The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-09-02
FROM OCEANS wAvE-BEAT SHORE

FROM OCEANS WAvE-BEAT SHORE.
SCorT's BEACH, WORCESTER Co, MD, Aug.
27.--This place, 1S miles below Ocean City,
on SinepuXent Bay, has many attractions for
those who love the water and do not care for
the restraints of fashionable society The hotel
is situated near the Bay, beautiful
sheet of water, about eight miles wide at this
point. atfOrding abundant opportunities Tor
sailing and rowing. In this part of the country
sail boats are the principal means OF travel,
and are used with great facility by almost
every one. The ocean beach is about three
quarters of mile from the hotel. The most
exciting sport to be found here is the deep sea
fishing. 1t requires considerable experience,
strong arms and cool heads TO launch surf
boat on the ocean and get it safely through the
breakers without having it swamped. Once
outside of the curling crests OF the waves the
only danger to be unprecedented by the novice IS
sea sickness, and let me say that no form of
indisposition makes man feel more miserable
He lapses into utter insignificance, as it were,
while the sturdy sailors, knowing that the pa
tient is not beyond recovery, laugh good
naturedly and proceed with their business of
taking big fish from the Driny deep: strong
heavy sinkerS are cast overheard III from 30 To
100 feet of water. The bait used is hard crabs,
which are caught with little effort and IN the
bay. When the tishingis good, which is almost
always the case at this season of the year. your
leaden sinker scarcely touches the bottom be,
fore you feel vigorous jerk on your line, and
drawing il up, while the finny victim dasheS
hther and thither through the water, you find
you have caught u sea trout, perhaps foot
long OF perhaps three feet long, or it may be
large bluefSh or II tench that has been unwary
enough to snap at your bait. Occasionally u
fish is hooked which all your strength is INSULT
cient to move and before you can make up
your mind whether the fish is destined to come
up or you to go overheard, an angry jerk is felt
and the submarine monster, which you are
told was probably large shark has bitten
your line in two or broken your hook and NOV
ed to other quarters. 1t is not an uncommon
90 f.t,
to 400 pounds OF fish in few hours. These
are sold to dealers at from three to six cents
per pound, so that the business, while it lasts,
is not Improbable
The beach, too, offers abundant opportunities
for sport in the way of cunning. Flocks Of
sand-pipers, sand-snipe, willet, cnrlew, Nc, fly
along the shore or alight ut the edge of the surf
in search of food. The birds, however, have
grown wary and to outwit them the sportsman
digs a pit in the sand, places decoys along the
beach and quietly waits for his game to APP
proach the mimic birds.
The Life-Savlng Station at Scott's Beach is a
type of the great chain of similar buildings
which line the Atlantic coast, at distances of
from three to ten miles apart. Each station is
i'll charge of u keeper, whose salary is $500
year, and seven assistants, who get S65 month
September 1st to May LIST. These stations, as
well as the apparatus in them, are kept scru-
pulously clean. Each is supplied with Il life
boat about 20 feet long, which when in use is
propelled by eight oarsmen and so arranged
that no seas, however rough, can swamp it.
When active duty begins the men are drilled
daily in all matters pertaining to saving the
crews and passengers of wrecked vessels and
also in the art of resuscitatng drowned per-
sons One of the crew is made to represent 4
drowned man and the various processes of re-
suscitation are resorted to. The men, it is said,
do not altogether relish the pantoInime. AT
night-fall man, provided with signal lights,
leaves each station and patrols the beach in the
direction of the next station Thus these patrols
meet and after exchanging checks in proof
that they have met, return to their startling
Aan of ifa
may be imagined. Fancy being tumbled out
of warm bed, ut O'Clock i'll the morning,
with the thermometer near zero, the wind
blowing a hurricane and dashing seet
and frozen spray in your face as you march in
the darkness and loneliness along the wave
washed beach for five miles and back again
many years. Only the best specimens of ply
steal manhood are selected for the work, and
they must undergo not only a physical exam
nation but an examination in the use of sig
mails employed by the various maritime nations
of the world.
When "a patroman sights vessel in danger
Gus proximity to the breakers he lights red
signal and soon answering signals appear all
along the beach. If the vessel recognizes the
danger and escapes 1t, so much the better. III
she becomes fast on the breakers, the Life Saw
ing men haul out u carriage On which is mount
ed q small brass cannon. From this an iron pro-
jectile about Is inches in length and inches
in diameter, is fired over the vessel. To this
projectile is attached light line. The sailors
on the vessel pull this line in, and attached to
is fastened and when the end of this comes on
board it is made fast. Then the work of remov-
ing passengers and crew begins. The life-car
is hauled aboard, by means of a line that is
run along the hawser. This vessel is made
of sheet iron and is about 10 feet i'll
length, and of conical shape. Five or six per-
sons are put i'll it, the top Is securely fastened
and they are drawn ashore. The operation is
repeated until all are saved.
Another appliance is the breecheS buoy,
which consists of a large rubber ring, filled
with air, from the lower side of which hangs a
canvas bag. Into this one person ut time is
placed and drawn ashore.
This station is kept by Capt. Adelbert Soper.
q broad-Shouldered son of Neptune, who has
been engaged in the humane work for IA
years and has aided in saving persons from 30
wrecks. He IS one of the most expert surf
swimmers, perhaps on the Atlantic coast. In
deed, it is said he can swim like u shark and re-
main i'll the water an indefinite length of time.
The Life Saving Service is one of the noblest
departments of the government. "They
that go down to the sea i'll ships, that occupy
bless the beneLcence that has provided this
means of safety from shipwreck and drown
ing. The stations, however, are too few in
number, involving, in some places, beat of
ten miles between them.
A novel sight here day or two ago, was the
annual pony penning. These island ponies are
hardy little creatures, born and reared on the
salt water marshes, innocent of any knowledge
of corn or oats and unaccustomed to shelter
Asa consequence it is survival of the tittest-
the weakly ones Succumb to the rigorS of the
winter, and those which live are only the hardy
and the strong. Once year they are herded
together, driven into d large pen and the var
iouS owners, for twenty miles around, assem-
bic and identify their stock. The animals over
a year old are known by the brand upon their
hips, and the colts by the mares they fol-
low. These colts are branded with the initials
of the owner, and those which are not sold on
the spot are turned out again.
The scene is an exciting one. Two stalwart
men will seize Al young colt, perhaps three
months old, and IL Is us much they can do to
hold the youngster. The older ones are Iasso-
ed, choked down and then branded. These
ponies, unbroken, at three years old, sell for
from $40 to $50. Ii broken they command
little more. Yearling colts can be bought at
from S25 to 1856.
Among the guests here this week was DIR. B.
F. Vosburgh, with his daughter, Miss Minnie,
and friends, from New York. Miss Vosburgh
excited a great deal of admiration by her
perb horsemanship, exhibited in driving in the
wild ponies from the marshes, as we'll as by her
feats as u splendid swimmer. Mr.. f. Becker
and his family, of Baltimore, are also here. Mr..
Becker is an ardent sportsman and fine shot.
He has already baggsd over 800 birds during
his sOjourn here, having spent more than
month.
The oystermen and fishermen have been
much interested in the cutting of an inlet from
the bay to the sea, the natural inlets having
been closed by drifting sand. SinepuIent Bay,
once famous as oyster planting ground, is now
worthless for the purpose and it is believed if
the inlet just cut can be kept open the bay will
be sailed again and the oyster industry become
remunerative. The inlet was cut at Winter
Quarter, about 16 miles below Ocean City, by
the public-sprited citizens of Worcester coun-
ty, at their own exDeDSp.