Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-13
PAY. URGED
!. FOR uFE-SAY|NC Crews
Over 100 Vessels Given As
sistance by the Service
Last Year.

The general superfntendent of the life.
saving service In his report for 1411 again
urges the enactment OF legislation pro-
viding retirement pay for members OF
Hve-saving crews and certain officers OF
the field force Of the service who may
be incapaciAted for duty.
The number OF disasters to documented
vessels reported within the year by keep
ers Of stations. was 3p1. There were OH
board these vessels 5,771 persons. OF
whom twenty-five were lost. The est
mated value Of the vessels was %. 004, ol5.
and that OF their cargoes 81, 10o. SoS. MAX
ing the total value Of property involved
in connection with casualties to docu-
mented vessels s11, 1I0.s1o. OF this amount
81, SS6. 10 represents the value OF prop
erty lost.
There also occurred within the year
1,O84 casualties TO undocumented craft
launches. sailboats, rowboats, etc.-carry-
ing 3,OT5 persons. of whom fifteen We're
lost. The value of the property involved
in these instances was SS77,S0O. and OF
property lost. $15.IS0.
The life-saving crews succored at the
stations 449 victims of shipwreck and OF
boating accidents. total OF 139 days 70
lief being furnished.
Over 1,7OO Vessels Aided.
The life-saving crews rendered assist
ance to 1,4Os vessels. valued with their
cargoes at $1O.52l 220. Aid of more or
less Importance was extended also To
seventy-seven documented and 100 undoc-
umented vessels, making a total of 1,l3'
vessels that received actual assistance
from the service crews. In addition, time
ly warnings We're given by the service
patrolmen and watchmen to 2t9 vessels
running into danger There Is no means
of knowing the number of lives and the
value Of property thus saved, hut the I'M
por:ance of this feature of the service
endeavor is obvious. considering the TACT
that 137 of the vessels warned were
steamers. and that 1874 Of the warnings
were given at night.
Miscellaneous Cases of Succor.
While it is the primary duty Of the
service to save and succor the ship
wrecked, a considerable number of per-
sons not connected with vessels are an
nually rescued from various situations
Of danger. and much other miscellaneous
work. largely humanitarian. is performed
also. The enumeration of such services
for the last fiscal year includes the fol-
lowing:
The rescue of ninety-nine persons from
drowning and from positions of danger on
land. Medical and surgical attention
was given to lightweight persons suffer
ing from sickness. burnss bruises, broken
limbs, gunshot wounds, etc. '=,ss,'
There We're recovered from the water
and picked UP on the beaches the bodies
OF 153 persons who had met death by
jumping or falling off piers, bridges. etc.
:. Miscellaneous property of considerable
value in the aggregate, such as fishnets.
lumber, automobiles. domestic animals.
etc, was retrieved from the sea, saved
from tides. found on the beaches, and
extricated from boys, mire and quick
sands.
Efficient assistance was afforded local
fire companies and private citizens in saw
ing property from fire on seventy-three
occasions, involving public and private
buildings. vessels, docks, factories, ware
houses and forests. Other branches Of
! the public service were assisted in lit
instances,
Under the head of "Unclassified serv-
ic.s" appears the record Of such perform
arlees as the restoration OF lost child to
Its parents, prev enting a theft from a
private dwelling. experimenting thieves
who had stolen a team, and on various
occasions. transporting the bodies or de-
Ices and. performing work of interment
at burial grounds.
AT the close Of the year the lifc-Saging
establishment comprised 2S3 stations, en-
braced within thirteen districts and dis
tributed by coasts as follows: Two hun
dred and one ON the. Atlantic and
gulf coasts, sixty-one on the coasts
Of the great lakes, one at the Falls
Of the Ohio river louisville, KY.
and nineteen on the Pacific coast (includ-
ing one station at Nome. Alaska)
The net expenditures for the mainten-
ance of the service during the year were
SET, 5S0.14. -