Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1914-01-01
REVENUE CU1'TF Enc 81: 4
SAVE HUNDREDS
Little Vessels Earn Titles Of
SamaritanS Of Sea.
MANY DEEDS OF DARING.

Fleet In Aiding Distressed Ships Pre-
vents Loss of $1o,626,61o-Brief Tales
of Thrilling Rescues-How the Cut
ters Learn When Vessels Need Sue
cor and How They Rush TO Scene.
Washington.-The benevolent cruis
ers of Uncle Sam. known otherwise as
the revenue cutter squadrons. plying i'll
arctic, tropic and temperate seas and on
the great lakes, did lot of splendid
work in the last fiscal year. The an
nual report of the United States reve
nue. cutter service, just published. tells
without ornamentation some of the
deeds of the ablest seamen in all the
waters of America and maybe in all
the world.
A summary of the opera tons of the
ships of the several squadrons shows
that 327 persons were saved from
death or peril; that 264 persons in dis
tress were taken aboard the cutters
and cared for; that 81 derelicts and OBJ
structions to navigation were destroy
ed or removed; that derelicts valued at
$4,000 were recovered and delivered
to owners
The report says that last winter, al
though milder than the one before.
gave much work for the cutters. and
the result of their operations was the
salvaging "of $1O,626,610 worth of prop
erty from the perils of the sea, and as
the total cost for the maintenance of
the service during the fiscal period was
$2,471 ,532.51, the years efforts repre-
sent a conservation of $4.29 for each
dollar thus invested by the govern
ment.''
A new use for the cutter has been
the salvaging of aerohydroplanes and
hydroplaneS on sea and lake.
All the big and little adventures of
the cutters related in the newspapers
are retold in cameo-like form in mar
ginal notes of the report. The cutter
Woodbury. tells geographically how
she saved the schooner Ravoa at Lit
tie Duck island, Maine:
ashore ON ledge; blasted rock from
under vessel and hauled off"
The work of the cutter Seminole in
assisting the steamship Berkshire near
Lookout blight. North Carolina, is thus
summarized:
steamship on fire, Seminole ex-
tinguished same and pumped steam
ship out"
The coal barge Charmer's mishap
and what the Onondaga did for her
off Cape Henry are thus described:
Aground. Attempted to float, but
vessel began to break up. Took off
three persons"
The Seminole found at Lookout
blight the schooner Thomas Winsmore
flying signals of distress. This is the
thumbnail yarn:
Leaking badly and about to sink
gasoline engine for handling pumps.
sails and anchors disabled. Repaired
by engineers force of Seminole"
The above are characteristic in
stances The commonest form is help
ing sailing vessels off shoals. Other
forms were the righting of small YES
sells that had been capsized, assisting
in repairing machinery, provisioning
hungry craft, the recovery of stolen
vessels masquerading under new
names and altered rig, the burying of
the dead after collision. supplying dis
abled motor vessels with gasoline. put
ting out fires in warehouses; boat
houses, lighthouses and Eskimo dwell
ings in the arctic zone.
In the extended reports of the COM
manders of cutters there are some
stories worth telling again in the Ian
guage of the shippers. Captain Gam
Bile of the Miami tells how he assisted
is restoring discipline aboard a Yam
kee fore and after. He writes to the
secretary of the treasury under date
of Nov. last year:
"On Nov. 3, when about ten miles
outside of the Charleston lightship. a
schooner was sighted with her flag in
the mizzen rigging Union down. The
Miami stood out to her and found
that she was the four masted schoon-
er Blanche II. King of New York, j.
II. Toole, master, who informed me
that he had man on board that he
could not handle. An officer boarded
her and, upon investigation learn ed
that, while the man was not violent
he was insubordinate and a constant
menace to discipline. He was placed
in set Of our irons. for which a re-
ceipt was taken. The master request
ed the loan of ships revolver. but
as the remainder of the crew showed
no indications of insubordination the
request was not granted"