Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-05-22
BRAVE SURFNEN.
DerelfctiOn of Duty ON Their Part FL
tremely Rare.

tremely Rare.
Il am glad to see that the charges OF
dereliction Of duty made against the surf
man OF the United States life-saving ser
vice who was on duty on the shores Of the
Golden Gate on the night of the wreck Of
the steamer Rio de Janeiro. were disproved
at the coroner's inquest" said a treasury
official to a Star reporter today.
THE officials here We're dSinclined to
accept the first statements that the surf
man had heard two whistles of the Inflated
steamer, and had failed to report these sig
mails of distress to the crew in the surf
house, which was close to the scene of the
wreck, as being true, and it appears that
they were correct. 1t was shown that the
whistles were not those of a steamer In
distress, and not being blown in the man.
ner which would indicate that assistance
was needed. the surfman naturally gave
them no more than passing attention. Had
the whistles been sounded In such a man
ner as is customary for Seamen to blow
for help, 1t Is probable that many of the
passengers and crew of the steamer might
have been picked up by the life-savins
crew.
1.-The history of the life-saving crews Is
one continuous story Of bravery, courage
and devotion to duty on the part Of the
crews, both collectively and individu ally.
Incidents without number might be pro-
duced to show Intelligent action on the part
Of these men in the locating Of wrecks In
fogs and storms. and the heroic attempts
to fail to report signals Of distress would
be as unusual as it would be criminal. and
all concerned are glad that the surfmans
story has been officially proved to have
been true.
There are but sixteen life-saving sta
lions on the Pacific coast. 1t is only In
the few winter months that storms rage
on that coast. and at other times the
ocean is true to its name. On the coasts
Of the great lakes there are ffty-eight
stations, one at the falls Of the Ohio, al
Louisville, Ky. and 1914 on the Atlantic
and gulf coasts. manned by about 900
men In charge of superintendent the pay
Of the surfmen being $50 a month The
large proportion of stations on the great
lakes is occasioned by the prevalence OF
the fierce storms in these inland waters OF
which Lakes Superior and Huron have
eighteen Lakes Erie and Ontario eleven
and Lake Michigan twenty-nine
speaking about the loss of life in ma
rine disasters, out Of the fifty-three lives
lost last year one-half of them were sacri-
feed by the injudicious attempts of the
ship-wrecked men, of two vessels to escape
In their own boats, instead of waiting until
aid could reach them from the shore or
until their situation should be demonstrated
to be hopeless Landing through the surf
in heavy weather Is always hazardous
and shipwrecked mariners have been
warned against it time and again by the
life-saving service. In the wrecks men,
toned all who remained on the vessels
were saved by the life-saving crews. thus
proving that all might have been saved II
they had remained on board.
''In addition to lending aid at the wrecks
Of large vessels. the crews perform every
year many individual acts Of heroisn. and
lend aid to the wrecks Of small craft, like
saiiboats. row boats. ETC. and Of this class
of vessels there were 800 casualties last
year. these boats carrying 7S1 persons. of
whom five persisted in wrecks and storms.
1.-The service lent its aid in addition to
1854 large vessels. carrying 1855 persons, of
whom forty-eight were lost. Sixty-one
vessels were totally lost. The estimate ed
value of all of the ships. including the car
goes, was about $9,500OOO. The crews
furnished succor to 675 persons at the
stations and provided dry clothing to 273
persons who were rescued utterly desti-
tGte
The frequency of disasters on the lake
coasts is shown by the fact that, while
there were 407 disasters on the Atlantic
and gulf coasts. there were 2J4 on the
coasts Of the lakes. and but thirty-two
on the Pacific coast. The most deadly dis
trict in point OF the number Of disasters Is
the second. or the coast Of Massachusetts,
where there are thirty stations, and there
were 1913 disasters last year. The fourth
district. embracing the coast Of New Jer-
sey, has forty-one stations. the largest
number Of all the districts. but the num-