The establishment of the United States Life-Saving Service on Cape Cod
dates back but thirty years, which time also marks the reorganization,
extension, and beginning of its efficiency in the United States.
While as early as 1797 the town of Truro sold to the United States
Government a tract of land upon which to erect the first lighthouse on
Cape Cod,--Highland Light, so called,--it was not until half a century
later that the government began to provide means for the relief of
mariners wrecked upon its coasts, and seventy-five years afterwards
that the first United States Life-Saving Station was erected on the
shores of Cape Cod.
The Massachusetts Humane Society, originally formed in 1786, and
incorporated for general purposes of benevolence a few years later, was
the first to attempt organized relief for shipwrecked seafarers in the
United States as well as upon Cape Cod.
[Illustration: ONE OF THE FIRST LIFE-SAVING CREWS.]
The Society first began its work of rendering assistance to shipwrecked
mariners by building huts on many of the desolate sections of the
coast. These huts were for the shelter of shipwrecked persons who
might reach the shore. The first building of this kind was erected
on Lovell’s Island in Boston Harbor in 1807. Later, the Society
established the first life-boat station at Cohasset, subsequently
erecting others along the coast, and extending its good work to the
shores of Cape Cod.
While the Society relied solely upon volunteer crews to man these
life-boats in times of disaster, its efforts in saving life and
property were of great value, and both the state and general government
tendered it pecuniary aid at various times. When the government
extended the life-saving service to Cape Cod, the Society was relieved
of its burden of protecting that dangerous coast, thus enabling it to
better provide for other sections of the coast of Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Humane Society may be considered the parent of the
United States Life-Saving Service. The Society is one of the oldest in
the world. It originated its coast service more than thirty-six years
before the English did, while the French service dates its birth much
later.
In 1845, a few years before Congress took steps for providing means for
rendering assistance to wrecked vessels along the coasts of the United
States, the Society had eighteen stations on the Massachusetts coast,
with boats and mortars for throwing life lines to stranded vessels, in
addition to numerous huts of refuge.
[Illustration: ETHEL MAUD BEING BURIED IN THE SAND.]
With the exception of the Life-Saving Benevolent Association of New
York, chartered by the Legislature of that State in 1849, no other
successful organized efforts outside of those of the government were
made up to this time to lessen the distress incident to shipwreck.
The first appropriation made by Congress for rendering assistance to
the shipwrecked from shore was March 3, 1847. For nearly a half century
prior to this time the efforts of the government for the protection
of mariners upon the coasts of the United States were mainly in
establishing the coast survey and extending the lighthouse system.
In 1848 the attention of Congress was called to the immediate needs of
providing further means for rendering assistance to wrecked vessels
along the Atlantic coast, and a second appropriation of $10,000 was
made. The first appropriation of $5,000 remained in the treasury as an
unexpended balance.
Later, this money was placed in the hands of the Collector of Customs
at Boston for the benefit of the Massachusetts Humane Society, for
use in the work of building and equipping new life stations along the
Massachusetts coast.
The second appropriation of $10,000 was for expenditure upon the New
Jersey coast. With this appropriation eight boat-houses were erected
and supplied with appliances for saving life and property. This marks
the beginning of the life-saving service of the United States.
In 1849 Congress appropriated $20,000 for life-saving purposes. With
this sum eight life-saving stations were built on the Long Island
coast and six additional stations erected on the shores of New Jersey.
While these newly established life-saving stations were not manned by
regular drilled crews of surfmen, as at present, they often proved of
great value at times of disaster, and in 1850 Congress made another
appropriation of $20,000 for life-saving purposes.
[Illustration: ONE OF THE FIRST UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING STATIONS.]
Of this sum half was expended in erecting additional stations along the
shores of Long Island, and for a new station at Watch Hill, R. I.
The attention of Congress having been called to the needs of some means
of rendering assistance to wrecked vessels along the coasts of North
and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Texas, the remaining $10,000
of this appropriation was expended in placing life-boats at the most
exposed points on these coasts.
In 1853 and 1854 Congress made liberal appropriations for life-saving
purposes, and fourteen new stations were built on the coast of New
Jersey.
