Evening star., 1902-03-01
HEROIC WORK DONE
SUPERINTENDENT KIMBALL
TELLS OF THEIR LABoRs.
Statistics of Preservation of Lives and
Property Due to Service of
the Corps.

-A~' >"'i " Aiiiiiu tueSe DTaNe fellows who
SO readily risk their own lives to save
Others" said Superintendent Kimbau Of
the iife-saving service to a Star represent
ative this morning.
Secure in our own warm homes in an
inland city. full appreciation of the hor-
rors and distress Of terrific gale along
the coasts cannot be had, nor of the splen-
ala work OF the American life saving coast
guard The effects of a winters storm
were shown here recently, yet the terrors
OF the elements along the coasts are in
creased hundredfold. and during all
tnat period of gales, snow storms hail and
rain the hardy life guards were patrolling
DAY and night practically the entire coast
Texas
A Human Gordon Of Police
NO storm is too fierce, no weather too
pad' no cold too intense, and no opposing
forces Of nature too severe that this hu-
man Gordon of protection to mariners is
not stretched along our coasts A braver
body OF men cannot be found in the entire
world. while their faithfulness to duty.
their skill at their hazardous calling, and
their utter and unselfsh disregard Of their
own safety when engaged in the work Of
rescue, ought to make, and believe II does
the heart of every American glow with
pride that these heroes SO noby typify the
dash and courage of our own race
I'm the big gale Of November last the
admirable service Of the life-saving crews
was exemplified in many instances, but
one Instance. the wreck of the German
snip F1otbek, should not be lost sight OF.
as the wonderful efficiency of the men and
apparatus in use was well illustrated. We
save lives from wrecks nowadays by lights.
that Is. but for the use of our powerful
Wells light, many a sailor would go to the
bottom In the wrecks at night.
The FlOtbek went ashore at MOnmOuth
Beach. N. j., during the night in a heavy
gale. Our crew cast the rays Of the light
through the inky darkness OF the night
upon her, and shot life line the line at
tached to the shot being about as thick as
pencil over her decks. This small line
is attached to a cable and upon being haul
ed aboard, the breeches-buoy brought
ashore the entire crew of twenty-four men
without injury. The difficulty heretofore in
these awful wrecks at night has been to
have the crew on the ship find the line
when shot to them. The Wells light has
solved the problem. The crews along the
Norln Carolina coasts in the January gale
Of this year rescued thirteen men from an
Italian bark, and seventeen men from a
Norwegian steamer, both wrecks occurring
at night in heavy storms, and the men COW !;
cred themselves with honor in making the
rescue in the surf boats i'm heavy seas
without the loss of a single man.
Incidents Amusing and Pathetic.
Passing from these greater efforts Of
HIe-SdNlnS crews 10 minor mCl0entS OF IN
terest, the occasions our men are called to
take part in are decidedly diversified. Thus,
at the Sabin. Tex, station they were sum-
moned to assist in putting out a fire at
hotel. and while thus engaged their own
station caught fire. and was burned to the
ground. During the Galveston flood our
men rendered valiant service though their
station was swept away. and two of the
men in a boat landed high and dry nine
miles inland. A signal and noteworthy re-
cent act Of individual bravery was where
Keeper Griesser, at Buffalo, swan out into
the lake to rescue drowning man from a
wrecked scow, throwing him line to fas-
ten around his body. and hauling him safe
ly to shore in a heavy sea. Keeper Griesser
was given gold medal.
individual acts of conspicuous bravery
might be instanced without number. as
where Surfman dived beneath a tugboat
and effected rescue. During the past year
our men have saved from drowning from
wrecked vessels on shore fifteen persons
by plunging into the surf. Seventeen more
unfortunates who had fallen off piers.
landings etc. were hauled out in safety.
Thirteen bathers who would have been
drowned but for our mems assistance were
rescued. Men and boys are often caught
out by the incoming tide on flats. rocks.
cribs and other points, but cut off from the
mainland. and last year We saved dozen
who might otherwise have suffered most
horrible death. Again, men. such as clam
diggers and hunters, are often mired In
mud flats and are unable to extricate them
selves from what would be certain death
without assistance. Our men rescued re-
Gently two persons in this unpleasant phent.
A surfrnan along the lakes one snowy nlgnC
while on patrol stumbled over an object on
the beach hidden by snow 1t was the
body of an old man who had fallen uncon-
sciOus and overcome by the cold. He was
carried to the station and saved. An aero
naut whose parachute had fallen into the
sea was saved by nearby life crew.
What the Service is Doing.
'.In many respects, however. the past
wear has been a favorable one. as there
have only been seventeen lives lost, while
the annual average number of lives lost
during the past twenty-five years has been
thirty seven. The number OF casualties for
the year to registered vessels Is j17. having
on board 2S4S persons. OF whom seven were
lost and the total value of vessels and car
goes was s7,354.3O0. and of this amount
S. 400 900 was saved. Then there were 1893
casualties among smaller crafts, such
sail boats. row boats. etc. carrying 927
persons. ten of whom were lost. over 600
shipwrecked persons received succor at the
stations and forty-three vessels were to-
tally lost.
II noticed a dispatch recently In The Star
stating that three French and two English
vessels were so long overdue at San Fran
cisco the insurance rates were raised. Dis
asters the Pacific do not compare with
the horrors on the Atlantic and gulf sea-
seven disasters occurred on the Pacific last
year as against 2s5 on the lakes, and 45S
on the Atlantic and gulf coasts. But one
life was lost on the Pacific coast within the
scope of the life-saving service. as against
SIX on the lakes and ten on the Atlantic
and gulf coasts. In the wrecks on the lat
ter coasts the ships had on board 229: on
the lakes 256 and On the Pacific only 2l9
persons, while the value of the ships and
their cargoes on the Atlantic coasts was
81 800 Goo on the lakes SIS 10000 and on the
Pacific 81, GOO. 900. These facts are OF value
and are worthy of preservation.
Cape Cod and Cape Hatteras are the
two great graveyards for ships on the At
lantic. and thousands of brave sailors and
hundreds of stanch vessels have perished
and gone down, as will others for all time
to come go to their final resting places on
these deadly shores, while the sandy coast
line of New Jersey ranks third as a burying
ground for sailors and ships.
II am sure that the great work accom-
plished by the life-saving crews is not fully
underst God It should be remembered that
during the past thirty years there have
been - 633 disasters on our coasts. repre-
senting ships and cargoes worth $1S6
eco. and On these vessels there were Oh. 741
souls of whom 97S were lost. Such COM
paratively slight percentage Of lives lost
when compared with the very heavy total