Evening star., 1936-02-16

~ WdSIleO clean OF gear, dNC
Wv upperworks badly bat
tered, an American freight
er. long overdue from Liverpool, roll;
helplessly in the trough of Winter seas
somewhere off Cape Cod. Gale-forct
winds, freezing cold weather, and 6
shifting cargo have worn mates anc
men to a fragile and kept the grlzzlec
captain on the bridge for 50-odd hours
'NCUs. NCU :. NCU" In his
tiny cabin a dog-tired young radio
Coast Guard the new distress signal
"NCU NCU NCU!" drones
out monotonously the call from AEer-
lean ships in distress at sea which i:
fast becoming more familiar than ever
the traditional SOS.
Fifhting off drowSineSs, the result
of day-and-night duty. the operator
finally hears answering dots and dashe:
which electrify him to action. The
United States Cutter Mojave ha:
answered from off Nantucket, another
cuts in from Martha'S Vineyard, anc
the United States Coast Guard, life
savers supreme, and finest body Of
fighting heroes on the seven seas, is
on its wayl
E1GHTY-EIGHT years ago, a spray
beaten, shingle-covered station
housed a tiny crew which made soli-
tary shift with but one lifeboat. To-
day, 50 centers with noncollapsible
boats and the latest gear save around
$500 lives yearly, render assistance to
some $4,000 people, and care for as
many as 600 in acute distress And
doing this, they keep in condition by
removing and destroying about 300
derelicts and distractions yearly
boarding 31,700 vessels to examine life
saving gear, and doing lot of mis-
sionary work, all of which doesn't
appear in official reports, by any means
Science and invention have helped
make much of this work possible. The
radio has played an important part
Today, distress signals received by
ately relayed to divisional headquar-
ters by radio. There calls are plotted
by the radio compass, the position OF
the distressed vessel marked on chart,
and its exact latitude or longitude
radioed back to the waiting Coast
Guard ship and any nearby vessels
which can go to the rescue. All of
which takes but matter of minutes.
SUBMARINE cables and telephone
~ wires have aided the service for
years, and along the New England
coast alone. over 200 miles of these
lines are maintained In spite Of ice
storms, blizzards and gales, they must
be kept open at all costs. Commercial
telephone service can fail, and some
times does, but the Coast Guard lines?
Never! For over Is years now, this
reputation has been maintained with
out a single break-but not without
some grief.
A short time ago the services cable
laying ship AB7, ordered out in big
blow to make repairs to submarine
cable far off shore, commenced behav-
ing badly. The captain discovered that
the outside ballast, fitted to the bot
tom of the vessel to make it sufficiently
seaworthy for such hazardous duty,
had shifted loose. Although the few
remaining bolts which took the entire
strain of tons of metal might lave
fyiy rVoiY
forced by the very nature of the work
to lie in the trough of the waves, be in
danger OF capSizing, repairs to the
cable were completed. Then the ship
limped drunkenly back into harbor,
and once more the reputation of the
United States Coast Guard had been
upheld. ~.
OVER anxious to adopt new inven-
tions to the service, the Coast
Guard was among the first users OF
the radio teletype. Not unlike type
writer, this machine sends and re-
ceives typed messages either over a
telephone or by radio and aids law
enforcement on land as well as life
saving at sea.
Equipment has kept pace with sci
ence, and new inventions are quickly
adapted to the use of the service. The
friendly Coast Guard horse, which
used to haul the staunch beach cart,
compactly loaded with life-saving
equipment, has been replaced by a
light truck or a small tractor, while
rubber has replaced the carts wide
iron tires.
Lifeboat designs have changed to an
equally great extent. While effecting
a rescue recently Coast Guard life
boat was running before seas slffl-
GENTLY high to cause it eventually to
''pitchpole," or turn complete somer-
sault, end over end. OF course, the
crew was pitched into the water but
the boat, one of the new type, righted
and bailed itself dry in something like
10 seconds fiat. Then the engineer.
surprised, perhaps, but dry as bone,
crawled out of his water-tight COM
partment. put about, picked up the
crew, and the boat went on its way to
the rescue as though nothing had
happened. Little wonder officers and
crews of distressed vessels feel reaS-