The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1921-04-29
PLAN BIG SPORTS EVENTS
FOR COAST GUARD MEET
Navy Department Expected To Lend Spectacular
Features To Entertainment of S. M. B. A.
In This City June 28 and 29.

Elizabeth City will use the oc-
casion of the annual meeting o1
the Surfmen's Mutual Benefit
Association in this city on Tues
day and Wednesday, June q and
%, to stage Marine Sports Day
that promises to be one of the
most spectacular and entertain
ing events ever staged in this
city. A tentative program calls
for a thrilling exhibition of the
very newest and latest Coast
Guard life saving apparatus as
in actual use and races between
L. S. Navy hydroplanes.
The Surfmen's Mutual Benefit Asso-
ciation is a benevolent protective or
ganization composed entirely of mem
bers of the U. S. Coast Guard Service,
formerly known as the Q. S. Life Saw
ing Service. 1t was organized in Eliza
beth City more than 20 years ago and
tions here, the last in 1919.
At the 1913 Convention here probably
5000 visitors saw the marine sports 1t
is planned to bring twice that number
of visitors here this year.
The Coast Guard is now an auxiliary
of the Navy Department and comprises
the country's greatest coast defense
system as we'll as an ever watchful aid
to distressed shipping in all seasons. The
Coast Guard patrol every foot of the
coast day and night. They watch for
ships in distress at all times and dur
ing the late war they were often first
to detect and sound a warning on the
approach of enemy submarines.
One of the most important divisions of
the Coast Guard service is the district
lying between Cape Henry. in Virginia
and Cape Lookout in North Carolina.
The Offices of the Superintendent of this
district are located in Elizabeth City,
and all supplies for the Coast Guard
stations in this district are handled from
Elizabeth City. The activities of the
Coast Guard Offices and supply station
at Elizabeth City contain a story within
themselves.
Hundreds of men of the Coast Guard
service make Elizabeth City their shop
ping center and they like to come to
Elizabeth City. And Elizabeth City al
ways gives these men and their fami- |
lies a royal welcome. They are a ro- |
bust, sturdy, athletic, fearless lot.
Secretary Job of the Elizabeth City |
Chamber of Commerce sees in the |
Surfmens Convention an opportunity to
make the most of our wonderful river
front and demonstrate the fun we can
have with it. Elizabeth City has never
made the most of it's aquatic sports
possibilities.
The members of the Surfmen's Asso
ciation are aquatic experts, capable of
performing or participating in any aqua
tic feat Men who can launch a life
boat in Hatteras' surf and take men
from a sinking ship in sixty-mile7an-
hour gale with seas running mountain
high, know how to frolic in still waters
as well.
The Navy Department will be urged
to lend hand in staging the entertain
ment of the June convention. The Navy
has lots of airplanes, submarine chasers
and other craft that are all part of
its coast patrol service and the con-
vention at Elizabeth City will enable the
Navy to better familiarize its Coast
Guard with these powerful wartime
Coast Guard auxiliaries. The Navy De-
partment will also be expected to lend
one of it's marine bands to the city for
the two days as a compliment to the
service men. The Coast Guard has no G
band of it's own.