Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-12-10

Called "The King of the Breakcrs.-
 Copies From the Wild Duck-Easicr to
 Go Out Than to Get Back to Show.
 San Francisco has king of the break CTS, man who views the giant shore waves of the mighty sea as things to play with, and who proposes to revOlutionize the life saving service by substituting brawn and skill for life lines and compli- cated paraphernalia. What n breaker really is not many people know. Major Blakeney, who has been for years with the government life saving station, is one of those who ought tO know.
 A breaker is not exactly n wall of wa ter," he said. It Is rather n great roll of the sea. It starts miles and miles away as n wave, gathering force and gaining sped us it rolls, the great volume of wa ter, tons and tons of it, turning over and over upon itself. Finally as the sea bot tom rises tO form the sandy beach the space for the giant rolling mass of water becomes contracted, and 1t brcaks-brcaks not from the top of the roll, but from the bottom; breaks with force that makes the rush of n cannon shot seem trifling The top of that breaker, containing vol tunes of water big as houses, is thrown forward at terrific speed. forming what Is known on the beach as n 'comber.' \ boat caught at the timc tho breaker Is formed Is carried forward at n ratc of casi- ly 30 miles an hour. X mass of water like that is solid. Is inclastic. X man caught squarcly under such comhcr would bC killed when 1t struck him-killod as he would be if he stood under n trip hammer us 1t fell.
 1t Is not the breaker at the beach that is dangerou--it Is the breaker away out that is the power. By the time il rcachCs shore it is merely foam. X man drowned in breakers like that never comes ashorc. His body Is never found. Hs sinks and stays. The water in its rolling picks up the sand from the bottom until the rOllcr is heavily charged with sand. \ man who gets into that water gets sand in his lungs, ears and nostrils, in all his pockets. in his shoes, under his clothes, in every possible crcvicc, until hc is ballasted so that he sinks forever.
 "Brcakcrs arc not made for men to breast, whether they be swimmers or not"
 Yet tho king of the breakers thinks his subjects aro easy to rulc when understood.
 Personally tho king of tho breakers Is a commonplace looking man of ordinary build and wearing ordinary whiskcrs. He is a doctor, n member Uf tho turner soCie- ties and the schuctzcn sections, a good German citizen " ho loves to drink bccF and to swim in blue salt water. His namO is Dr. F. Riehl.
 T learned how to take tho breakers by watching the duck, said the doctor 1t is very, cCry easy. The heavier and larger tho brcukrrs tho better like it. Just so 1t Is with the duck. Watch one of the wa terfowl any time. As the bird swims in- shore and the brcaker comes the duck dis appears. Look again when tho brCakcr passes, and you will scc the duck calmly swimming on tho smooth water beyond
 That is the way do. It's so simple that it Is hardly worth telling about. Any good swimmer may bc taught in a few hours how to go through tho breakers. This Is tho way do it: Going out from shore, I run through the first small waves ns far as can breast them, or un til tho water takes me of my feet. Then swim straight on toward tho breakers When ono comes, dive just bcforc it comes to me. I go under 1t and como up in the smooth water beyond. Thcrc is al ways smooth water back of tho breaker and always must be. Any man who has been much around the sea can understand that. l swim on through the smooth wa | tor until the next brcakcr comes. take | ie tho samc way. On Go through all of them. After a man runs out until hc Is | of his feet tEcrc arc never moro than eight | or nine breakers ahead, so it is really an | easy matter to gct out whcrc the waves aro ordinary in size and force, and where | any good swimmer can takc his casc for hours"
 And as to coming in again. WIG asked. An, thore you havc me, said the phy | sician. That Is little moro difficult, much moro difficult. A man must keep | his head. He must not get what you call 'rattlcd.' With presence of mind any good | swimmer ought to come in through the breakers. l come In, not straight ahead | of the breakers. but on n slanting course When the breaker nears me, I turn quick | ly and dive, just like the duck again. l | % under the breakers in the opposite di- | rection from my general course. for shore, | but on coming up again I turn for shoro | at once until the next breaker comes That take the same way, and sO on un- | til can get on my feet and run for shore Because of this constant turning it Is not easy to take n line from n ship to the land, but 1t Is easy enough to carry one from shoro to ship, which Is all that is needed in tho life saving service"
 To carry a line out through the break l CTS any reasonablc distance the doctor | says all that is necessary Is small limo | lighted with corks or oiled, so arranged | that men on tho sho-o may play it out as the swimmer proceeds, taking caro that
 thcro shall not be slack enough Co cncum- | Der him. With such line around his body over one shoulder Dr. Richl dives | undur the breakers. Ho says he thinks practice will enable n good long distance
 swimmer to carry such line out half a | milo from shorv in a storm. Once the | small limo reaches the ship or the capsizcsi | boat the problem of life saving is solved, | for 1t is easy enough to haul out n stronger | limo and then use any of the numerous
 rescue methods. In discussing the matter
 yesterday Dr. Reihl said:
 "The life saving crews have orders not
 to send out their boats when the brcakers | arc too high. am told that not long agu
 an Italian was upset in his skin ol the l gate and chung to tho keel for hours, bc-
 ing carried past the life saving station, l where the men stood doing nothing be- | cause the breakers were too high. Finally
 the current took tho boat to the Clin
 House rocks, and Mir. Wilkins and a boy | rescued tho fisherman. I hayc told the
 men nt tho lifo saving station to telephone
 for mo when anything of that kind hap
 pens. l can get out to the beach in an
 hour and would gladly do it to save life.
 1 can swim through breakers that life
 boat could not get through and would
 think nothing of 1t. If thcre were m ex-
 pert swimmer in cvsry life saving crew, it is sAsy to sec that he would bc of great
 use In just such cases San Francisco
 Chroniols.
 Point Comfort was named by tho first