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 conbers and
Icy Seas When = Storm Wrecked
Vessel offers the Fearless Guards a
Chance TO Rescue Human Being.
Through Il bleak February night
storm was raging up the Atlantic sen
board All along the coast the life
guards were out. launching into the
gale. paironlng the beaches alert for
signs OF disaster. lust before mid
night one Of them east Of BeIiport sta
ti0n. ON Long Island. saw a schooner
iloundering In the gray spindrlft or
shore II was the benjamin Cromwell.
and rs the alarm swept down the
beach the crews Of three stations hur-
ricd to the scene. Their work WIS to
take seven men from the rigging Of
the wrecked vessel
An efforts through the night and the
forenoon following failed. The wind
was tho high Then at noon the
schOaner's masts, except the foremast.
on which al Of the crew save one had
Nhhth tei"ke' eldsheu VNeipvdtu. AHiH
man went down in weller Of wreck
age, and TO those on shore 1t seemed
as if he must surely be battered to
death but as the breakers raced IN
they saw him clinging to a plank that
had been swept away with hin.
A furious surf was running ana um-
Der with winch the cromwell mad been
laden was pliched up on the peaeh.
10 ada 70 tAe aahser thick zee cakes
heAVeu ny Tue bfeakers. uited theF
jagged ENDS hlsh m the ar ana crashed
down. spllntefinE one upon the other'
ana at"i'Ss ihe awihi urlFe OF sho"
ana sect ripping 'he ohrusning waves
mo 'a'terS Oh roam hhu spin1ri''
surely no man eouiu i've III that'
lhsuheuVely Tue hie saVefs hlo'eu
hearef tne edge OF the SUIT ana peereu
anead TOT some slHu q me lhe peacn
was iflheeu win SKIM ice sharp ano
polh'eu, tua' eut .i,,o"sn ruepe, ooo.s
ahe eiotnlilg as II through parchment
helpless 70 alu 'he man whom 'hey
knew must De piuhelhg somewhere OUT
III mat angry Waler' they huuuieu 10
gether as men VIII wheh nieless
Dody Is ABOUT 70 pc cast up peiore
uieh- lney hedtu Ne auu "IeShase
grihu hafshiy' scattered deprls washed
up 10 their rect Brave men an yet
they saw nothing to do They knew
not to what lenfths the ocean would 80
before giving up us Vicum-
Al this junctnre hgure sprang from
among them and. wrapping a 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 hesitaied. undecided whether to
order Rayner back TO the beach or not
but he couldn't fnd It in his heart to
do it. 1t was a venture too heroic, too
splendid
They watched Rayuer as he stood
in the whirl Of Icy spray awaiting his
chance. He was half naked His
clothes be had THROWN off as he ran.
The cold. biting into his flesh. tortured
him. Stin the chance held off. Then
It came-the BIT OF wreckage, the cling
ing sailor, crashing into the boiling
breakers. and Rayner dashed forward.
Foot by foot through that roaring tu-
mutt Of water. of nlungIng beams and
timber. dodying the snIiptered spars
as If to pin him, Rayner worked to-
ward his man. To those on shore he