Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-22

A~.1 spiCk-and-span Ut
!. !" !. !
tie steamer OF
about a thousand
capacity,
which the lands
e. IN g man would take at
~ once to be yacht.
- o, It's decks e
spotless, it's hull
seems a. II painted only yesterday. As
the boat swings at anchor an occasioha'
sailor is seen polishing its already pfh-
FAINT brasses with finicky care. while, II
the day is fine. dandified group loiis
sbol1t in deck chairs under an awning on
the quarter deck, smoking. chatting ana
reading the papers.
OCCASIONALLY a melodious chime floats
over the water from the ship announcing
the ho,lr. nautical fashion. by bells; but
on that ship no one seems to care Tor
time. Oh. that's the life, the landsman
thinks all ease and repose. good fellow
min and good fun And when he finds
ont that the vessel. instead Of being some
rich mans toy, is a revenue cutter, with
the lotus caters on deck supported out
of the public treasury, his envy turns to
indignation.
That Is, il does if he knows nothing
about the revenue cutter service. AS a mat
ter of fact, instead of living perpetual
lunket, the men of the revenue cutter
service are in an almost daily srapple
with death. Steam and science have
united to kill the romance of the sea Tor
the merchant marine. No longer does the
tar match his wits and his sails against
the elemental winds and the guessed-at
currents: a powerful engine carries his YES
sci where he will, while lighthouses,
charts and predigested tables of compu-
tations keep him continually Informed of
mis- exact place in the ocean.
AS result the modern sailor is either
q mechanic or roustabout. AS for the
navy, il is. perhaps, merely floating in
surance policy guaranteeing peace. Its
main function is to intimidate other ma
tons; its incidental work is to escort
the bodies of men Of international repu-
tation who have died away from home
TO their final resting place. The navy
enlisted men are artisans; its officers,
engineers. Nowhere does there appear
any trace of the brine-blovn romance
nich chung - the WOODEN nayies OF
former years
But life in the revenue cutter service
Is a continued succession of disastrous
chances. of moving accidents by flood
and storm, of hairbreadth escapes in
the imminent deadly breach. The trig,
yachtlike vessel which the landsman
envied from his place on shore is just
back. maybe. from a little cruise on
which part of its duties consisted in
the suppression of piracy.
II may have quelled mutiny on one
day. rescued a disabled vessel on an
other. carried relief to a coastal island
of hV N lid he
pistols point 1t may have seized a ship
load of contraband Chinese or con-
fscated cargo of struggled opium. A
few hours afterward, possibly. 1T was
allowed to wallow in the trail Of the
oceans traffic. would have ripped the
bottom Off a -million-dollar ocean
greyhound as a baby rips the rim of
his fathers derby.
Tomorrow that same vessel may be
sent up under the caves of the world.
in Bering sea, there to pick out
navigable passages between moving
ice foes that threaten every moment
10 grind the cutter between them 1t
may be called on to administer the
high justice and the low to the natives
along the coasts Of the barren tundras
Of Point Barrow, to engage in hand
to-hand conflict with seal poachers
break merchantmen out Of an ice jam
of the Yukon. or to steam in. under a
fiery rain, to rescue the inha bltants of
a native village threatened by volcanic
eruption. Again. as the other ex
RENE. it may be ordered to police
society regatta. or take a group OF
government scientists to study the bird
life Of the Aleutian Islands.
All these services. and more, have
been performed during the past year
by the daredevil. hard-hitting. dapper
gentlemen OF the service which COM
hines the functions of a city patrol
man with those of a Sir Gaiahad. The
men, of the life-savirg corps risk their
ilveS in one type Of adventure. the in
t.rnal revenue Officers in another and
he northwestern mounted police in
sin a third But the men of the
evenue cutter service may have TO
face death again and again during a
'welve-month in all three types Of
danger-danser from the sea. danger
frontier roughs. No sea duty is too
dangerous. too curious, too highbrow
or too tony" for Uncle Sans marine
rtiice.
Ia the last year the service has saved
10 vessels. worth. together with their
sarEoes, more than $1O.5OO,OOO thus re-
'urning 1876 in the form OF property
.ayed from the perils of the sea for
very dollar which the government in
Vested in it's maintenance. More than
lrowniLg as well as assisting > 212 per
sons endangered by storm.
This work was done in addition to the
outline duties OF examining clearance
tapers se.zing vessels for violation Of
aw. collecting fines for infraction of