The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-09-02
LIFE SAVERS WORK
How the Idea of ex- Governor
Newell Has Come to
Be a Blessing TO
Humanity.
NEW JERSEYS COAST WELL GUARDED
More Stations ON Our Shore Than
on That Of Any Other State
Interesting Statistics.

-
On the Boardwalk at Asbury Park.
about opposite the Auditorium. there
stands a granite monument unlettered and
uncarved. Against it rests a wooden sign
board which sets forth that near that
spot over a half century ago, or, to be
more accurate, in 1852, the packet New
Era came ashore in a storm and a large
number of people lost their lives in the
angry waves. That disaster led ex-Gov-
ernor William A. Newell of this State to
begin the agitation which finally resulted
in the establishment OF life-saving sta
lions along the coast of this country. No
better idea of the excellent work which
this Jerseyman accomplished can be
gained than from the annual report of
the operations of the United States Life
Saving Service for the last year, which
has just been issued by the Government
Printing Office.
.Life-saving stations and houses of
refuge are located upon the Atlantic and
Pacific seaboard of the United States, the
Gulf of Mexico and the lake coasts, as
shown in the list in the latter part of
this book, the latitude and longitude be-
ing given as far as determined.
Houses of refuge are located exclusive
1y upon the Florida coast, where the re-
| quirements of relief are widely different
from those of any other portion of the
seaboard.
"An life-saving stations on the Allan
tic and Gulf coasts are manned annually
by crews of experienced surfmen from
the LIST of August to the 31st of May fol-
lowing, inclusive.
Upon the lake coasts the stations are
manned from the opening until the close
of navigation, and upon the Pacific Coast
they are manned the year round.
"An 1ife-saving stations are fully sup
piled with boats, wreck guns, beach APP
p~aratus, r~estoratives, etc.
Houses of refuge are supplied with
boats, provisions and restoratives, but
not manned by crews; a keeper, however,
resides in each throughout the year, who,
after every storm, is required to make
extended excursions along the coast, with
a view of ascertaining whether any ship
wreck has occurred and finding and sue
coring any persons that may AVE been
cast ashore.
"All stations are provided witt the In
ternational Cod of Signals, and vessels
can, by opening communication, be re-
ported; obtain the latitude and longitude
of the station, where determined; infor-
nation as to the weather probabilities in
most cases; or, if crippled or disabled, a
steam tug or revenue cutter will, if re-
quested, be telegraphed for to the near
est port, where facilities for t~elegraphing
exist.
"All services are performed by the life
saving crews without other compensation
than their wages from the Government,
and they are strictly forbidden to solicit
or receive rewards.
Destitute seafarers are provided with
food and lodgings at the nearest station
by the Government as long as neces-
sarily detained by the circumstances of
shipwreck.
THE station crews patrol the beach
from two to four miles each side of their
stations four times between sunset and
sunrise, and if the weather is foggy the
patrol is continued through the day.
Each patrolman carries Coston sig
nails. Upon discovering a vessel standing
into danger he ignites one of them, which
emits a brilliant red flame of about two
minutes DURATION, to warn her off, or,
should the vessel be ashore, to let the
crew know that they are discovered and
assistance is at hand
IF the vessel is not discovered by the
patrol Immediately after striking, rockets
or fare-up lights should be burned on
board. or. if the weather be foggy, guns
should be fired to attract attention, as
the patrolman may be some distance
away, on the other part of his beat.
Masters are particularly cautioned, if
they should be driven ashore anywhere in
the nelghborhood of the stations, espe-
cially on any of the sandy coasts, where
there is not much danger of vessels
breaking up Immediately, to remain on
board until assistance arrives, and under
no circumstances should they attempt to
land through the surf in their own boats
until the last hope of assistance from
the shore has vanished. Often when
comparatively smooth at sea a danger
Gus surf is running, which is not percepti-
shore, and the surf, when viewed from
a vessel, never appears so dangerous as
1t is. Many lives have unnecessarily been
lost by the crews of stranded vessels be-
ing thus deceived and attempting to land
in the shiD's boats.
1.-The difficulties of rescue by operations
from the shore are greatly increased
when the anchors are let go after enter
ing the breakers, as is frequently done,
and the chances of saving life are cor
respondingly lessened."
The coast is divided into twelve dis
tricts, No. ! being the coasts of Maine
and New Hampshire, and No. IL the Paci-
fc coasts. The Gulf is No. 8, and the
Ninth and Tenth districts are the great
lakes. There are in all these districts
EGG stations.
The coast of New Jersey forms a dis
trict by itself-No. land has AZ stations.
the largest number of any district. The
first is at Sandy Hook and the last at
Bay Shore beyond Cape May. Although
not a roek-bound shore New Jerseys
coast seems to be one of the most dam
gerous of the entire country. That these
stations are needed can easily be seen by
the following statistics of the years
w~ork:-Number of disasters, So, eight of
which involved the total loss Of the yes
sells. The value of the wrecked vessels
and cargoes was IS, I09. 500, of which $5.551,-
$50 was saved and sl57,S75 was lost, show
ing the value of the service. The total
number of disasters in the whole United
States, S,sS2. involving vessels valued at
$101 .948, 625. with cargoes valued at S44,-
539, 134 and 72,616 persons. OF his the
life saving crews saved $113. $50, 1872 worth
of vessels and cargoes and 71,846 per-
sons.
PROSPEROUS DAVIsES.