[Illustration: CAPT. WILLIAM W. COOK, KEEPER OF PEAKED HILL BARS
STATION.]
Capt. William W. Cook, keeper of the Peaked Hill Bars Station, one
of the most dangerous of all, was born in Provincetown, within sight
of his station, Nov. 3, 1852. He has been in the life-saving service
for twenty years, fourteen years as a surfman and six as keeper at
this station. When a boy he evidenced great love for boats, and after
leaving school, until he entered the life-saving service, he spent
nearly all his time at sea. He was first in the merchant service, but
later joined the fleet of whaling vessels that cruised on the north
and south Atlantic grounds, gaining a wide experience as a whaleman,
and becoming thoroughly familiar with the handling of boats under the
most trying conditions and roughest weather. When he decided to enter
the life-saving service the department was glad to secure him, and
as an evidence of their faith in his ability, they assigned him to
the dangerous Peaked Hill Bars Station, under the late Capt. Isaac G.
Fisher.
For fourteen years Captain Cook patrolled the beaches and faithfully
performed the duties of a surfman, and then succeeded Captain Fisher as
keeper, when the latter was transferred to the Wood End Station. In all
his years of experience, both as a surfman and keeper of this station,
Captain Cook has never had his boat capsized, has never been overboard
from his boat, and has never lost or had a member of his crew seriously
injured in the performance of duty.
Of all the wrecks which Captain Cook and his crew have gone to, one of
the most hazardous undertakings was at the wreck of the three-masted
schooner _Willie H. Higgins_, in March, 1898, from which they rescued
seven men and one woman in the surf-boat. At the wreck of the schooner
_Theta_, Captain Cook and his crew made a most daring rescue of her
crew of seven, and the captain’s wife. The rescue was made in the
surf-boat in a riotous sea that threatened to engulf the boat and drown
both rescued and rescuers. The thrilling rescue was witnessed by a vast
multitude that had assembled on the beach, and a mighty cheer was sent
up as willing hands pulled the surf-boat out of the maddened waters
onto the beach.
Captain Cook uses a twenty-one foot steering oar when going to a
wreck in the surf boat, and to this he attributes his great success
in handling the craft under the worst conditions of wind or wave. The
steering oar is the same kind as he used when a whaleman. That he is
skilled in the use of it is evidenced by the enviable record he has
made since he has been keeper of the station. He is a warrior of the
sea who knows no fear when duty calls, and who is ever ready to put off
from the beach to aid distressed seafarers, when it is possible for
a boat to live. He married Annie Young Snow, and is the father of a
daughter.