Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-12-23
OUR LIFE SAVING SERVICE.
The Old Stations Being Replaced with
Cosy Homes-the Dangerous and He
role Work Done by the Men.

/
shantylike structure, with the boathouse
on the first floor and a loft overhead as
quarters for the men, is no longer re-
| garded sufficient After many years Of
effort Congress has been persuaded to APP
/ propriate sufficient funds to build COM
Portable stations for the crews. As COM
/ pared with the old style stations, the
ones which are now being built under
/ supervision of revenue cutter service Of
hcers are positively luxurious.
Typical of the new stations Is the one
| just completed on Great Wass Island, off
| Jonesport. Me. which is situated on
/ most dangerous stretch of coast, because
| Of its sunken rocks and shoals. Tho
| island belongs to the estate of Austin
| Corbin, Of New York, and, through his
! son, a part of 1t has been turned over to
| the government for life saving purposes.
! The station will replace an Inadequate
| one on Crumble Island and will cost about
| $11. 600.
The boathouse of the Great wass sta
ton is placed in a sheltered cove 1t
has room for a 35-foot llfeboat, self-rght-
| ing, self-bailing, and provided with CEN
treboard and sails. and for a smaller surf
boat. In an adjoining building is the
| store house for the beach apparatus
| Seventy-five or n hundred yards from the
| boathouse stands a high mast with cross
trees. 1t is known to the life savers as
the wreck pole" and enters into their
practice with the Lyle gun. When a line
has been shot across the wreck pole one
of the life savers goes out climbs the
pole, sets up a hawser and waits for the
crew to run out the brceches buoy. He
then comes in on it as from wreck
on the hill back of the boathouse the
| house Of the stations crew has been built
1t Is wooden structure with some pre-
tension to ARCHITECTURAL style Rising
above its second story is an inclosed
watch tower, from which the station man
rD N fnh for NV rlF- Il ss 4
cided change from the open platform
perched on the gable OF the old-time sta
ton, with no protection from the weather
The interior OF the house is well arranged
for the comfort Of the crew. Instead OF
all living in one room where they did
their cooking, where they amused them
selves when not on duty ard where they
slept, the new type Of house has a kitch-
en-, dining room. living room and sleep
ing quarters on the second floor. 1t is
fully equipped as to kitchen and dining
room, and the sleeping quarters are sup
piled with summer and winter blankets
There Is plenty Of room to take care OF
crews which may be rescued from yes
sells until they can be forwarded to the
mainland.
Il have been working for the last fifteen
years to secure better quarters for the
life saving crews" said Captain Charles
a. Abbey. superintendent OF construction
OF life saving stations. "and the move
ment is well under way. II will not be
long until the sheds which are serving
as stations and which are Inadequate will
be replaced by modern structures. in
which the men can live in comfort. care
for their valuable apparatus properly and
handle II most advantgeously / have
visited every station in the United States
except one or two Isolated ones, sleep
ing in the crowded rooms under blankets
which would hardly hold together and
know the discomforts which the life
savers suffered. Certainly no class OF
government employees deserve them less.
The new stations are not palaces but
common sense structures, with as many
comforts as possible The stations at
Chicago and Buffalo for instance are
fitted with bathtubs. AS the stations
are within the harbor lines the men could
not battle in the lake. Another innova-
ton is the floating life saving station. Of
which two have recently been constructed
and equipped. One OF these is at the
Falls OF the Ohio. at Louisville Ky. and
the other, a new station, at Ship Canal,
Mich. Lifeboats. a Lyle gun and beach
apparatus have been sent TO Cape Nome
Alaska. where the landing Of passengers
and freight Is now done in small boats
through the surf No provision has been
made. however. for n paid crew or for the
erection OF a station, and several fatal
tiles have been reported since the life
saving equipments were furnished. which
been understood and applied"
The general public has little idea OF the
real extent OF the work done by the life
saving service. The remoteness of many
OF the stations from news centres pro-
hibits the details OF rescues from reach
ing the press. Some OF the most strik-
ing rescues are dismissed with line or
two in the shipping news. The despatch
comes into the newspaper office like this:
False Cape, Va, Saturday,-Schooner
Mary Ann wrecked last night on Dead
Mans Reef, Crew rescued this morning
by life saving crew. Two life savers
drowned.
That is all there IS to it and the tele-
graph editor nine times out Of ten, gets
no answer to his hurried dispatch:
Rush full details OF wreck Of Mary Ann
and efforts OF life saving crew.
A year or so after the wreck the story
Of the efforts OF the crew comes out in
a black covered volume entitled Treas
ury-Annual Reports-Life Saving Ser
vice The names Of the men who sac
riticed their lives appear in the list of the
services dead. and that is the end OF IT,
Another volume OF these reports has
recently heen issued, its pages teemng
with exciting tales OF sea disaster and
efforts at rescue. They are set down in
the most matter OF fact way, but no sea
romancer could make them any stronger
For instance. take the wreck Of the bark
entine Abel Abbott. which stranded and
went to pieces on the outer edge OF Ship
Bottom Bar, on the New Jersey coast
early last year. She went on under fun
sail and the waves forced the crew into
the rigging. They were discovered there
by "A patrolman Of the Ship Bottom sta
ton, who called out the life saving crew
The Lyle gun was tried without success,
ana the life savers settled down on the
beach to await the coming of day In
the mean time crews from Heavy Cedars
and Long Branch stations came to give
assistance. The official record tells the
rest of the story thus:
AT the first signs of morning the surf
men on the beach detected faint outcry
from seward, and instantly jumped for
the boat. Wreckage filled the surf which
dashed the broken planks and timbers
savagely in every direction and there
was hardly a possibility of effecting a |
launch without destruction. Neverthe- |
less, one crew quickly manned the boat |
with two keepers in the stern, while the |
other crews took their places i'm the |
water, one on each side holding the boat |
and keeping the wreck stuff clear as well |
as possible, eagerly watching for an open |
ing. The men in the water were COM |
PEELED to exercise the utmost skill and |
nimbleness 10 escape the flying debris. |
and none were hurt seriously, although |
several were bruised. Suddenly an on |
portunity appeared and the surfboat in |
stantly shot out. Neither the life saving
crews nor the spectators, of whom there |
were many, believed II at all likely that |