The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-03
BRAVE sURFMEN.
DerelictiOn of Duty on Their Part
Extremely Rare.

Il am glad to see that the charges of
dereliction of duty made against the
surfman of the United States Life-Saving
Service 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 in the coroners inquest"
said a treasury official to a Star reporter
to-day.
THE officials here were disinclined to
accept the first statements that the surf
man had heard two whistles of the ILL
fated steamer, and had failed TO report
these signals of distress to the crew in
the surf house, which was close to the
scene of the wreck, as being true, and 1t
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 manner which would indicate that
assistance was needed, the surfman nat
urally gave them no more than passing
attention. Had the whistles been sounded
in such manner as is customary to sea-
men 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-saving crew.
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 individually.
Incidents without number might be pro-
duced tc show intelligent action on the
part of these men in the locating of
wrecks in fogs and storms, and the heroic
attempts to save fife. For a member or
the service 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 OFF,
cialy proven to have been true.
There are but sixteen life-saving sta
tons 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 it's name. On the coasts
of the great lakes there are fifty-eight
stations, one at the falls of the Ohio, at
Louisville, Ky, and 1894 on the Atlantic
and Gulf Coasts, manned by about 1890
men in charge of superintendents the pay
of the surfmen being $65 per month The
large proportion of stations on the great
lakes is occasoned 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 sac
rihced by the injudicious attempts OF the
ship-wrecked men OF two vessels to es-
cape In their own boats, instead of walt
ing until aid could reach them from the
shore or until their situation should be
demonstrated to be hopeless. Landing
through the surf i'm heavy weather is al
ways hazardous, aud ship-wrecked marin
ers have been warned against It time
and again by the life-saving service. In
the wrecks mentioned all who remained
on the vessels were saved by the life-sav-
ing crews. thus proving that all might
have been saved If they had remained on
board.
I'm addition to lending aid at the
recks of large vessels, the crews per-
form every year many individual acts of
heroism, and lend aid to the wrecks of
small craft, like sailboats, row boats, etc.
| and of this class of vessels there were 1923
casualties last year, these boats carry
ing ISL persons, of whom five persisted in
wrecks and storms.
THE service lent it's aid in addition to
364 large vessels. carrying 1855 persons,
of whom forty-eight were lost. Sixty-one
| vessels were totally lost The estimated
value of all of the ships, including the
| cargoes was about 50 800, 600. The crews
| furnished succor to SIS persons at the sta
tions, and provided dry clothing to q;
| persons who were rescued utterly desti-
| tute.
1.-The frequency of disasters on the lake
/
there were 407 disasters on the Atlantic
and Gulf coasts, there were 254 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 Massahu-
sets, where there are thirty stations, and
there were 1925 disasters last year The
fourth district, embracing the coast of
New Jersey, has Al stations, the largest
ngIubnF If "a tho tqt D,trf h.
Der Of disasters were only sixty-two. Next
to the Massachusetts coast. the eleventh.
or Lake Michigan district is the most
deadly, following with 102 disasters The
fifth and sixth districts, which take In
one Of the graveyards of the Atlantic,
Cape Hatteras, had combined eighty-five
disasters.
1T must be a decidedly unpleasant as
well as dangerous predicament to be cut
off from the land by the rising tide. Surf
men rescued five persons thus helplessly
placed last year. Hunters are often
caught by the rapidly rising waters They
pulled out of the water sixteen persons
who had fallen off piers. and rescued hf-
teen swimmers and bathers. Five were
rescued from death on drifting ice. Two
men were overcome by the cold; while
four intoxicated men were rescued from
danger A surfman also pulled a child out
ITO show the alertness of the men It
should not be forgotten that but for their
warning signals on shore, 1914 vessels
which were in danger of stranding, would
have been driven on shore. The patrol
men also rendered minor assistance to
over 600 vessels. In addition 10 the mum
Der OF persons rescued from vessels by
the ordinary apparatus of the stations,
thrty-two were saved by lines thrown
from vessels to the surfmen on shore,
and thirty-seven were carried ashore by
the sife-savers, who waded out into the
surf after them.
These brief facts show the courage
and efficiency OF the surfmen TO their
limited extent, and the public, no doubt.
shares with the government the gratinca-
tion that charge of neglect of duty was
not sustained In the Rio de Janeiro case"
San Francisco Gambler.
From Bret Hartes "Under the Red