The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1907-12-26
Famous Old Keeper Of Kenosha
Life Saving Station to Retire
the First Of the Year
LONG RECORD AS LIFE SAVER
Captain Cameron Gives Up Active serv.
ice With Record of 500 Lives
Saved Houored BY Govern
ment-Beloved By Men

the captain OF the Kenosha life saw.
ing crew Captain Benjamin G. Cam
eron, one Of the best know life savers
on the lakes, has announ ced his
intention to retire from the service
and his resignation will be forwarded
to the department before the first q Z
the new year. Captain Cameron 'lIa $
taken the step after carfully con-
sidering it and he has reached the
conclusion that with his age of nearly
four score years it is time for him to
give up his active work.
The resignation of Captain Cameron
will come as a great surprise about
the lakes for while in point of years
and years of service he is one of the
Oldest men in charge of life saving
crews he has been considered one
of the most efficient men in the SER
vice and few people who see him at
work would consider him older than
fifty years. Captain Cameron retires
from the service with record oe
nearly five hundred men, women and
children rescued from watery graves.
It requires nearly a half century to
cover the period of his daring work
on the treacherous waters of the lakes
| for he began his career asia sailor
and as life saver in the Chicago
harbor way back IN 1850. Suffering
untold hardships at many times he
has won for himself the recognition
Iof his government for his gbrave1y
and an undyiug name among the men
who have given their lives to the
work of saving people from the lakes.
Captain Cameron's life has been an
interesting one. He is a Scotch Can
adam and was born near Holton on
the banks of the St. Johns River IN
1880. His parents removed to Chicag o
in 1841 and lived in a little house Just
over the way from the present site of
the Rush Street bridge. Captain
Cameron attended school at the old
Kenzie Street school. He took natur-
ally to the water and was an expert
boatman before the end of his tenth
year. In fact at this time he began
his career on the lakes sailing as an
| aid to cook on sailing vessel. Dur
| ing the next thirty years he sailed
nearly every sort of a boat and
touched every port along the lakes.
He was commissioned as captain of
the Kenosha Life Saving Crew when
the Kenosha station was opened in
1879 and since that time he has held
Of h 80 dSchS
guished and painstaking service. He
has been beloved by the men and he
has record of retiring as bright as
can be found in the annals ofsthe Life
Saving Board.
Captain Cameron's work has not
passed unnoticed by the government
and in 1899 the United States took
notice of his signal bravery and
awarded him a silver medal and when
Secretary of the Treasury,L Lyman J..
Gage forwarded the medal to5Captain
Cameron he sent with it a personal
letter in which he recalled the bravery
of the Scotch captain who had, so long
been IN charge of the life saving work
in Kenosha. This letter tells better
story of the distinguished services
rendered the government than any
other public record: It saidsin part:
cit appears from evidenceson file in
this department., that on Dec. 10, 1875,
the schooner William H. Hinsdale
stranded three miles south of Keno.
sha on Lake Michigan, during a
severe northwest blizzard and that
the crew of four men were dashed to
the rigging covered with ice and
barely alive. AS soon as she was dis
covered you procured a boat and
caused it to be. transported along the
shore until abreast of her where you
and other volunteers launched it
over a formidable ice barrier several
feet in height in face of a very dang
erous sea, and pushed brave1y out TO
the rescue. Upon reaching the vessel
you mounted that rigging, with your
hands unlashed the imperiled men
and passed them one by oneHinto the
boat below, which under your COM
mand conveyed them to the shore.
Medical aid and proper treatment
were quickly afforded them and all
survived, but it is highly proba BILE
that except for your prompt and eff
cient conduct some if not all of them
would have persisted.
''At the wreck of the steamer
Amazon near Grand Haven, Mich,
Oct. %, 1879, you rendered valuable
assistance.
November II, 1881, as keeper of
the Kenosha Life Saving Station YOU
accomplished the rescue of the crew
of six men and one woman, of the
.water-logged schooner E. T. Royce
which lay in helpless condition ten
miles out in the lake. The captain
of the vessel stated that without your
aid all on board would probably have
persisted.
"On November 10, 1883, you effected
the rescue of this Schooner Rockaway
while that vessel was adrift and nm.
manageable ten miles from shore.
ali hands having been nearly frozen
to death and without food or rest for
nearly forty-eight hours.