest.
The work of the crew in winter is very
severe. In many places the beach is
narrow, and is rendered impossible in
stormy weather by the breaking surf.
At such times the surf-men must patrol
along the bluff, which is now high and
now low, now level and now steep. The
sand is loose here. and when the wind is
blowing alongshore, it flies in binding
clouds, 80 that even horse will not
make headway against it, unless his face
is covered.
Sometimes the men have their fingers
and toes frozen, sometimes they are 80
benumbed that they can hardly creep
along. and sometimes they lose their
lives in trying to save others. If the
patrol discovers a wreck. he at once
burns a Coston Signal Light, to notify
the vessel that it is seen. Then he
hurries back to the station with the
news, and, if the waves permit, the surf
boat is launched.
But generally, in storms, the surf runs
too high to allow that. In this case, the
cart, loaded with all the needed ap-
paratus, and weighing nearly twelve
hundred pounds, is dragged along the
shore by the men until the nearest point
to the wreck is reached.
Then, by means of some wonderful
inventions, lines are shot out to the
wreck and fastened, and communication
is established. If the wreck will hold
together long enough, all on board can
be drawn ashore in the "breeches buoy"
All this seems, on paper, like simple
operation. But success means continued
and patient drill, as we'll as hours Of
heavy and dangerous work in the icy
surf.
Up to within a short time, the pay of
the men was disgracefully meagre. But
now it has been increased to fifty dol
lars month for the crew, and seven
hundred dollars q year for the keeper
The men must have had thorough mari-
time training. Out of their salary is'
substracted the cost of their food. They
must be of more than average intelli4
gence. Their work is always hard, of
ten dangerous, and sometimes fatal; and!
on the first of May they are discharged
for the four summer months without pay.
In the daytime conversation can be
carried on between the station and q
distant vessel. Indeed, there is hardly
an idea whichcsnnot be fully and ac-
curately expressed by means ofithe eight
cen signal flags adopted in the Interna-
tional Code, and understood alike by
vessels of all nationalisies. These
flags represent eighteen consonants. For
instance, B is red burgee Ia swallow
tailed pennant) G is white pennant,
with a red spot; D is blue pennant,
with q white spot; F is red pennant,
~ NJ
of these flags together mean certain
phrase, which can be found by look ng
in a sort of dictionary compiled for the
purpose. Thus, if the keeper sees a
vessel passing, and wants to know her
name, he runs up red burgee, and
under that blue pennant with white
spot. That means B D. The captain
OF the vessel looks in his book for B d,
and finds that it signifies "What ship is
that?" Then he knows what question to
reply to. But combinations of two letters
would not furnish signs enough, so there
ore the combinations of three letters,
and then OF four letters, giving a pos
sibility of seventy. eight thousand con-
venient combinations.
If the desired phrase cannot be found,
use may be made of the Alphabetical
Spelling List, in which certain combina-
tions of signs represent syllables which
can be joined together to form the de-
sired words.
BY the use of this code wrecks may
often be avoided, by directions given to
vessels from the shore.
The property saved by the Service,
during the first ten years of its existence
under the present system and manage