The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-06-07

- glinmer of what this branch of
government service expects Of
Its servants, and Of the Unconditional heroism
that is concealed In that casual phrase-"a
nights work
From Washington If you go down into the life
saving stations along the Jersey shore, you will
find the casual Indifference to the story Of
one night which is HISTORIAN Indifference
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 its de-
tails are still vivid
1t was the third Of February, 1880. Tws, storms
rushing along the Atlantic coast They met
off the Jersey shore bowling roaring conflict
Of wind and weather, snoW-rent and sleet-riven
AS darkness settled the life-saving crews In the
stations along the wind-swept coast watched the
sea with foreboding in their hearts At midnight
the was at it's height
In the next twelve hours during its continuance
the apprehenstons of the Jersey patrol found
realization. Within those twelve hours there were
five wrecks within the scope Of four consecutive
stations, while another disaster engaged a station
a short distance beyond The men Of the stations
rescued forty-three persons, tOtled hungry and
halffrozen in darkness and tempest established
standard of bravery and fortitnde chat is unique
and went through the ordeal with that offhand
carelessness Of personal risk which characterizes
those of their calling.
At one in the morning Keeper Charles Fl Val
entine Of Station No. lay gravely i'll of pleurisy
AT l:30 Surfman Van Brunt, staggering into the
drift of the gale on the west patrol caught the
red CLEAN of a 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 1t he saw
the outline of a large schooner. She was the
e. c. Babcock Of Somers Point and she was on
a bar close to shore.
IT, 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
Baffled by the snow which lay thick
along the beach, by the gale that tore in
their faces, and by the intense cold which froze
shot line and beach apparatus, the life savers
fought for two hours to get a line aboard the
stranded vessel. At length they succeeded and a
man came 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 sx-yearold 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
rearrang1ng the apparatus when 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 of danger
Before the crew could get the half-prepared
beach apparatus to the surf, the brig, running
furiously before the tremendous sea- her sails
split and tattered, struck with terrific impact.
The tide 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 at the
wheel, apparently steering composedly his face
emotonless, pipe in his teeth.
When the shock came q torrent of frothing
seas broke over the vessels stern, covering the
helmsan; but moment later he could be seen
standing at the Wheel unmoved Then the brig
swung broadside to the fusillade of laundering
surf and her fed forward to the bits
By this time the life savers were on the beach
with their gun, while a crowd of hundreds
of persons watched from the shelter Of the higher
dunes. The brig was so close to shore that Surf
man Garrett White, following a receding sea
down the beach, succeeded in throwing a heaying
stick and line 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 We're Span
ish and the directions 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
We're preparing to take terrible risk One of
them seized the line and atarted the attempt of
coming in on it hand over hand.
Meantime the wreck of the Babcock, a quarter
of mile up the beach, had broken up, and the
fragments of the vessel together with her cargo
or cordwood, were being swept by the current
down about the Augustine, filling the surf with
fumbI1ng debris which well-nigh nsurGs the
death of anyone who fell into it. In a momest
the whip line, over which the sailors were pre-
pairing to come in, fouled In the wreckage Dis
regarding the shouts to wait the first sailor clad
only IL pair of trousers, seized the line and be-
gan working his way in on it hand over hand
flushing waist deep into the breakers White
seized the man, and the brig rolled inshore
ana the line s2ackened 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 hurried beneath the breakers. By ter
rife effort White succeeded in reganine his foot
ing and, still clutching 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 hano-
ING a straw in the deadly mass OF tumbling
timbers. He was carried down-shore a hundred
yards, where friendly shouldered him I'D
on the beach. At the moment Van Brunt's peril