The Washington herald., 1913-12-26
MUCH WORK Done
BY LIFE-SAVERS
Aid Of Ships and Rescuing
Persons at Sea Only
Part Of Efforts. 81
WIDE FIELD Is COVERED
General Superintendent in Annual Re-
port Also Asks Retirement :
with Pay.

The general belief that the duties of
those engaged in the Life-saving Service
are confined to the aid Of ships in dis
tress and to the rescue Of persons in
cases where the ships are lost Is strik-
ingly contradicted by data contained in
the annual report OF the General Superin-
tendent of Life-saving Service for the
last fiscal year, given out yesterday. The
following paragraph of the report shows
the variety of cases with which the life
savers had TO deal during the last year:
THE records show the saving Of l06
persons, mostly bathers and swimmers;
96 cases of first-aid administered to sick
and injured persons; shelter and subsist-
ence afforded to l16 persons detained upon
the beaches by inclement weather and
for other reasons. and succor provided to
3.037 victims of the floods in the Middle
West; the saving, upon l57 occasions. of
personal property such as automobiles
and horse-drawn vehicles, fishnets. lum-
beT, live stock. aeropianes and balloons,
money and jewelry, caught In mire and
quicksands, endangered by floods and
tides, lost, stolen, &c: assistance at II
fires involving public and private build
ings and forests; aid on 20 occasions ex-
tended to ether branches OF public service:
also several unclassified services. such as
the apprehension OF thieves and other
iawbreakers the detection of smugglers,
the finding of lost children. and assist
ance at burials.
Only Sixty-ninc ships Lost.
The report shows that in a total of
l.743 casualties, the highest number that
has ever occurred within the field of the
establishment, but slxty-nine vessels were
totally lost. The total estimated value
of vessels and cargoes was SIS, ,623, 80, of
which 81. l.765l5O represents the value OF
property lost.
The destruction of two steamers on the
Pacific Coast, in January and April last.
under circumstances that rendered the
rescue OF their crews by any human
agency impossible, resulted in the drown
ing OF forty-nine persons-more than half
of the total number of lives lost during
the year.
I'm addition to the services performed
by the life-saving crews the report con-
tinues. laid was extended to 2SS vessels
finding themselves in divers situations of
need of assistance, though not in imme
diate danger. The services thus afforded
consisted largely of emergency plotting.
carrying persons to and fro between ship
and shore. caring for sick and injured
officers, seamen. &C.
Warning signals were given also to
1S2 vessels running into danger OF these
III were steamers. On 1F occasions these
warnings were given in the night. No
figures can be furnished showing the value
of the vessels so warned or the number
Of persons they carried"
Retirement with Pay.
The general superintendent states that
there is an increasing demand for power
craft to replace certain of the larger types
of service boats propelled by oars. The
marked growth OF late years in the work
of the service does not necessarily ind'
cate a corresponding increase in the num-
Der of casualties to vessels along our
coasts. but rather the ability of the corps,
with their improved boats, to cover more
territory than formerly"
The general superintendent gives con-
siderable space in his report to the need
of immediate action by Congress, Civ
ing retirement pay to the life-saving
crews.
Speaking Of the flood services in the
Middle West. the report states:
Work out of the ordinary was per-
formed by the corps in March and April !
last, in rescuing and succoring victims OF
floods in the Middle West. Seven crews |
in ten situated in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, |
and Kentucky, respectively, and assisting |
a total OF $500 persons. OF these, Az |
were taken from house and other posi- |
tions of danger. and 30S7 were furnished /
with water. food. clothing. medical at |
tendance, &c. Personal property to the !
value of $4,000 was also saved by the |
crews while at the rescue work"
The net expenditures for the mainte-
nance of the service during the year were |
s., ,2O4, ,07L5o.