New-York tribune., 1910-12-21
TWO L|FESAvERS LOST
OFF ROcKAWAY BEACH
Undertake Practice Drill in Dory
with Three Comrades, De-
spite High Waves.
WARNING WAS NOT Needed
David Jamisson Couldn't Swim,
and Bruce Bond Drowned
Trying to Rescue Him
Three Swim Ashore.


usually high off Rockaway Beach yesterday
| afternoon, five Young members of the Unit
ed States Volunteer Life Saving Corps were
cast into the water from an 1S~foot dory
and while three nased TO make their way
to shore after desperat tie struggles. two of
the corps lost their lives in the tide swept
stretch of water.
Those drowned were Bruce Bond of No.
| Q Bond avenue. and David Jameson. of No.
Il Bond avenue. Rockaway Beach. The
| body of Jameson was recovered shortly
/ before o'clock last night, two miles from
where he had last been seen alive. A
| pccketbook belonging 10 Bond was picked
UP mile further down the beach. but his
bnGy did not come ashore. The dory drift
| in not far from where the purse was found.
Frank Nollmer. of Ocean avenue. Sea
size: William Phillips. OF No Walcott
avenue, and William Cassidy, of No u
South Bond avenue. Rockaway Beach, were
tho three rescued. After they had been
cared for by DIR. Schenck and had donned
Cry clothing they went back to the beach
and Joined in the search for the bodies of
tl,eir friends.
Shortly after O'Clock Yesterday after
noon the five young fellows met at the boat
house and decided to hold one of their Iegu-
lar drills. They could hear the of the
heavy sea it lashed the beach. and real
lied it would be difficult for a boat to live
in such conditions, but they believed in their
strength. and. with the hardihood of youth.
decided to make the attempt Older mem
berS of the life saving corps tried to dis
sGade them from launching the dory, but
their warning went for nothing, and the
five walked down to the beach.
Each man, clad in stout oilskins. heavy
the hips prepared to fight wind and cold
alike. The boat was a regulation life-sav
ing dory, which had been in use all last
summer According TO one of the party, it
was Iesky.
Launched in Heavy Sea.
Yollmer acted aS steersman and the
others each manned one Of the long oars.
Those in the clubhouse watched the strug-
gle as the life savers put all their strength
into their oars in an effort to gain headway.
| Three hundred yards from shore it was al
most impossible to keep the light dory's
head TO the seas With every cor1ber that
bore down on them the boat would swing
| around There was imminent danger of
capsizing. and the oarsmen decided to pull
| for the shore.
| The place they selected for turning the
| dory's bow toward the beach III
| chosen. There was long. razor-backed
reef. that raises its ugly head above the
! water as q wave recedes. The dory was
| just over this when Eolmer gave the order
! to swing her about.
Obeying the impulse Of the oars. the
! little craft spun around, but she was not
| quick enough. 4 wave greater than any
they had encountered bore down on the
/ men with an omnous roar. They bent
their backs and exerted every ounce of
| strength they possessed in the attempt to
meet the breaker head on. Just as they
seemed likely to succeed an oar snapped
! under the strain and the dory wallowed
helpless in the path Of the giant wave. The
next moment boat and men were buried
under the avalanche of foaming water
Jameson Couldn't Swim.
The men struck out for the beach, I'M
peded By the weight of their clothing and
| chilled TO the bone by the icy water All
EXCEPT Jameson were powerful swimmers.
| He was new recruit-one of the youngest
| and most enthusiastic of the life saving
'corps-but could hardly swim a dozen
| strokes.
Men on the beach started in 10 help
| them. One threw a life preserver far out
| on the water, and Phillips, nearer TO land
than the rest Of them, hurled IL to Bond
Bond knew his chum Jameson was the
weakest Of them all, and had seen the look
! OF desperation in Jamiesons face. He
threw the life preserver back over his head,
where il struck within ten feet Of the
struggling Jameson. The young man tried
in vain to reach 1t, but his strength was
| spent, and he sank
Bond, when he his friend had given
! up struck out in his direction, hoping to
! rescue him. The effort was TOO much for
! his depleted strength. He, too. sank, his
| body being nhirled away In the rush of
| waters.
| EoIlnler Phillips and Cassidy reached the
shore exhausted, but only after Cassidy
had been pulled in by Samuel Frazier. of
| Inwood. who rushed fifty yards into the
water and grasped him by the collar
More than two hundred men kept up the
| search all night for the missing Bond, and
| score of bonfires were kept burning, as
| the men watched each wave for trace of
| the body.
All the Young men were we'll known In
RockaWay Beach. The Bond and Jameson
| families are among the Oldest and
veaithiest in the Rockaways, owning
large part of the beach.