Capt. Edwin P. Worthen, keeper of the Highland Life-Saving Station,
has the distinction of being the oldest keeper in point of years of
service, not only on Cape Cod, but in the United States. He has been
in the life-saving service for more than thirty years, and has been
the keeper of the Highland Station since the station’s establishment.
He is a native of Charlestown, Mass., having been born in that city
sixty-five years ago, or July 27, 1837, to be exact.
[Illustration: ALONG THE SHORE AT HIGHLAND LIGHT.
Showing steps which life savers climb when driven to the top of the
cliffs by the seas.]
Captain Worthen is indeed a warrior of the sea, a triumphant fighter
of the storms that sweep the coasts of Cape Cod, a life saver who has
witnessed some of the most awful scenes of terror at time of shipwreck,
and heroically rescued seafarers from the very jaws of death.
When but eight years of age, Captain Worthen went to sea as cook on
a fishing and coasting vessel, continuing to follow the sea in one
capacity or another until he was thirty-five years of age, when he was
appointed keeper of the Highland Station.
Not one of the original crew of the Highland Station is in the service
at present, save the veteran keeper Captain Worthen. For thirty years
he has made the station which he helped to build his home, and has been
a faithful and vigilant guardian of the coast. Skilled in the art of
handling boats through the surf, absolutely fearless when duty calls,
he has an enviable record as a life saver. Under his watchful eye,
careful guidance, and discipline, the members of his crew have been
trained to perfection in the art and science of managing boats in the
most riotous waters, and are ever ready to follow their keeper.
[Illustration: CAPT. EDWIN P. WORTHEN, KEEPER OF HIGHLAND STATION.]
In his thirty years of service as keeper on the dangerous coast of Cape
Cod, he has assisted at nearly all the wrecks that have occurred in the
region of the “Highlands,” yet he never received an injury of any kind
in that whole time. Captain Worthen has always taken a deep interest
in the welfare of the life savers, and his associates of the Surfman’s
Mutual Benefit Association of the United States have honored him with
the office of chairman of the District Committee.
While Captain Worthen has witnessed many changes in the service along
the shores of Cape Cod, the shifting treacherous sand bars near his
station, however, still remain as a menace to the mariner, and continue
to levy a fearful tribute on the shipping around Cape Cod. The sands
along the coast there are literally strewn with half-buried skeletons
of wrecked vessels, while unmarked mounds in the little village
graveyards near by, tell a sorrowful tale of the fearful sacrifice
of human life. The first wreck which Captain Worthen went to after
his appointment as keeper was on Dec. 25, 1872, before the station
was built. With volunteers he rescued fourteen men, the whole crew of
the German bark _Francis_, which became a total loss. The same night
another vessel, the _Peruvian_, was lost on the coast, and her crew
of twenty-eight perished. The captain of the _Francis_ died two days
later, and was buried near the Highland Station, Captain Worthen caring
for his grave ever since.
Captain Worthen enjoys good health, despite his age and the great
number of years he has served as a life saver, and seems destined to
enjoy a long life. He married Julia E. Francis.