The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1912-06-06

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that might lead to the belief that the occasion
was trife, were it not for the fact that in the
memories Of the old men Of the service it's de-
tails still vivid.
1t was the third Of February, 1880. TIVE storms
were rushing along the Atlantic coast They met
on the Jersey shore. bowling. roaring conflict
of wind and weather, snow-rent and sleet-riven
As darkness settled the lifesaving crews in the
stations along the wind-swept coast watched the
sea with foreboding in their hearts, At midnight
the storm was at it's height.
In the next twelve hours during it, continuance
the apprehensions Of the jersey patrol found
realization. Within those twelve hours there were
Ave wrecks within the scope Of four consecutive
stations, while another disaster engaged station
a short distance beyond. The men Of tho stations
rescued fortythree persons. toiled hungry and
hakfrozen in darkness and tempest established
q standard Of bravery and fsrtitude that IL unique
and went through the ordeal with that onhand
carelessness Of personal risk which characterizes
those Of their calling.
At one In the morning Keeper Charles H. Val
entine of Station No. lay gravely Ill Of pleurisy
At 1880 Surfman Van Brunt, staggering into the
drift Of the gale on the west patrol, caught the
red CLEAN of light in the breakers So fierce
was the wind filled with driven sand and sleet,
that he could not look into its teeth, but by
shielding his eyes and looking across it he
the outline of large schooner. She was the
E. c. Babcock of Somers Point, and she was on
bar close to shore.
Van Brunt ran for the station and gave the
alarm. Despite his illness, Keeper Valentine rose
from his bed and in person led his crew to the
rescue. Baffed by the which lay thick
along the beach, by the gale that tore seams in
their faces, and by the intense cold which froze
shot line and beach apparatus, the life savers
fought for two hours to get line aboard the
stranded vessel. At length they succeeded, and a
ashore in the breeches buoy. He said
that the captain Of the Babcock had his wife
and two small children on board. The breeches
buoy was sent out again and the captain came
ashore in it, his six-year-old daughter in his arms
His wife followed. Then came the mate with the
other child Last came the rest Of the crew.
The life savers went back to the station, and
in the early hours of the stormy dawn were hastily
rearranging the apparatus when one Of the men
saw large brig coming head on for the Shore
Keeper Valentine had gone back to bed, but once
more he arose and insisted on leading his men
again to the scene of danger.
Before the crew could get the half-prepared
beach apparatus to the surf, the brig, running
furiousy before the tremendous sea, her sails
split and tattered, struck with terrific impact.
The tide was very high, and the brig, the Angus
tina from Havana. came up close to the station
and we'll inside the breakers Just before she
struck the life savers could see man at the
wheel, apparently steering composedly. his face
emotionless, pipe in his teeth.
When the shock came torrent Of frothing
seas broke over the vessels stern, covering the
helmsan; but moment later he could be
standing at the wheel, unmoved. Then the brig
swung broadside to the fusiade Of laundering
surf, and her crew fled forward to the bits.
BY this time the life savers were the beach
with their gun, while crowd of some hundreds
of persons watched from the shelter of the higher
dunes. The brig was so close to shore that Surf
man Garrett White, following receding sea
down the beach, succeeded in throwing heaving
stick and line on board her.
This the crew secured, and hauled the whip.
line on board, but, getting the tailblock, did not
know what to do next In vain the life savers
signaled and shouted to them. They were Span.
1sh, and the directions on the billet attached to
the lines were in Italian and English only
At this moment the life savers were filled with
horror. The crew of the grounded brig, unable
to solve the mystery Of rigging the breeches buoy,
were preparing to take terrible risk. One Of
them seized the line and started the attempt Of
coming in on it hand over hand.
Meantime the wreck of the Babcock. q quarter
of a mile up the beach, had broken up and the
fragments of the vessel together with her cargo
OF cordWood, were being swept by the current
down about the Augustine, filling the surf with
tumbling debris which well-nigh insured the
death OF anyone who fell into it. In moment
the whip line, over which the sailors were pre-
pairing to come in, fouled in the wreckage Dis
regarding the shouts to watt the first sailor clad
only In a pair of trousers seized the line and be-
gan working his way in on it hand over hand.
Rushing waist deep into the breakers, White
seized the man, and the brig rolled inshore
and the line slackened he slipped the blight from
the sailors neck.
The next second both were caught in the in
rush of wood and water and torn from the line
to be hurled beneath the breakers. BY ter
rifle effort White succeeded in regaining his foot
Ing and, still cutching the sailor, dragged him
out of the surf.
While this struggle was taking place two more
sailors had started down the line from the brig.
Surfman Van Brunt sprang into the water to aid
them, but was swept from his feet, his life hang
ing on straw in the deadly mass of tumbling
| timbers. He was carried downshore hundred
yards. where . friendly wave shouldered him up
on the beach. At the moment Van Brunts peril