Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-17

and later the vigilant He recalls the nrst
motor boats Of the harbor patrol and recalls
how they were always hard to start and some
times hard to keep going. There was always
plenty warning when the harbor police was
coming" ne says. "These boats made so much
noise you could hear them q mile away and
river thieves knew when to shove off and get
going"
Bizkight has witnessed the gradual evolution
of pleasure boating on the Potomac for more
than half century. Before his eyes has passed
q changing panorama of river life.
Never have there been so many craft on the
river as at the present time" he says, land it
keeps the force busy just to keep q check on
them. Pleasure boating became a popular
Summer pastime before the automobile came
into fancy; then it died down for q few years
and then gradually picked up again, the num-
Der of craft increasing each year, until now it
seems that everybody In town who can afford
to own boat is buying one. Last year was
big year on the river, but this Summer has
been the biggest Of all. If it keeps up, the
harbor police is going to need bigger force
before long,"
The outboard motor fad has added q lot
of work to Birkight's duties. Some OF these
fellows are too reckless" he says, land If you
don't keep watching them all the time they
make it tough on the canoeists. hope be-
fore long to see their course limited to Key
There's room enough down below for the speed
boats, and that's where they belong"
Birkights watch is from IL o'clock in the
morning until at night, but he's actually on
call "a hours day. Frequently he's called out
of bed late at night to recover the body of
some person who has drowned
This is q difficult job in the upper river he
viii tell you. The bottom there Is rocky nlIed
with crevices and caves and in some places
there are holIows 80 feet deep. When a body
uSwn H. -
almost impossible to recover it., Dragging il
slow in this part of the river for the graphing
hooks or "brails" get caught time and again
on the rocks. During the construction of the
new Key Bridge and the dismantling of the old
iron structure, much material fell and was
thrown into the river and when dragging this
section the lines frequently get hung up
Boat house keepers try to be careful not to
rent canoes to inexperienced persons. But
often parties who think they can handle the
craft are surprised to find out how easily they
can turn over says Pvt. Rirkight eff thew
keep their heads when this happens it's all
right All they have to do is to hold on to the
overturned boat until help comes But they'll
try to swim with their clothes on and that's
how so many of them go under"
Boys in swimming are another source Of
worry to Birkight. I'm always on the look
out when see a bunch of kids In winning"
he says. IF the crowd Is too big tt IS often
bound to be trouble. This is eSpec true on
the canal, they seem to think they safe in
there. warn them, but sometimes that's not
enough"
RIRKIGHT has interesting views on prohi-
bition. Things are lot easier now" he
says. Even the lone fisherman with his Jug
was problem in the old days. He'd take a
swig. and then in little while another and
another until he'd forget all about fishing and
before you knew it he'd be overheard. I've seen
H0safiaaLed "a Minefaonfh pnnn