The evening times., 1896-11-05
MEN WHO WATCH THE SHIPS
Life SavSrS' Brave Deeds and
Hairbreadth Escapes.
LADS ALONG THE SHORE
Many Thrilling Tales of Disaster
Along the Atlantic Ocean ana
on the Lakes-The New Life
boats That Are Non-Capsizable ana
Non-Sinkable. '--H

The men who plow the misty furrows OF
| thesea go always with the fear of stoFmand
wreck before their eyes. Even IN calm
weather, the slightest niscdlculation may
castthem on lee shore in pOundlhSsWcll,
with the shrieks of hurt men andthe shatter
OF the standing rig going by the pOard 10
daunt their stout hearts. But there are men
ashore with hearts as stout, whose mission
is to save. And when the wind rises 10
bowling gale, and all along the shore the
'Ialue ducks" are Scudding for shelter under
halr stripped poles, the brave surfnlen and
henchmenofthe LifeSavlng ServIcep perform
prodlgies of valUr, GOODNESS and resolution.
No portion of the Atlantic coast is more
thickIy strewn with the bones Of wrecks, OF
haunted by the spirits of the drowned, than
the North Jersey and Long Island beaches.
Hatte:as mly have a worse repute for churi-
ish weather, but far more shipping sails to-
ward this port than ever passed Hatteras.
THE CRUEL SANDS.
The great sand beach of Long Island, and
the long line of sand down Jerseys eastern
front converge like the sides of tunnel,
and storm from any point between East
by North, and due SUuth-alInost any OF
the dirty gales that bring foul weather
with them-have plenty oI ships To play
with.
Once in a while big Atlantic liner,
CARRYING a thousand or more souls in her
cabins goes thud into the cruel sands, and
all the world reads the news in the next
days papers how every one got off safe and
sound; but the record OF the little cargo
boats that come to grief, OF the lives lost.
one, or two or three, at time, the long
battles with surf and snow and sleet 10
sJccor crews frozen into the rigging OF
little schooners these things scarcely get
into the payers at all.
Upon u..1 southern shores of the great
l1l-eS ITDcIp Sans life savers do work
quite as difficult and quite as heroic. The
cold along the great lakes is far kceuer,
there is much more trouble with Ice, the
gales are as furious; the vessels are rather
more frail of build. Within sight of
Chicago. wnen the northerly gales drive
down Lake Michigan, and all the shore Is
white with the teeth of the gnawng
waves, rescues as daring have been ac-
complished as any on the Atlantic coasts.
Indeed, during the season Of S95, which
is covered by the last official report, the
greatest loss OF life in any of the twelve
districts occurred in the eleventh, on
Lake Michigan, where seven people per-
ished out of u total for the entire coun-
try of but twenty-one.
Every year, in May the Board Of Life
Saving Appliances meets to consider i'm.
provements in the machinery OF the ser
vice. The most important innovation at
present in progress is the construction
of twelve new lifeboats on the English
plan Only one of these is completed
and this is in use at Sandy Hook station.
The new boat is "a feet in length, feet
longer than the old one, Is unsinkable,
and will accommodate fifty persons, though
hardly luxuriously. She is fitted with sail
as well as oars, like the boats of the type
formerly in use. but has an important inno-
vation in the shape of acenter-board which
enables h er to beat to windward- ..r-....>
ROCKET TOO ERRATIC.
No other new appliances are this year
to be adopted. and some tn at have been
previously experimental with are aban-
doned. The rocket, for instance, has
been found, In practice, too crratic for
certain use, and the small mortar wiz