The Opelousas courier., 1893-10-28

but in case of a wreck the house was
broken into by the first man on the
scene and the boat was hauled out to
the waters edge, ready when the fish
ermen should come to man it. There
were no such inventions as the life lines
now in use in the '20s, and the brave
fishermen worked against great odds.
The first rescue wiA the imple-
ments similar to those TN Government
l~ife-savers use now was OF Sandy Hook
on January IL, 1850. The British
schooner AYRSHIRE, with 202 souls on
board, mostly Irish immigrants, was
wrecked about 800 yards off shore late
at night. The natives of the fishing
settlement were aroused and with their
mortar semitic life line to the imperiled
boat. In the metallic car POI of the
202 passenger on the ill-fated schooner
were safely brought to shore. This
mortar with the ball that carried the
line are on exhibition in the life-sav-
ing station at the Fair. The rusty iron
ball has a long history. It struck the
deck and went crashing through tie
timbers. The vessel sunk and was in
the course of time buried in the sands.
In 1875, during a heavy storm, the
wreck was uncovered and washed on
the shore. Between the old timbers
was found the iron ball firmly i'm
bedded. The life car which brought
the people ashore is also on exhibition.
The one man who was drowned at
tempted to ride on the roof Of the cor,
but was washed away in the great
waves.
The appropriation made by Congress
for an exhibit of the ~life-saving ser
vice at the Fair called for all kinds of
boats and equipments used in the ser.
vice. There are two large self-bailing
and self-righting mahogany life-boate
and several old-fashioned vessels, The
self-bailing boats are the ones chosen
by the service. The average boat
weighs 1900 pounds, is twenty-six feet
long and the beam measures seven
feet. The self-righting and self-bail-
ing boat is too heavy to be hauled on
the beach and is mainly used on the
lakes. A track and a sloping plat
form is needed to launch it success
fully. The life-saving cal carries all
the equipments of the station and can
be readily hauled by the men.
The l~ife-saving station at the Fair
will be maintained even after the term
of the Exposition. The situation has
been found to be better adapted to the
service than the old one AMI the post
will be removed. The crew which nov
mans the Worlds Fair station belongs
in Ludington, Mich, and will return
at the close of the Fair. This crew,
the best drilled on the lakes, is com.
manded by Captain John Tufts. The
members of the crew are Surfman J.
F. Pratton, NJ. w. Grinnell, J. Nelson,
F. Carlson, B. Carlson, O. Wilkinson,
and J. Mitchell. They are detailed on
regular life-saving duty while here.
Drills are given every Monday, We'd
nesday and Friday afternoon at $50
o'clock. On Saturday an exhibition of
life-boat capsizing and righting is
given.
The exhibition on Monday, Wednes-
day and Friday consists in the full
work of saving sh~ip-wrecked sailors.
The surfpoat is unanswered on the
beach, a line is fred over the wreck,
the whip and hawser are sent out and
then breeches buoy. In this the men.
one at a time, come ashore. At the
end of the hawser printed instructions
are given in English and French.
The l~ife-saving station and the ex-
hibits at the Fair are under the super
vision of Lieutenant Charles Fl. Nc
Clellan of the revenue-marine service,
assistant inspector of the ~life-saying
service. He is the author of several
books relating to scientific ~life-saving,
and is the inventor Of most of the ap-
paratus used in the service. He rep
resented the service at the Cincinnati
Exposition in 1887, the New Orleans
Exposition in 1884, and 1885 and the
London Exhibition of 1888.