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 conhers and
Icy Seas When Storm Wrecked
Vessel Offers the Fearless Guards a
Chance to Rescue Human Being.
Through bleak February night
storm was raging up the Atlantic sea-
board All along the coast the life
guards were out hunchlng into the
gale. patronlng the beaches. alert for
signs OF disaster. Just before mid
night one Of them east OF Bellport sta
ton. on Long Island. saw schooner
fioundering in the gray spindrift or
shore. Il was the Benjamin Cromwell,
and as The alarm swept down the
beach the crews Of three stations hur-
ried 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 tuo high Then at noon the
schooner's masts. except the foremast.
on which all Of the crew save one had
taken refuge. crashed overheard This
man went down In welter Of wreck
age. und to those on shore It seemed
as IL he must surely be battered to
death but MS the breakers raced in
they saw him clinging TO a plank that
had been swept away with him.
A furious surf was running. and tim
ber with which the Cromwell had been
laden was pitched up on the beach.
To add 70 the danger thick Ice cakes.
heaved by the breakers lifted their
Jagged ends high In the air and crashed
down. splntering one upon the other,
and always the awful drive Of snow
and sleet. ripping the onrushlng waves
into tatters Of foam and splndrft
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 fringed with skim ice. sharp and
pointed. that cut through rubber boots
and clothing as II through parchment
Helpless to aid the man whom they
knew must be plunging somewhere out
In that angry water. they huddled to
gether as men will when a llfeless
body is about to be cast up before
them. They heard ice and 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 its victim.
AT this Iuncture a 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 he 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 hesitated, undecided whether to
order Rayner back TO the beach or not, /,
but he couldn't hnd 1t in his heart to
do It, II was a venture too heroic, too
splendid
They watched Rayner as he stood |
in the whirl Of ley spray awaiting his
chance He was half naked His
H.
The cold, biting into his flesh, tortured
him. stil the chance held of. Then
1t came-the bit of wreekage, the cling |
Ing sailor, crashing into the boiling |
breakers, and Rayner dashed forward.
Foot by foot through that roaring tu- l
mutt of water. of plunging beams and
timber. lodging the spllntered spars
that. leaping from giant combers, made |
as If 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 a big billow. Near him foated
the wreckage bearing its stif. motion
less burden The next instant Rayner
vanished. swept under by tremen-
dous 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 tumbllng
seas Tearing through them. he
reached Rayner, who. just cresting a
breaker, snatched at the sailor, now
unconscious And together these he
roes 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.
five OF them, who fell. one by one, like
black plummets into the sea. One re
mained aboard Then he went. too
a dark form clinglng to the wrecked |
s,ast 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 a great green
comher lifted beneath them and bore
all three through the foaming sea to
the shore.
For weeks 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 part Of wonderful
system. New York sun.
Never excuse wrong action by say.