The Opelousas courier., 1892-04-16
REVENUE CUTTER SERVICE
DUTIES OF NAVAL ASSISTANTS
TO THE TREASURY.

They Must Prevent Smuggling Along
the coast. Assist Vessels in Distress
and Uphold Our Laws on Ii Seas.
The revenue cutter service is the navy
of the Treasury. Except in time OF wal
it is under the immediate control oil the
Secretary of the Treasury, and its officers
receive all orders through him. In time
of war the cutters cooperate with the
naval vessels and are then under the con-
troll of the Secretary of the Navy.
In time Of peace, the revenue cutters
put the Custom House officers on board
incoming vessels, see that no smuggling
occurs along the coast, and cruise Oh
| shore to give assistance to vessels IN DIS
tress, and to save life and property from
shipwrecks. Besides these specific duties,
cutters may be, and are, oodered on
special service, from time to iii 2. The
first vessel to enter the Arctic circle IN
search of the Inflated Jeanette, was a
revenue cutter, ard for several years past
the protection of the seals in Alaskan
waters has been an important duty of the
| revenue marine service.
The number of men and boys enlisted
in tie revenue marine is from 500 to
1000. and the vessels are literally scat
tered round the coast, from Maine to
California. OF the forty vessels which
comprise the fleet a large number are,
like the Chandler aud the Washington,
at the disposal of the Collectors of Gus
toms at the several ports, and are chiefly
concerned with the enforcement of the
custom regulations and the transport OF
custom officers. Occasionally the routine
is varied by a trip down the bay to re-
ceiye some distinguished visitor and bring
him ashore as a Government compli
ment.
A different class of vessels altogether
are the cruising cutters. They ale good
sailors as well as good steamers, and are
mainly rugged as fore -apd-aft and top-sall
~schooners, although there are two OF
three barGs among them. These are the
cutters hat have been trying to uphold
the United States laws in Behring Sea,
and that from the first day of December
every year until the first day of the
following April act as life sav along
the Atlantic coast. They are all armed
vessels, and the men who serve on board
them have to submit to a discipline as
strict as that of a man-o'-war.
The battery of the cruising cutters
consists of from Il to four guns. Up
to 4 recent date they were old twenty
f%our-pound howitzers, but these are now
being superseded by three-inch rifles.
In addition they carry a full supply of
cutlasses and small arms, in the use of
which the men are drilled as in the navy.
Under steam the cruising cutters have 3
maximum speed of twelve knots an hour,
and in size they vary from the Dallas,
the smallest, 179 tons measurement, to
the Colfax, 369 tons.
Eight of these vessels are ordered on
life-saving and patrol service along the
North Atlantic coast in the winter cruis-
ing from Eastport, Me-, to Georgetown,
S. G.. They are supposed to keep the
sea all the time except when it is alb
solutely necessary to come into port with
shipwreeked sailors or for supplies.
When cruising they hug the coast as close
as safety will permit, and during the day
there are three look-outs stationed, who
survey the horizon through powerful
marine glasses for any sign of a vessel in
distress. A surf boat is carried for the
purpose of taking off men from vessels
which have gone ashore in the surf. Tc
each cutter is furnished an ice breaker al
her bow consisting of a plate Of W-shaped
channel to ships frozen in, 50 as to tow
them out.
Each cruiser has on board medical
stores, provisions, clothing, ETC., for the
relief of the distressed vessels and mar
liners. When a cutter had succeeded
in saving q vessel by towing her to a
place of safety, a charge is made against
the vessel for the value of the assistance |
rendered, which the the captain or own
ers have to pay to the Collector OF the
Port where the cutter has its headquar-
tiers.
1t is off the coast of Maine that the
marine event sailor has his hands full.
The number of vessels to which the rev. |
enue cruisers afford assistance on this
coast during the winter months sell
dom falls below 800, while it often !
touches the 900 mark. The number oil !,
fishing boats owned in Maine have a
great deal to say to this state of things,
as they are forever getting snipped" in
the ice and lost on reefs that cannot be
seen from the life-saving stations on the
beach, and which are out of the track Of
passing steamers.
The number of person saved from a
watery grave by the cutters is over 1000
annually, and yet no one ever hears OF
the gallant deeds of the men who man
Ihem.--NeW York News.
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