Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-07
Salvage Of Millions.

salvage Oh MILLIONS.
Looking at it from a purely commercial
viewpoint, there was property, including
vessels and cargoes. involved amounting
to $11.SSO, $50. OF this amount $1O,O57. 16O
was saved. making a saving of about five
times the total amount Of the appropria-
ton.
From a sentimental standpoint there is
no way of calculating the value of the
lives saved, but there were 6,G61 people
involved in the wrecks, and the total loss
of life was fifty-three.
There was another line of service on
which there are not and never will be any
details available. That was in the vessels
warned Off the coast, thus preventing any
wreck at all One of the features of the
service Is nightly patrol of the beach
between the various stations. When one
of the patrol sees a vessel that obviously
has lost its bearings and is running into
danger the surfman burns his red Coston
light. and the vessel makes off to deep
water if she can. OF course. a skipper,
especially if he be the captain of a big
liner. never tells how close he was to
losing ship and passengers, and all the
surfman can do Is to include in his re-
port that on certain night at a certain
point vessel, either sail or steamer. was
warned off" There were thus warned
off last year 2i vessels. more than half
of them steamers. What liners there
were among them and how many pas
senSers We're saved will never be known.
But probably the lonely surfmen thus in
tercepted some of the biggest marine dis
aster stories that otherwise would have
come to the telegraph desk of every news
paper in the country.
Look Death in Face.
1t is for the benefit of the men who
render this sort of service continually
that an effort is being made to get re-
tirement provision III the law. 1t is
POINTED out that the United States life
saving service is not only the largest but
one of the most efficient in the world.
Like the firemen. they are on duty all
the time They risk death every time
they go to a wreck, and if they did moth
ing but keep up the night patrol of the
beaches they would be doing enough hard
work 10 earn all the wages paid them.
With modern apparatus. especially with
the big motor lifeboats with which many
of the stations are now equipped there
are not so many boat crews lost as for
merly, but the work is still extra haZ
ardous. and almost every wreck has in
it the material for a novel. Even with
the modern beach light that will enable
one to read the face of watch ut 40
feet, the surfmen risk their lives with
almost every boat trip they make. and
il is a matter OF record that they fire.
quently make their simple wills before
starting through the storm for wreck
Often they will have premonition which
they allude to as bunch of danger inn
pending and will pass watch or ring
to friends on shore to be given to their
families friends in case they do not
come back to claim it.
Sometimes the rescued crews are worse
unnerved than the men who go to save
them. and there are wild stories told of
certain vessel crews that committed sui
eide when safety almost within
reach.
There are volumes of good stories told
| in the Warehouses; along the beach at
night that indicate in . few words the
sort of work the crews are up against all
the time, There the wreck of the
schooners Amelia ireland and Clara
Leavitt off Gays Head. Massachusetts
station in the winter of lS9S. when the
| crews We're on duty on the beach for TWEEN
| ty-nine hours at a stretch. And there was
| another night on the Jersey coast when
five vessels came ashore Oft a SINCE sta
| ton between dark and daylight. And
| these are only Instances that might be
multiplied indefinitely.
Put Stop to Piracy.
| The mere eNistance Of the service III
many sections has sounded the death
| knell of the beach comber' and wreck
| er. There sill exists name. Mays Head.
| attached To station on the North Caro-
| lima coast that tells a story of its own.
| This used To be a notorious section for
| beach pirates and theN We're in the habit
| of fastening lantern to the head of a
horse and leadin. him up and down the
beach. The movement Of the light ON his
head simulated the movement of the light
| on a storm-to tossed boat and lured vessels
OH the sands under the impression there
was safe water ahead.
Agent Of Civilization.