Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1914-02-18

- the United States l1fe-SaV1ng
service in it's work of saving
lives along shore. Superintend-
ent Sumner /. Kimball has been it's
father and friend, has made it his re-
Iigion for 40 years. And he has so far
succeeded as to have placed upon
10000 miles of our coast nearly 300
life-saving stations, fitted up with the
most modern rescuing apparatus, and
taken care of by 1000 men. under
Iemi-military discipline. Twenty-Five
thousand vessels have beer given aid
In this time and property valued at
s24O 1000, 900 saved, with far less loss
of life than in the single case of the
Titanic, which was sunk In midocean.
|. Crews ordinarily number eight or
nine, with the keeper of the station in
cluded. Though under civil service,
reading and writing are about all that
Is required, educationally; physical
endurance and experience of the life
along shore properly being the main
requirement. Day watch is from sun
rise to sunset, and the night patrol Is
divided into four watches.
Strict system, constant drilling. SIM
pie food and simple living make men
upon whom It is a pleasure to look.
Only fishermen born and bred to the
loneliness of the life can stand it, how
ever and along the Pacific, where sta
lions are far apart, they are mostly
Norwegians and Swedes, OF those old
Viking races whose hardihood and
primal manner OF living have never
died In the blood Of their sons.
Not Always Peaceful.
That 1t has but 10 life-saving sta
tions, to the Atlantic's 1856, is evident
OF the fact that the Pacific coast Is
not generally considered more danger
GUS than it was when Balboa, gazing
first upon the clear blue world of its
waters, named It the Sea of Peace.
The wreck of the Rosecrans, about
year ago, stands out, in CONSCIENCE.
us though the ocean Knocked the mem
DRY OF its discovery as pacific body.
The Rosecrans started from Mont
Grey, CAL. a 2,976-ton ship, bound for
Portland, Ore, with 10000 barrels of
crude oil. On the third night out the
steamer drew near the mouth of the
Columbia river. A southerly gale
sprang up, and there was heavy fall
ing sea. 1t began to rain, and the
lighthouse beacons could scarcely be
seen.
The Columbia river hghtship did its
best to warn the men of their danger
1t never had burned more brightly;
but the somber rain shut it out, and
the ship, unaware, kept nearing the
Peacock split, one of the terrors of the
Pacific coast. The river light, wrap
ped in rain. stood like a dumb Cy-
clops, whose single eye was of no
avail.
Suddenly the Rosecrans grounded
in the breakers.
Flashes IS. o. S."
The crew sprang to the deck as one
man, an there flashed up the coast
the dread IS O.. s." Three times the
cry was repeated Then darted
through the captains mind the fear of
fire from flying sparks of the wireless.
Fire, with $4,000 barrels of oil on
board! Better to perish in the jaws
of the ocean. But the Astoria,
Ore, operator had got the call and he
flashed back now the mercy of prom
Use of help. The Rosecrans dared re-
plying: The water Is now in the cab
| ms We can't stay" but the mes
sage was never finished
! The wireless operator at Astoria had
sent out general distress call There
was no response from ship or station.
! He begged the Puget Sound Tugboat
company at Astoria to notify by some