Large areas of the Atlantic coast of the United States were relatively unpopulated during the 18th and 19th centuries. Any ship that ran aground, even within sight of land, could not expect much help. Even if people saw a ship in trouble they did not have organizations or the equipment to go out and rescue those who were in trouble. Even in places like New York Harbor ships could run aground on sandbars during storms and not have anyone to help them. In a storm a ship caught on a sandbar could be broken into pieces in just hours. Some survivors might be able to swim to shore, but in winter they could die from hypothermia before anyone might find and help them. An example was the American sailing ship "Mexico". In 1837 it ran aground on the New Jersey coast and before anyone knew of the wreck, all 112 passengers had died.
There were early organizations that provided life-saving services in certain areas. For instance, in 1786, the Massachusetts Humane Society was formed by a number of Boston citizens who were concerned over the needless loss of life from shipwrecks in the area. They started the first lifeboat station at Cohasset, Massachusetts in 1807. These stations were small sheds that held the small boats and equipment that volunteers could use to rescue mariners. The society had recognized that only small boats were useful for life-saving since larger boats risked being shipwrecked as well. But the early sheds were only placed near busy ports and large areas of the coast remained unprotected.
On 14 August, 1848, Congress approved s for equipment for volunteers to provide life-saving rescues on the coastlines of New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. Some funds went to the Massachusetts Humane Society because of their leadership in providing rescues for shipwreck victims. In 1850, a lifeboat station was built in Rhode Island and others were built in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Texas. In 1854, Congress approved $12,500 for metal surfboats for use in the Great Lakes. While Congress was providing funds from time to time, the efforts to save shipwrecked crews was still largely unorganized. Lifeboat stations and equipment were not kept up. Some equipment was stolen while the buildings were suffering from neglect and the effects of the weather on the shorelines. When the ship "Powhattan" was lost on April 16, 1852 and over 200 people died, the wreck happened just from a lifeboat station. To make matters worse, the bodies that washed up on shore were robbed of their belongings and left there. This got Congress to begin thinking about creating a federal life-saving service. In 1854 they began to take actions toward creating such a service. But progress on the idea stalled during the American Civil War.
The 1870 Atlantic hurricane season caused widespread destruction and casualties on a large scale. There was an national call for Congress to do something. Sumner Increase Kimball was an attorney who had joined the United States Department of the Treasury in 1862. In 1871 he was appointed to head the Life-Saving Bureau. Under his leadership the service was extended to the West Coast and the Great Lakes.
At this time there were two ways to save people in the water. One, which was used if the ship was close, was to rig a breeches buoy, a device on a rope used to pull someone to safety. The other method was to use a boat to row out through the surf to reach victims. Boats at this time were around long and were partially covered to keep water out. Crews often rowed through waves that were higher than the length of their boats. In about 1907, the boats began using gasoline-powered engines.
On January 28, 1915, the U.S. Coast Guard was formed by combining the Revenue Cutter Service with the Life-Saving Service. The law provided retirement of Kimball and many of the services' older employees. During its 44 year existence, the Life-Saving Service provided help to 28,121 ships and 178,741 people. During this time only 1,455 people lost their lives in rescues or attempted rescues by the USLSS.
Jan Matejko
Jan Alojzy Matejko (1838-1893) was a Polish painter. He is generally regarded as the greatest one in the 19th century.
Jan Matejko was born in Kraków (Cracow). on 24 June 1838. His father was Czech musician František Xaver Matějka (in Poland Franciszek Ksawery Matejko), a music teacher. His mother was Joanna Karolina Rossberg, who was half-German. He was never good at school. He never learned a foreign language well. However, he showed great artistic talent.
He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków from 1852 to 1858. His professors were Wojciech Korneli Stattler and Władyslaw Łuszczkiewicz. He also studied in Munich and Vienna. Then he returned to Kraków and stayed in the town for the rest of his life. He was the principal of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Among his students were Jacek Malczewski, Józef Mehoffer and Stanisław Wyspiański.
Matejko died on 1 November 1893 in Kraków. He is buried at Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków.
Matejko is famous for his historical paintings. He painted portraits, too, especially those of his children. His best known paintings are "Astronomer Copernicus - Conversation with God", "Hanging of the Zygmunt bell", "Prussian Homage" and "Battle of Grunwald". He also published a book named "Portraits of Polish Kings" (1890). Most of these portraits are imaginary, meaning he painted kings and princes who lived many centuries before. There are no earlier pictures of them.
Union of Azerbaijani Writers
The Union of Azerbaijani Writers () is the largest public organization of Azerbaijani writers, poets and publicists. It has over 1500 members at present. It was founded on June 13, 1934. At this time Azerbaijan was a part of the Soviet Union as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.
It is currently chaired by the writer Anar since 1987. He is the son of writer Rasul Rza. Rza was the chairman between 1938–1939.
USRC Scammel (1791)
Scammel was one of the original ten cutters built and used by the United States Revenue Cutter Service. The "Schammel" was named by Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, after the American Revolutionary War Adjutant general of the army, Alexander Scammell. General Scammell was captured by the British at the Battle of Yorktown and shot. As with the USRC "General Green" (1791), the name is misspelled. The "Scammel" was built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire and launched in 1791. She was used to patrol New England waters.
The "Scammel" was built at Portsmouth but problems delayed her construction. She was not launched until a month after the USRC General Green (1791), on August 24, 1791. She was to be stationed at Portsmouth and her patrol area was from Nantucket, Massachusetts to the Passamaquoddy Bay in Maine. Her first master was Hopley Yeaton, the first seagoing officer to be commissioned in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service. John Parrott was the second mate while John Adams was third mate. Originally Hamilton had some difficulty in finding a first mate when the "Scammel" went into service. In November 1792, John Adams was promoted to first mate and Benjamin Gunnerson became the new second mate. The first-named cutter "Scammel" was sold Sold on 16 August 1798.
"Scammel" was a schooner which was built at a cost of $1,225.65. She displaced about She was long by wide and had a draft of . She had a crew of four officers, four enlisted men and two cabin boys. Her arms included 10 muskets and 20 pistols.
Moon landing
A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. It is a follow up to Project Mercury. This includes both crewed and uncrewed (robotic) missions. The first man-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission, on 13 September 1959.