The service was at this time extended to the Great Lakes, twenty-three
life-boats being stationed at different points on Lake Michigan, and
several others on the other lake shores and on the Atlantic coast. In
1854 there were one hundred and thirty-seven life-boats stationed along
the coasts of the United States. Of this number fifty-five were at
stations on the New York and New Jersey coasts.
[Illustration: HAROLDINE STRANDED ON NAUSET BARS.]
[Illustration: AFTER THE BEACH COMBERS HAVE WORKED ON THE WRECK.]
The absence of drilled and disciplined crews at these stations,
however,--together with irresponsible custodians and the lack of proper
equipments, the result of pillage or decay,--contributed to great loss
of life and heartrending scenes of disaster along the Atlantic coast.
The inefficiency of the life-saving service, as it then existed, was
apparent to all. Public sentiment had now become excited, and Congress
was appealed to for immediate relief from the existing conditions.
In 1853 a bill which provided for the increase and repair of the
stations and the guardianship of the life-boats passed the Senate;
but, unfortunately, failed to reach the House before adjournment. An
appalling disaster, the wreck of the _Powhatan_, on the coast of New
Jersey, in which three hundred lives were lost, caused the bill to be
promptly and favorably acted upon at the next session of Congress.
Under the provisions of this bill a superintendent at a salary of
$1,500 per annum was appointed for the Atlantic and Lake coasts,
keepers were placed in charge of the stations at a salary of $200,
bonded custodians secured for the life-boats and other apparatus, and
the stations and equipments speedily put in order.
[Illustration: ELSIE M. SMITH, WHICH BECAME A TOTAL LOSS ON NAUSET
BEACH.]
The service was somewhat improved as a result of this, but there were
still many defects in it, which were brought to light as disaster
followed disaster along the seaboard. Up to this time the life-saving
crews were not regularly employed.
A bill providing for the employment of regular crews of surfmen was
presented to Congress in 1869. Strange though it may seem, in view of
the terrible disasters and loss of life which had so recently taken
place along the Atlantic coast, the bill suffered defeat. A substitute
bill, however, which provided for the employment of crews of surfmen,
though only at alternate stations, was passed. This marks the
beginning of the employment of crews of surfmen at the United States
life-saving stations, and was the first step in the direction of their
employment at all stations for regular periods.
[Illustration: SHIP A. S. ROPES DISMASTED OFF PROVINCETOWN DURING A
GALE.]
During the winter of 1870–71 a number of appalling, fatal disasters
occurred along the Atlantic coast. These disasters not only revealed
the fact that the coast was not properly guarded, but also that the
service was inefficient and needed a more complete organization. In
1871 Congress again appropriated $200,000 and authorized the Secretary
of the Treasury to employ crews of surfmen at such stations and for
such periods as he might deem necessary.
Mr. Sumner I. Kimball, the present general superintendent of the
United States Life-Saving Service, was at that time in charge of the
Revenue Marine Service, and the life-saving stations being then under
the charge of that bureau, he at once took steps to ascertain the
conditions of the service.
An officer of the Revenue Marine Service was at once detailed to visit
the life-saving stations and to make a report of their condition and
requirements.
The report made by the officer was a startling revelation. Absolutely
no discipline was found among the crews, no care had been taken of
the apparatus, some of the stations were in ruins, others lacked such
articles as powder, rockets, and shot lines, every portable article
had been stolen from many stations, and the money that Congress had
appropriated had been practically wasted.
From the report it was plainly evident that the reorganization of the
service must be speedily brought about, and in accordance with an
act of Congress in 1872, the organization of the present system of
life-saving districts with superintendents took place.
The inefficient keepers were at once removed and the most skilled
boatmen obtainable were placed in charge of the stations.
The stations were also manned by the most expert surfmen to be found
along the coast, and the patrol of the coast at night and during thick
weather by day was inaugurated. It was soon found that the life-saving
stations, however, were too far apart for the crews to be of assistance
to one another in the event of a wreck, and measures were adopted to
place them within distances of from three to five miles of one another.
To bring about this result, twelve new stations were built on the New
Jersey coast, six on Long Island, while the location of some of the
existing stations were changed.
The stations were plain houses forty-two feet long and eighteen wide,
of two stories and four rooms. One room below was used by the crew as
mess-room, the other room contained the boats and other apparatus used
at wrecks. One of the upper rooms was used as a sleeping room for the
crew, the other room was used as a storeroom.
