Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1914-01-28
COAST PATROL.
bar Harbor Man Thinks Government
should Furnish Faster Roat

I land Erpress- Advertiser
haVe read with interest your remarks in
your paper OF Jan. II concerning auto-
matically-lighted buoys. will won
kinoiy grant me little space in your
valued paper TO speak OF another imports
ant feature OF the means employed for the
| reief OF wrecks and vessels at sea from
the point OF view of master mariner?
Ihere IS no intention to criticize the
personnel OF officers or crew Of orr u. 8.
! Il. Z. service in any manner. But when
one stops to consider the ship ordered to
inc rescue OF the passengers and crew OF
the Cobequid by those in authority to do
So namely, the cutter Woodbury., almost
condemned fifteen years ago as unsea-
worthy, 1t seems almost like sending them
| to suicide.
An 5. Q. 8. signal is flashed broadcast
tor assistance from the ship in distress.
with more than 100 souls in grave dan
ger OF going down to their deaths in the
Icy waters Of the Bay of Fundy. In one
OF the fiercest gales and billiards recorded
In many years on the North Atlantic coast.
the captain OF the old Woodbury. receives
orders to proceed to the rescue 200 miles to
| leeward on one of the bleakest coasts in
North America, in the frightful gale and
intense cold. Under favorable circum-
stances she can possibly reach a speed of
ten knots per hour.
Well might the most hardy mariner
ahoat dread the journey in such a vessel
and under such conditions. But the
Woodbury's captain knows what is ex-
pected OF him regardless of his old ships
untitness to cross the Bay of Fundy. He
bravely starts to the rescue. 1t means at
least twenty hour before he can reach
those in distress, which only miracle ap-
parently can save, but full OF courage and
determined to succor those poor souls, he
proceeds, only to find when he reaches the
vicinity that they have been rescued.
II no other ship except the slow, upsea-
worthy old Woodbury. had started to their
relief, their fate would have been sealed.
No doubt with thankful heart, not alone
for the passengers and crew OF the ILL
fated craft, but for his crew and his own
safety, he returns.
Had this rich and powerful government
furnished him with ship for the winter
patrol OF our stormy coast line for the re-
lief OF sinking and stranded vessels, that
was capable OF twenty knots or more an
hour, seaworthy, to meet the stormy con-
ditions sure to be encountered on our
wild eastern coast in winter, with such q
vessel at his command he could have ar
rived in time to have made the rescue.
What contrast such ship would afford
to the old Woodbury. limping along like
some aged mariner whose years Of active
| usefulness have long passed.
While our more modern cutters, the
Androscoggin, Gresham, Acushnet, Itascs,
| and others, are fine seaworthy craft, it
does not appear any of them are capable Of
| q speed in excess OF fourteen or possibly
fifteen knots per hour.
Congress readily finds funds to build
torpedo boats with speed in excess Of
thirty knots, and cruisers Of the Chester
and Birmingham type, twenty-four and
| twenty-five knots. Since the advent Of
wireless, not only seagoing qualities are
absolutely essential, but also speed, as an
hour or so in time OF dire distress may
mean hundreds of precious lives saved,
| and the small extra cost to build and
maintain such vessels is slight compared
| to their increased efficiency.
II no funds are or can be made available
to build speedier ships for our coast patrol
in winter, why not draft into the service
| such ships as the Chester and Birming-
ham, where in field of usefulness in re-
lieving distressed shipping they might in
a measure make some return for the cost
OF their maintenance. Either OF the above
mentioned cruisers could have reached
the scene of the Cobequid disaster from
Portland in eight hours or less.
SO long as coast patrol is maintained
| it is evident that under new conditions OF
distress signals, flashed from hundreds Of
miles away, the vessels employed in
such service can be none too swift. Other
conditions than storms may arise at any
time, collisions, where more than one ves-
sci is involved; fire, the most dreaded Of
all sea disasters.
When in such times the 8. o. 8. is
flashed abroad, speed OF the rescuing
steamer may be and generally is the only
factor between rescue or frightful death
in the icy waters Of the Atlantic. l am as
proud of the valuable assistance rendered
by our cutter patrol as any man on Ameri-
can soil, for view the want from the
angle of one who has often faced the
wintry blasts on our wild New England
coast, and the fact of my knowledge and
experience prompts these thoughts.
What picture is presented to those
familiar with such conditions as l have
tried to present in my poor way. The
Eastern Steamship corporation main
tains in its passenger business, steamers
capable of maintaining better than
twenty knots, even up to twenty-five;
the Maine Central railroad has steamers OF
twenty knots speed, while our revenue de-
partment maintains for winter patrol
service, where speed is the main factor
in efficiency, vessels whose maximum