The evening times., 1896-11-27
LIEE-SAVERS.
Queer Duties of Men Who Guard
the Coast.

IT is not only ON our sea coast that
watch is kept: according TO tie last an
nual report OF the life saving service, 1t
has 25l stations, and number uI tLeSr
are on the shores of the great lakes, aud
one, only one, is on a river, at the falls
of the OHIO, at Louisville, Ky. In 1895
there were 6T5 disasters, and only TWEEN
ty-siN lives were lost. That is fewer
than used to ne lost annually on the
coast OF New Jersey alone. The passen-
ger lists on these threatened and ship
wrecked vessels amounted all told to
5,S2S. and If IL had not been for the brave
men i'll the stations II is certain that only
a few hundreds would ever have reached
land. This record of lives saved does the
service scant justice, for captains and
crews have their turn last, after women
and children and the men who have pad
their way all come first when lives are
TO he saved.
Eight hundred of these rescued people
were suCcored and revived, often rcsuS-
citated after they We're really drowned.
at the stations; for tie men who take
their boats into the stcrmiest water that
boats ever lived i'll know also how To
nurse and tend the prostrated as well as
trained nurse could do 1t. The proper, Y
involved III these calamitics was worth
millions of dollars, and more than nine
tenths of it was saved by the life-saving
service, the salvage Compan les and
wrccknC tugs working together. More
than all this many vessels and lives
We're saved by the warning signals of tt"
patrolmcn. Two hundred and thirty were
warned away from dangerous positions
at night by signal lights.
Now. all This is done by men who not
only are brave and who understand boats,
but who are also under IA discipline like
soldiers and who have 10 learn to do i
great many more things than soldiers
Most of them have grown up on our own
seaboard; frequently they work where
they have lived all their lives, and guard
coast that they have learned To know
like Il hook while they ran barefootcd
A station is two-story house with
provision for the hoats on the ground
noor. aud is manned with keeper and
six or seven surfIneu. If you want to see
what nice housekeeping men can do you
should go on navy vessels or into 4 life
saving station. The keeper and the surf
men do Ill their own housekeeping and
cooking. and tney keep things shining.
taking turn and turn about at the work;
SO any. boy who fancies he would like to
enter This gallant service should remcni-
ber that hOusework aud cooking have 4
place. well rs boating. in fitting him
for the work
Everything is very systematic. all III,
bedding is aired on Monday. weather per
mitting: on Tuesday there is boat practice.
the boats being gotten out ana launched
just if they were going to help a
wrecked vessel: this is gone through with
puncliliouSly and hurredlv Just as You
see firemcn practice getting out their
engine. Wednesday is devoted To signal
drill, according 10 the International code
for signal flags. Every man must knew
how 10 use this code. There is Il flag for
every letter in the alphabet. and messages
tan he sent back and forth with them To
and from ships that neither boats nor
speaking irunpets can reach. Saturday
is house cleaning day. and then the big
fellows that have been saving on the
stormy deep fall TO washing windows and
floors. and lhey do it better than most
housemaidS. too.
Friday afternoon is given TO practice
in bringing drowned people back to life
Not that anybody is drowned ON purpose
play Some one of them has been drowned.
He lies down and let himself 20. while the
rest knead his back and chest tu get the
water out of his lungs Though no water is
there. produce artificial breathing. rub
him, and bent bin, and do everything To
him that, according 10 The latest science.
would help bring back life To drowned
man. one surfman 80 yshr has been drowned
,S =
brought to when YOU haven't been drowned
One time mt one station. when they had
really brought two drow ned people Ia life
on Friday morning, they Were let off the
drowning drill in the afternoon. and
The man whose turn ii was 10 play
dead thought the release was worth all
thc work OF the night before, when he
had been toiling in and on the water, his
hre in peril, To save the people who gave
the station its drowning drill for that
lay.
Such deviations from discipline are rare,
because. for one thing, every little move
nent at the stations must he reported to
the superintendent at Washington: a daily
journal is kept and is sent To headquar-
tiers once a week. District s,Ipcrintcnd-
ents come around once every three months
L" see that everything is up to the mark.
ii any lives are lost when the men are
on hand there is rigid investigation
TO sec whether or not it is their fault. IL
fs a very rare thing that it is, for these
men are as brave and devoted as firemcn,
and what more could yoI say?
The hardest regular work is the pa.
trolling of the coast. that begins, as has
been said, at midnight Oh September 1,
but after that it is done from sunset
to sunrise every night until the season
closes, on May 1. In cold and stormy
weather this is hero's work; the line of
march is defined, and often when the sea
Is high and the waves are dasmng over
the path and the spray is flying, the patrol
man Comes off Ills beat as wet as if lie
came from under sea.
Some stations are So near together that
tile patrols meet at the end of their re-
spcctive beats, and exchange checks to
Show that they have met.
When some vessel is discovered in dis
trcSs there is no fear of shirking. the
men leap to the most dangerous work.
The first thing, if il is night, S to burn
a red light, 10 let the people on the ship
know that help is coming Then. If il is
possible for Il boat 10 live in the water,
the boats are launched; if the boats can't
do any good then the men get ready to
use the breechcs buoy. First shot carry
Ing a line is sent over the snip. when the
crew has secured that they haul in a
heavy rope, both ends OF which are kept
pD shore.