The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-12-13

an oar. Then he saw that his mate
he who could swim only little was
sinking, SO he showed the oar to him.
This man held to the oar and thus
Kept at1oat. The reflux carried him
out to the brig, where a wave washed
him aboard. The crew of the brig
rescued him.
But all the others, those who could
swim, were drowned in the surf. Next
day their bodies were found on the
beach, brutally mangled by rocks and
wreckage.
The men on the brig, including the
one life saver who could not SWIM
were taken off next day after the gale
had abated. Another member of the
stations crew also escaped; he was
on leave of absence at the time the
brig went ashore.
OF such incidents the lives of the
life savers along the Atlantic are
usually made up. But there are q
few exceptions, where the guards are
as free from work as their brothers
on the Pacific coast. There they are
never busy; they spend their winters.
and summers, too, lolling about the
sands and watching the white gulls
circling about in the clear blue sky or
over the big, oily rollers tumbling in
out of the west.
North of Fire Island hardly a winter
passes that the crews are not called
out, but west of that point nothing
ever happens, until you get some miles
down toward Naversink Light, on the
Jersey coast. Fire Island protects a big
piece of coast from the north easterly
gales. On Oak Island which lies in
Long Islands biggest bay-Great
South Bay-there is a station which,
within the memory of Capt. Frost,
who has been there nearly twenty
years, has not had occasion to save a.
single life. But just fifteen miles
further down, at Short Beach, where
Capt. Edwards, the oldest man in
the service, has charge, wrecks are of
common occurrence.
Five years ago a big steamer strand
ed off Short Beach. A big wave lifted
her up and settled her on a sand bank
amidships. This is vessels weakest
point the steamer broke in two as q
half-sawn log breaks when it is hit on
rock. 1t was almost as if she had
been cut by some huge knife, so sharp
was the break. Capt. Edwards crew
put out, but they saved only a few
of those on the steamer. The catas-
trophe had been too sudden.
At Point of Woods, just north of
Fire Island, there is another station
that is kept pretty busy. Some years
ago, in the worst part of the winter
schooner stranded there and sank,
leaving only its rigging exposed. The
crew took refuge aloft and lashed
themselves fast. 1t was morning be-
fore the life savers could get out to
them, but it was too late. Every one
of the schOoners crew was frozen,
caked in ice so thick that they could
| only be distinguished as men by the
| ropes that bound them. The spray,
in striking them, had frozen solid.
| Naturally, life savers must be COM
petent men. 1t usually takes only a
short time before those unfit are dis
covered and dropped out An exam
| pie of this happened a year ago on
Lake Ontario, near Toronto, at a sta
ton where wrecks have not occurred
for many years. The captain in charge
| had boosted of the many lives he had
saved, and, impressed by his self-con-
fidence, the place was given him by
the local authorities.
But there were some young men
| there who doubted the gallant cap
| tainS Veracity. They organized a sail
| ing party out on the lake and invited
| the captain along. When the boat
was some distance off shore one Of the
party, an excellent swimmer, fell over
board and pretended he could not
swim.
"Now's your time, captain! Save
HIM" shouted those on board.
But the captain held back. Finally
he was thrown overheard, when 1t de-
veloped that he could not swim. Had
he not been rescued by the man who
had deliberately fallen in, he would
have been drowned Next day the
captain disappeared without even the
formality Of passing in his resignation.