As a result of the reorganization of the service, the record for the
first season shows that not a life was lost in the disasters that
occurred on either the Lake shores or the Atlantic coast.
[Illustration: AN ABANDONED FISHERMAN IN A BAD PLACE.]
Interest in the success of the life-saving service under the new
system was now keyed up to a high pitch. Congress had authorized a
new station for the coast of Rhode Island in 1871, and in June, 1872,
one more was ordered for that coast, and nine for the coast of Cape
Cod. These stations were built and manned in the winter of 1872. The
nine that were erected on Cape Cod were located as follows: Race Point
and Peaked Hill Bars, at Provincetown; Highlands, at North Truro;
Pamet River, at Truro; Cahoon’s Hollow, at Wellfleet; Nauset, at
North Eastham; Orleans, at Orleans; Chatham, at Chatham; and Monomoy,
on Monomoy Island. Since that time four new stations have been
established, the Wood End, High Head, Old Harbor, and Monomoy Point.
[Illustration: THE LIFE-SAVERS MESS ROOM, NAUSET STATION.]
The life-saving stations on Cape Cod are situated among the sand hills
common to the eastern shores of the Cape, at distances back from the
high-water mark as to insure their safety. In most instances they
are plain structures, designed to serve as a home for the crew and
to afford storage for the boats and other apparatus. In most of the
stations on Cape Cod the lower floor is divided into five rooms--a mess
room, which also serves for a sitting room for the crew, a kitchen,
a keeper’s room, a boat and beach apparatus room. Wide double-leafed
doors with a sloping platform permit the quick and easy running out of
the surf-boat and other apparatus from the station.
The second story contains two rooms: one the sleeping room for the
crew; the other has spare cots for rescued persons, and is also used as
a storeroom.
[Illustration: THE SIMPLY FURNISHED SLEEPING QUARTERS, CAHOON’S HOLLOW
STATION.]
On every station there is a lookout or observatory, from which the
life savers, during the day when the weather is fair, keep a careful
watch of all shipping along the coast. In order that the life-saving
stations may be distinguished from a long distance at sea, they are
usually painted dark red, and as a further aid to shipping, they are
marked by a flagstaff about sixty feet high erected close by them. This
flagstaff is also used to signal passing vessels by the International
code. These stations are manned from the 1st of August until June
1st following, the keeper remaining on duty throughout the year. The
stations are generally furnished with two surf-boats (supplied with
oars, life preservers, life-boat compass, drag, boat-hooks, hatchet,
heaving line, knife, bucket, and other outfits), boat carriages, two
sets of breeches-buoy apparatus (including guns and accessories), carts
for the transportation of the apparatus, a life-car, cork-jackets
(life preservers), Coston signals, signal rockets, signal flags of the
International and General signal code, medicine chests with contents,
patrol lanterns, barometer, thermometer, patrol clocks, the requisite
furniture for housekeeping by the crew and for the succor of rescued
persons, fuel, oil, tools for the repair of the boats and apparatus,
and minor repairs to the buildings, and the necessary books and
stationery.
With the International and General code of signals, shipping, when
miles at sea, can, by this means, open communication with the stations,
be reported, obtain latitude and longitude, or, if disabled, can thus
send for assistance.
All the life-saving stations on Cape Cod are connected by telephone
with lines running to central stations in Provincetown and Chatham.
Close watch of the movements of all shipping is in this way easily
maintained, and in time of disaster help is quickly summoned and
obtained from one station to another.
[Illustration: BARK KATE HARDING HIGH AND DRY ON THE BEACH AND SOON A
TOTAL WRECK.]
In the life-saving service the week begins on Sunday night at midnight,
and the days are each set apart for some particular kind of employment.
On Monday the members of the crew are employed putting the station
in order. On Tuesday, weather permitting, the crew are drilled in
launching and landing in the life-boat through the surf.
On Wednesday the men are drilled in the International and General code
of signals.
Thursday, the crew drill with the beach apparatus and breeches-buoy.
Friday, the crew practice the resuscitation drill for restoring the
apparently drowned.
Saturday is wash-day.
Sunday is devoted to religious practices.