Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1913-05-09
our LIFE SAVERS.
Humble Heroes Who Do Brave
Work Along Our Coast.
DARING DEEDS IN THE SURF.

Battle With the Giant con-bers and
Icy Seas When a Storm Wrecked
Vessel Offers The Fearless Guards a
Chance to Rescue = Human Being.
Through a bleak February night a
storm WIS raging up the Atlantic sea
board All along the coast the life
guards were out. launching into the
gale patroling the beaches. alert for
signs Of disaster. just before mid
night one Of them east Of Bellport sta
ton. on Long Island. saw a schooner
floundcring In the gray spinddit on
shore. II was the Benjamin Cromwell,
and as the alarm swept down the
beach the crews Of three stations hur-
ricd to the scene. Their work was to
take seven men from the rigging Of
the wrecked vessel
All efforts through the night and the
forenoon following failed. The wind
was tho high Then at noon the
scho1ners masts except the foremost.
on which all Of the crew save one had
taken refuge crashed overheard. This
MIN went down IN welter Of wreck
age. and to those on shore It seemed
as IL be must surely be battered to
death. but as the breakers raced in
they saw him clipging to a plank that
had been swept away with him.
A furious surf was running. and tim
her with which the Cromwell had been
laden was pitched up on the beach.
10 add to the danger thick ice cakes.
heaved by the hreakers. lifted their
Jagged ends high in the air and crashed
down. spliutering one upon the other.
aud always the awful drive Of snow
and Seet. ripping the onrushing waves
into tatters Of foam and spindrft
Surely no man could live In that
lnstinctlvely the life savers moved
nearer the edge of the surf and peered
ahead for some sign OF life. The beach
was friuged with skim ice. sharp and
pointed. that cut through rubber boots
and clothing as If through parchment
Helpless to aid the man whom they
kilsw must be plunging somewhere out
In that angry water they huddled to-
gether as men will when a hfeless
body is about to be cast up before
them. They heard ice aud wreckage
grind harshly; scattered debris washed
up to their feet. Brave men all. yet
they saw nothing to do. They knew
not to what lengths the ocean would go
before giving up It's victim.
AT this Juncture figure sprang from
among them and. wrapping line about
his waist, ran to the edge of the surf
He was Frank Rayner of the Blue
Point station. and be was about to
commit what the other surfmen In
stinctively told themselves was suicide.
The service demands courage, not fool
hardness. For a moment Keeper
Rorke hesltated, undecided whether to
order Rayner back TO the beach or not,
but he couldn't tind It in his heart to
do it. It was venture too heroic, too
splendid.
They watched Rayner as he stood
in the whlr Of ley spray awaiting his
chance. He was half naked His
clothes lie had tErossu off as he ran
The cold. biting into his flesh, tortured
him. Still the chance held of. Then
1t came-the bit Of wreckage, the cling
Ing sailor. crashing into the boiling
breakers, and Rayner dashed forward
Foot by foot through that roaring tn
multi Of water. Of plunging beams and
timber, lodging the splintered spars
that. Ieaping from giant eombers. made
as II to pin him. Rayner worked to-
ward his man To those on shore he
was hidden the greater part Of the
time. Finally they saw his head bob
above big billow. Near him tioated
the wreckage bearing its stiff. motion.
less burden. The next instant Rayner
vanished. swept under by a tremen-
d0us wave
From the huddled group on shore
men started forward. but Albert La
than, also of the Blue Point station
was first to plunge into the tumbling
seas Tearing through them, he
reached Rayner. who, just cresting q
breaker. snatched at the sailor. now
unconscious. And together these he
r0es Of the coast hauled their man
through the rearing timbers and ice to
the beach and to safety.
Not ten minutes later the Cromwell
broke In pieces From shore the life
savers saw men fall from the rigging
Eve of them. who fell. one by one, like
black plummets into the sea. One re
manned aboard Then he went, too
a dark form clinglng to the wrecked
siast now adrift And again Rayner
and Latham plunged into the surf.
Now, weakened by their efforts and
the cold, they faced an even harder
task The man torn from the mast
nearly drowned them with his fren-
zied struggling For twenty minutes
the uneven fight between the sailor
and the surf on one side and the two
weakened life savers on the other
was waged Then great green
comber lifted beneath them and bore
all three through the foaming sea to
the shore.
For woeks Latham lay abed. and
Rayner never performed duty again.
Subsequently commended by Wash
ington. they considered that honor suf-
ficient.
Such is the typical life saver, the
man who patrols the coasts from Ban
gor to Galveston. from Seattle to Los
Angeles. Hes Il part of wonderful
system. New York sun.
Never excuse wrong action by say
L.. Al.aA s..r.aa ana nl. d...... Ah.. ~. ma