Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-11
COAST TRAFFIC C0P|SEND MONEY HOME
Revenue Cutters Keep Look
out for Wrecks.
APPRECIATED IN ENGLAND
Great Britain Asks for a Report on
Work Of the Destroyer
Seneca.

Maybe you've noticed that the north
Atlantic has been on its winter behavior
lately? Every day or so a steamer limps
into port to complain that a big wave
sneaked up on her during the voyage
and bit a chunk out Of her tunnels Then
the stories OF wrecks begin to come In.
Always tackled to the end. Is the brief
statement that United States revenue
cutter took off the survivors or towed
the hulk into port.
That's the job of the revenue cutter.
It's a sort Of traffic cop OF the coast
1t looks after the lame ducks Of the
coastwise traffic. and seines the seas for
derelicts and represses mutinies and
grabs poachers by the slack of their
little breeches, and does all the jobs that
must be done and that no one else will
attend to. The proper revenue cutter
man is always competent, never gets ex-
cited. would go through powder mill
striking phossy-jaw matches il he had to.
and does not lose his temper until some
pleasing civilian tells him 1t must be a
grand thing to belong to the navy.
The last report of the Secretary OF the
Treasury shows that during the fiscal
year 1912 the United States revenue cut
ters returned S4.36 in the form of property
saved from the sea for every dollar ex-
penOeO on III. by way Oh ldSfndppe tHc
revenue cutters actually saved 1O6 per-
sons from drowning, and took on board
215 persons in distress, while 2,2l2 others
We're on board Of vessels assisted. Forty
five derelictS were destroyed or removed.
and in recognition of the cream puff ap-
petite Of this vain world thirty-one pa
rades or regattas were policed. In return
Congress cut the appropriation $12S,OOO
below what 1t was two years ago.
England Wants to Know.
Great Britain has better appreciation
of the value of our revenue cutter service.
In numerous international maritime con-
ferences the suggestion has been made
that the sea using nations build derelct
destroyers. The United States Is the only
nation that did build, and the destroyer
Seneca has been SO very valuable that
England has asked for a report to guide
her own building. That inquiry came at
a time when the service needed kind
word, too
There are seven cutters in the New
York division, of which the Seneca and
Mohawk are stationed at headquarters
The Apache is at Baltimore. the Onon-
daga at Norfolk, the Seminole at VIII
mngton, the Algonquin at Porto Rico
and the Miami at Key West. The theory
is that they keep in constant touch by
wireless. In peace they belong to the
customs service. under the direction OF
the Secretary of the Treasury. but in
war they are automatically merged In
the navy.
If the Townsend bill becomes a law the
revenue cutter service will be merged
with the life-saving service, under the
title of the coast guard. This bill is ap-
proved by the men of both services. For
one thing. it will enable the life guards
to retire on half pay. AT present when
they retire they go to claiming OF
starve. The two services are so nearly
allied that it seems folly to have kept
them separated. For years the officers OF
the revenue cutters have been charged
with certain supervisory duties over the
life savers.
Jacks of All Jobs.
They have also been charged with every
other duty that isn't specifically hitched
to some one else, it seems. There was
the case of the Haitian navy, for exam
pie. The Terrier had been a New York
mans yacht. Haiti bought her and made
her into a gunboat. Then no one remem-
bered to put oil on her engines. SO that
when she started for New York to be
repaired they broke down helplessly off
the Bermuda beach. Somehow her cap
tain got jury rig on her and famed her
into the gulf stream, where she drifted
until Charleston, S. c., was reached.
Here she dropped anchor, and her New
York crew mutinied.
PAY us and let us CO." they demanded.
cor We'll kill you
The captain began to shrek through his
signal halyards. By and by the Yama-
craw, Capt. Watt, edged alongside When
he heard the trouble he put crew on
board and the mutineers under matches.
You amt got no right" said the sea
lawyers of the rebellious crew, crudely
but accurately. Ito put your dern f1atfeet
on war vessel belonging to state with
which the United States is not at war"
Here comes in the true spirit of the
revenue cutter service You're likely
right" said Capt. Watt. quite calmly.
but they're going to stay until 1 hear
from Washington
Like Act of War.
1t was a good deal like an act Of war,
but Washington approved on the theory
that il had to be done, and that the
revenue cutter men We're the ones to do
it. After some poWwowing the mutineers
were paid off, and the Terrier lowed to
Philadelphia to be patched. 1t was the
same Yamacraw that found the steamer
Lexington in trouble off the mouth of the
Savannah river. 1t was blowing great
guns, and the Yamacraw was safe in
side. Also Capt. Watt knew that there
was not enough water on the bar to float
her during the storm. So he just put to
sea.
On the Pacific side the Thetis hangs
around the edge of the pack ice off .ne
Alaskan coast when navigation closes.
Always a few greedy steamboats,, trying
to get the last pound of freight are
found locked in. So the Thetis bucks
through the pack and rescues them. Also
she takes the United States district court
to the various places where court is held,
just to show broad range OF action on
her log. Once she ran down to the Lay
san and Lysiansky Islands in the Ha-
waian group, and caught twenty three
japanese bird poachers there in posses
sion of feathers valued at S1SJO00