The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-12-21

Activities ranging from salvage of derelicts in the Gulf of Mexico to set tling marital disputes among natives of the Arctic, and :spotting" whisky smugglers operating on the coast of Siberia, are described in the annual report of the United States Coast Guard for the year ending June, 1916. which has just been issued, f
 The equipment of the Coast Guard representing the former establish ments of the Life Saving Service and the Revenue Gutter Service-con sists of 23 cruising cutters and 27S stations.
 Hero is a summary of the more inn portant results from the Coast Guards work for the year.
 Lives saved or persons rescued
 from peril, 1216.
 Persons on board vessels as-
 sisted, 15,742.
 Instances of lives saved and
 vessels assisted. 1453.
 Derelicts and obstructions to
 navigation removed or destroy
 ed, 30.
 value of derelicts recovered
 and delivered to owners. $12S,-
 300. M
 Value of vessels assisted, in
 cluding cargoes, $10,50e,s58.
 The cost of the service for The year was $5,215,711.34.
 The beneficent offices of the Coast Guard are very sober1y set forth in the official volume in the brief re- ports of captains but there is ma terial enough in these reports to make up many a. fine tale of the deep est human interest.
 Whether the setting of the story is a tropical hurricane, a storm off rocky Segiun, on the Maine coast, a summer day amid the ice of the Arc tic, one may see the helpful repre- sentative of the Coast Guards always busily engaged in helpful affort.
 Saved on Kennebec's Mouth. Al few extracts from the reports in the official volume will suffice to give N hint of the scope of the work des- rribed. Begin with the Maine coast, and read this from the report of Capt. Rudolph Ridgely, Jr., comman- der of the cutter Ossipee:
 Dec. "A, 1916, while at Boothbay Harbor, Me, received word by radio from the keeper of the Hunniwells Beach Coast Guard Station, Me, that a schooner was at anchor in dan- gerous position off his station and was flying signal of distress. aE within an hour and a half the Cssipee was near the schooner, the Irene Meservey aof Bangor, Me, an- chored in precarious position near the breakers off Pond Island Bar, at the entrance to the Kennebec.
 Although 1aboring heavily in the rought southeas sea the schooner seemed to hold on. The current kept the scilooner's Stern to the sea which broke over, her at times.
 "A line was fired to her with, a six pounder gun, and before it was finally fast, on account of the sea and strong current, chafted and parted. As the wind shifted and the current slacked, a surfboat was lowered, and another line was run. t
 .'The surfboat news that when the first ihawser parted the master was struck while attempting to slip his anchor and had sustained a severe injury of the leg.
 "A radiogram was, immediately cent to the deputy collector of GUS toms at Boothbay Harbor requesting him to meet the vessel in the harbor with surgeon The chain of the Meservey was finally slipped, and the Ossipee lowed her into Boothbay Harbor, where a surgeon met the ves- gel and rendered medical aid to the master. The schooner was then berthed at a wharf.
 ''The master having reported that he had during his. trouble lost one anchor and the chain belonging to both of his anchors, it was decided to later recover these when the weather moderated. On the following day, conference was held with the keeper of the Hunnigells Beach Station, and plans were made for the station crew to drag for and buoy the anchor and chain during the next period of sipee."
 Salving the Svaland. Tn a summary of the work done ins aiding distressed vessels on the, high seas, we, find this report of a particu- larlyS difficult salvage job:
 "On March "A, 1916, the Seneca. then at Halifax, N. S., taking on SUD- plies for international ice patrol duty, intercepted a radio call for assistance. She immediately put to sea, and aft CT a two days search found the SWed- ish steamer Mujik standing by the Norwegian ship Svaland, about 150 miles east of Cape Breton
 ''It appears the Svaland, with a crew of 25 men, sailed from Liverpool for New York city in ballast in Feb ruary. She made good weather of 1t during the first week of her voyage and then encountered a series of heavy gales which carried away her sails ahd upper spars, and did her such injury otherwise as to leave her entirely helpless
 'In this condition she drifted be- fore the wind until the morning of March 22, when she was discovered and taken in tow by the Mujik. Dur ing the next PA hours the Mujik's towline parted twice and when the