The citizen., 1912-08-02

sea which froze In their clothing cut and bruised
from the buffeting they received
And then" says the Service Report of the oc-
currence the last time the launch was attempted
the boat was hurled high on the shore her
we're spilled out like matches from the box and
the boat was shattered. And Captain Atkins and
his men, having eaten nothing since the even
ing before spent, faint heart-sck, had been baf-
fed and had to endure the modification Of see
ing a rescue effected by un-worn volunteer
crew in a fresh boat brought from the town. The
Investigation revealed that the men upon the
wreck might have been properly landed by the
life-nes but for Keeper Atkins failure to employ
the Lyle gun which had recently been furnished
the station through a singular inapprehension Of
its powers"
1t was a bitter pill for the service-the defeat
of its men by a volunteer crew.
The night of November 80, 1880, was clear but
windy. A heavy gale piling the surf over
the outer bar of the Peaked Hill Bar station.
Surfmen Fisher and Kelley left the station at four
o'clock to make the eastward and westward
patrol Kelley started from the door first AS
he did so he heard the Stating of sails and the
banging of blocks above the wind. At the west
ward he saw the lights of a vessel close inshore.
Shouting to Fisher to give the alarm, he ran
down the beach, burning his Coston light. Keep
Atkins glanced at the surf and ordered out
the boat. The men dragged it eastward until
they were opposite the stranded vessel which
proved to be the soop c. E. Trumbu of Rock
port The crew manned the boat
The story Of what took place out there under
the darkness on Keeper Atkins last errand Of
rescue is best told perhaps, in the personal
count of Isaiah Young, one of the survivors. The
narrative of this man, in his own words, is taken
from the Life Saving Report of 1881. 1t reads:
when we launched, the vessel still some
to the eastward. We went off in this manner to
take advantage of the tide that was running to
tha ha bar nd he
low tide. The smooth the
shore, but the bar, where the vessel lay 1t
was rough enough to be dangerous,
I'VE hauled up from the boat until the bow
Tapped on to her quarter. Keeper Atkins called
to them to Jump in.
I'VE landed four persons. This trip could not
have consumed more than fifteen minutes.
when pulled up again after being thrown
back Taylor stood in the bow with the line ready
TO heave. | cautioned Keeper Atkins to have
for the boom. He said. Be ready with the
boat-hook; l will look out for the boom. l
Just taking up the hook when around
the stern, threw the stern Of the boat more
toward the boom as the vessel rolled to leeward
and the boom went into the water.
"As the vessel rolled to windward and the boom
rose 1t caught under the cork belt the
stroke rowlock and threw over, bottom up.
I'VE rolled the boat over right side up and
was the first to get into her Others got in;
right side up more than two minutes when
rolled again We got on again and were
washed off two or three times before struck out
for the shore. | asked Mayo to strike with me,
I knew him to be an excellent swimmer but
he said that could not hold out to reach the
shore and he would stay by the boat. Keeper
Atkins was holding by the boat
Kelley had already struck out I heard Taylor
groan l started, but did not him
Il saw gap in the beach which must have
been Clara Bell Hollow two miles from Station
No. 7. When about three from the shore
my sight began to fail and soon I could moth
ing but | kept swimming.
Il recollect Surfman Cole saying, For Gods
sake, Isaiah, is this you? and of his taking
up. l knew nothing more until l found myself
in the station, after being resuscitated. | should
think that remained by the boat half hour
before | struck out The cork belt all that
enabled me to reach the shore. The cork belts
in the boat good thing and should be kept
on"
Thus Keeper Atkins died with his boots on, as
he said he would die If necessary, in the per-
formance of his duty.